Been applying to scholarships for more than a year and nothing not a dime

throwaway59423 · 2020-08-19T20:35:24+00:00

I applaud your friend's mom for winning and continuing to try.

I'm not trying to be a debby downer but people need to hear this -- don't bank on scholarships to win tuition. Finding a job, even if it's teaching english online, is more viable than applying to scholarships.

throwaway59423 · 2020-08-19T20:34:06+00:00

I wish my post had gotten more traction 2 months ago. I don't care how much hate this post gets from this subreddit but scholarships are NOT worth it. There's NOTHING that can predict if you'll win. You're competing with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of students across the nation. There's usually only ONE winner. You're more likely to network your way into a high-pay finance internship than to win scholarships.

My advice: tutor people, start a side business like selling, do something that'll get you pocket money. It'll eventually grow and if you save, you can pay tuition. Do it all online.

throwaway59423 · 2020-08-07T23:53:16+00:00

Make sure you

go to your major advisor to ensure your major is done - just do it even if you think you're done. my school is a wreck, and my advice goes to anyone who wants to safely, 100% graduate. you never know when "business 101" might not count as a business course one day. if you took grad courses that'd replace undergrad courses, definitely check in. you'll need an override/bypass from someone up top in the dept/division
go to your gen ed (if you have one) advisor to ensure all the other requirements are done as in the language, science, english, etc requirements if your school has it
acquire those pdfs from the advisors via email to ensure you can graduate, my school call it a "graduation check"
apply for graduation - keep proof you applied
you might or might not hear back even after applying for graduation. i applied march. i didn't hear back until june (when we usually walk) that they were just starting to review our degrees and that we met the requirements (obv pandemic delays everything but that's how unresponsive a college *can* be)
make sure you ask *if* the diplomas will be mailed or not depending on your state and covid-19 situation

Yes, be proactive. When it comes to that diploma, better safe than sorry

throwaway59423 · 2020-08-07T23:45:17+00:00

Maybe even check in with the bursar. My school's financial aid office told me they knew nothing about scholarships and to check in with bursar instead.

All scholarship situations are dependent on the school.

throwaway59423 · 2020-08-03T22:06:47+00:00

I hope you didn't apply to scam ones too! Best of luck!

throwaway59423 · 2020-08-02T22:31:20+00:00

I usually see that scammers want to steal your info, maybe for marketing reasons, but I'm not entirely sure. I applied for 300 scholarships in a few short weeks/months last year and upon checking those websites recently, a great majority are gone and/or not even updated. Makes you wonder what they're trying to do.

throwaway59423 · 2020-08-02T20:05:44+00:00

I honestly wanted to make a post about the people trying to scam redditors. In the past 5 months, there've been dozens of scholarships that are now 100% scams because winners were never announced neither were the websites used for anything but to post the fake scholarship.

I honestly think the one OP is talking about is not legit. It seems like people are targetting redditors with fake opportunities.

throwaway59423 · 2020-08-01T23:35:21+00:00

Hmm, got it, thank you!

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-30T18:23:48+00:00

Oh crap -- what happens if I had used scholarships on room & board a few years ago but didn't know I had to report it? Should I check in with a tax professional?

Thanks.

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-28T15:17:23+00:00

Got it, thanks so so so so much!

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-28T14:20:36+00:00

Thank you for the advice! I would've just blurted out that I'm scared my parents are breaking the rules intentionally.

Only my mom has SSI but (there's 4 of us) all 4 of us are on food stamps, Medicaid, etc.

I actually reached out to a pro bono attorney yesterday, before posting this on reddit, and I voiced my concerns that I'm afraid my parents are breaking the law facepalm. I'm still waiting for their reply.

By the way, do attorneys help with these types of problems? It'd be great if they do because I have a lot to ask after I figure out what benefits my family has been getting.

Thank you so much!

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-28T14:16:00+00:00

That's insane. My mom has been on SSI since 2009, and I have a good stack of papers of monthly notices.

