DUSTY WALLET

Post-secondary education is an expensive proposition, but plenty of scholarships still go begging for candidates

Everyone likes free money, but many scholarships still end up begging for applicants.

Tall Clubs International says it probably comes up a little short when it comes to the number of applications it receives for its scholarships. The social organization, with 50 international chapters including Canada, offered 11 scholarships for US $1,000 last year, but a key requirement was that you must be a six-foot-two male or five-foot -10 female — keep your shoes off. “It’s not just a tall club scholarship, there is also an academic component,” says Carolyn Goldstein, the Wei mer, Tex.-based chairman of the TCI Foundation .“I would love to see more applications .”

Other organizations offering free money agree. Millions of dollars of unused scholarships are left on the table each year because students don’ t bother to apply .“If you ask administrators, up to 3% of scholarships don’ t even get applied ,” says Chris Wilkins, founder of scholarships canada. com—a for-profit site that matches students with educational funding. Even more interesting is that more than half of the administrators surveyed say they are not getting enough applications. The scholarship industry in Canada hands out $180 million every year and about $5 million doesn’ t get claimed. If that’ s not shocking enough, some students apply for and gain a scholarship but never bother to claim the money .“They will be $100, or $200 or something small ,” Wilkins says .“Sometimes it’ s just hard to track down the winner .”

A key strategy for students looking for some extra cash to help them get through school is to look at less popular scholarships. It’s also a myth that all scholarships require high marks. Wilkins’ company has found 86% of awards do not require a certain academic average. Another my this that you have to be in financial need to get a scholarship. Turns out, only 32% of awards are based on financial need. Students should also promote their volunteer and community efforts, since about 10% of the money available factors in those en de av ors.

No one is suggesting scholarships alone will help students finance their way through school, not when you consider that students in this country graduate with more than $28,000 in debt on average, according to the Canadian Federation of Students. But Brittany Palmer managed to buck the odds, collecting $56,000 in scholarships one year. She graduated with no student debt.

“I did it through a lot of trial and error,” says the Vancouver resident who now runs a fee-based consulting company that advises students on applications. She also offers free tips on her key to scholarships. com website .“I was resistant to the process in the beginning. Everybody who wins sounds like a child prodigy, so it’ s intimidating. It took some healthy nagging from my mother .”

I’ m going to add my pitch to apply for as many scholarships as you can. The process may require some time to fill in forms and do the interviews, but winning could leave students sitting on some cash and maybe just enough of a boost to see that they—and their parents— get over that mountain of student debt.