A review of Benjamin Kaplan's How To Go To College Almost For Free, which provides a step-by-step approach to winning free scholarship money and merit aid.
Billions – with a “B” -- of dollars in free scholarship money is out there for the taking for any college applicant, regardless of GPA. But how do you get your hands on the cash? Where do you start?
You might try one of many online college scholarship websites. such as FastWeb and Careers and College, both popular sites which will send you email alerts of scholarships as they become available. These scholarships are often selected to fit a student's interests.
You could also peruse dozens of book titles at Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles or your local library -- and then pick one that sounds promising.
Or you can cut to the chase and do what Oprah’s Book Club recommends -- scoop up a copy of the hottest scholarship money book out there, Benjamin Kaplan’s How To Go To College Almost For Free (Harper Collins), now in paperback.
Teaches how to win scholarships
Kaplan knows how it's done. He amassed nearly $90,000 by winning more than two dozen scholarships -- in unrestricted college cash for use at any school. In 1999, he graduated from Harvard debt-free, with his scholarship winnings covering virtually the entire cost of his Ivy league education.
In his book, Kaplan builds upon his own experiences with insights from interviews with other scholarship winners--revealing insider secrets and strategies that put scholarship money within the reach of students with wide ranging cumulative grade point averages (GPAs).
He reveals a step-by-step approach to filling out scholarship applications and how to write winning essays in scholarship contests. In addition, he also interviewed dozens of scholarship judges and scholarship program administrators to identify which approaches work best.
Myth busting
Along the way, Kaplan diffuses some myths about qualifying for merit aid. Perhaps the biggest myth is that a student has to be in financial need before he or she can receive aid. Not true. “Merit scholarships, by definition, do not consider financial need,” he says.
Another myth is that students need to have high GPAs to win merit aid. Also a common misconception. There are many scholarships, including the Discovery Card Tribute Award Program which gives away up to $1 million in scholarships annually, that only require students to have at least a 2.75 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale.
Valuable scholarship resource
Scholarship seekers will find four essential scholarship resources in Kaplan’s book:
• A "how-to" guide that teaches techniques and tactics for winning top scholarships.
• A directory of scholarship prizes with insider tips on winning each award.
• A library of winning essays, applications, forms and support letters.
• Access to a companion Reader's Resource Room, which provides alerts to latest contest news.
Start early
Packed with many useful tips, such as how applicants can present themselves as exemplary students, Kaplan advises parents to begin the process of lining up grants early – even in seventh and eighth grades. But he also shows how to get grants if a student is already enrolled in college.
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