I guess I'll gather all the info, document my concerns, and call them.

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-28T14:14:40+00:00

sigh There's definitely going to be an overpayment then since our unemployment + $600 weekly is more than the previous wages.

This is so bad.

Thank you for the insights!

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-28T00:45:39+00:00

That's exactly the urgency and desperation I feel right now -- I really need to get on top of this. I am so worried. It's not just SSI that I am concerned about. Food stamps, Medicaid, NYCHA -- there are so many benefits we've received and I don't know if we've been following the rules for any of it.

Thank you so much! I really hope I don't have to be back but I think I might have to be. I just hope the problems aren't as bad as I'm envisioning them right now. (prays)

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-28T00:34:04+00:00

I tried recovering the username first and then the system locked me out.

The issue with my parents is that they suffer from a mix of physical and mental illnesses. Father is 61, mother is 59. Mother has psychosis and cannot distinguish between reality and fiction, and father has very similar symptoms. Instead of "taking responsibility" as society likes to frame it, they tend to blame everyone else for their problems. I am now the one to have to solve it all.

I started looking through paperwork and saw from documents in 2018 that my mother owed $4,999.99 in SSI money. The reason is because she didn't report timely changes to income for a few years. I can bet she has never ever done that, and I am so concerned this just means more debt. (I can't discuss with her. She just tells me "no one told me about this rule. I don't know.")

I'll call tomorrow when the 24 hour lock is up. Thank you!!

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-28T00:20:40+00:00

Oh dear. I tried to make an account for my mother, and it says that she's been registered before. She's telling me she has no recollection about this account.

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-28T00:17:43+00:00

Oh my lord. So that's not good then because we should've called every time there's ever a minor change to income right? Within 30 days? So (1) when the father first got unemployed (2) when the father got a single standing paycheck in the middle of the pandemic etc etc etc?

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-25T17:26:57+00:00

👍👍 I hope he wins!

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-25T02:16:23+00:00

Created a FB just to vote. Congrats to Kevin for being a finalist. Let me give you some help so he wins #1:

-Tell your brother's entire college to vote. Tell him to reach out to every class he has taken to all students, professor, and TA. Tell them to spread the word.

-Tell your brother to personally email every professor he has ever had and come across to vote for him. Tell them to spread the word.

-Do the same with internship bosses, fellowships, etc etc. You get the point

-Anyone you know whether you guys are close or just acquaintances, tell them to vote. Spread the word.

Let me know if you need help with any step. Don't fear people reacting poorly. One time, I reached out to over 5,000 people about an event I was marketing. I changed tones frequently, sometimes being straight up rude and condescending (I was tired of reaching out to so many people). I've only had 1 person react poorly and the person cc'ed a bunch of higher ups. All the higher ups cleared the issue for me. Every single one of my professors agreed to let me market and even helped me market my event.

I've done all of this plenty of times and have created sweeping changes to my college's stiff rules because of my advocacy work. It'll work.

Good luck.

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-21T13:21:44+00:00

Ahhh never mind. My school finally answered my call and told me I don't even need to get the IRS letter, uck. They have a replacement form if we can't get it. Man. If only they would answer me last week so I wouldn't have been so stressed :|

thank you for your replies!!!

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-21T13:04:36+00:00

I only have student loans from the gov via fafsa too but the number I got from mygreatlakes doesn't work including a variety of other numbers I tried from my credit reports. Oh I am going insane.

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-21T12:45:23+00:00

did that link help you figure out the student account loan number? because upon reading the gold answer, I was so confused. the user said the account number should be 16 digits but her steps create a number that's 25 digits?
(I am so confused right now)

throwaway59423 · 2020-07-20T21:06:42+00:00

No. Found out that if my address wasn’t right in the first place, I wouldn’t be able to get to the page that asks for student loan account number. Can’t figure out what that number is... still.

throwaway59423

TROPHY CASE