Applying for scholarships is a very important part of senior year for those who want to go to college after high school. According to BigFuture, the average cost of going to a private college is $31,231 and to go to a public school is $22,958. This is a great sum of money that not all families are capable of paying so in order to reward outstanding school performances, colleges and many other programs and organizations give money rewards that help students pay for their college tuition.

There are many different ways that students can find available scholarships, one being speaking with a guidance counselor. Guidance counselors tend to always know the best places to look for scholarships.

Also, a student can go to online websites that will list scholarships available for incoming freshman to colleges all over the country. However, this option can be quite risky. Some websites ask for unnecessary information that should not be given out.

Lastly, University and College websites often offer a scholarship search that helps students find scholarships offered directly from their school of choice. This scholarship search tool also narrows results for students down to incoming freshman and even to their intended major.

“I think that scholarships are very important because it is very expensive to go to college and scholarships offer the opportunity for students to leave college without any debt,” says senior Josh Westhead.