How to go after that college money
Many high school seniors are aware that there are scholarships galore that can ease the burden of paying for college. You just have to be willing to put in the time and effort to go after the money.
Gabrielle McCormick has turned the search for scholarships into an art form and business model, making for a success story that would be the envy of many college graduates swimming in student loan debt.
McCormick, who lives in Greenville, Texas, near Dallas, earned her undergraduate degree and MBA, graduating early from a five-year program at Texas A&M University-Commerce, where she studied accounting. She’s now on track for her doctorate this year.
But here’s the really impressive part: McCormick, 28, has zero college debt. She received more than $150,000 in scholarships to pay her college tab.
McCormick is also a budding entrepreneur, with a website called The Scholarship Informer. It’s filled with free resources to help students achieve their own debt-free college education. Her company’s motto says it all: “Own Your Degree.”
But McCormick’s story is about more than money and full rides. Her journey required lots of heart, smarts, a great work ethic and perseverance. Especially perseverance.
Go back 10 years to McCormick’s senior year of high school. A talented basketball player and star student, McCormick’s dreams of earning a college basketball scholarship on the Division 1 level ended when she tore her Achilles tendon. McCormick needed a Plan B quickly. “I knew I was in trouble,” McCormick said in a telephone interview. “My parents were divorced. My mother essentially said, ‘How can we pay for (college)?’ My dad said, ‘You may have to work, take out student loans and take on the bulk of the costs.’ ”
That’s when the underdog drive in her kicked in. McCormick began researching college funding opportunities, created a scholarship profile that listed her special interests and strengths and began entering essay contests. Rather than applying for the big-dollar national scholarships that are hard to come by, McCormick focused on small scholarships — many under $2,000. She thinks she applied for at least 50 scholarships.
She also discovered there are scholarships for just about everything; she wrote essays, for example, for a basketball sportsmanship award offered by a referees’ association and one offered by the company that ran her high school cafeteria.
McCormick fully understands the financial pressures and roadblocks many families face in trying to save for college and why borrowing can add up.
According to the College Board, in 2016, students attending public colleges borrowed an average of $27,000 over four years; student borrowers at four-year private schools tallied $32,000 in debt.
To avoid debt and find as much free money as possible, McCormick preaches a five-step approach. It’s her MONEY system, and this is how she spells it out:
M equals mindset. “You have to believe it can be done, knowing that it takes hard work,” she said.
O equals organization. “Be prepared,” she said. Keep essays, resumes and everything else a school or organization needs to know about you online to avoid timewasting emails and telephone calls with financial aid officers and scholarship judges.
N equals network. Use your own network of students and friends, but also your parents’ networks from work, church and any local organizations they belong to. “Ask yourself, Who can help me find pockets of money?” McCormick said. E equals efficiency and effectiveness.
Set a goal of filling out seven to 10 scholarship applications a week. Starting with high school, save journal entries, homework assignments and other writing that could be the inspiration for a scholarship essay.
Y equals you. As McCormick said, “You have to take action. … You have to work at it.”
Questions, comments, column ideas? Send an email to sbrosen1030@gmail.com.