Information. Selection. Confirmation. These three words could be among the most important students learn before they start Grade 10. That’s if they want financial help paying for their post-secondary education.
The words come courtesy of Gabriel Pillay. Pillay is currently the executive director of strategy and planning, and dean of students and registrar, at Corpus Christi and St. Mark’s colleges, but he was once a guidance counsellor and head of student services at Vancouver College. That’s where he came up with a three-step process to help students find scholarships.
The keys, Pillay said, are don’t wait until it’s your Grade 12 year and be prepared to put time into the search.
“When I talk to parents and students, I say consider this a part-time job. It means you have to put some effort into it. You have to do the search, but if you’re successful, it’s actually a very well paying part-time job,” he told the Courier.
“There are so many different ways to fund one’s education and it’s not just the bank of mom and dad. It’s not just student loans. There are scholarships and bursaries and school-specific awards.”
Pillay considers Grade 10 as students’ information year, Grade 11 as their selection year and Grade 12 as their confirmation year.
In Grade 10, students should gather as much information as they can, look at what’s available and what’s possible.
They should think about what they might want to pursue academically, and how they need to prepare themselves for potential awards, while preparing themselves for admission into a post-secondary institution. This involves beginning to build a personal profile, which can be updated throughout high school and be used for both purposes.
Students should consider Grade 11 their selection year when they’re picking the right courses and starting to narrow down where they might want to go.
“You’re not setting anything in stone, but you’re really starting to develop that [plan] with the goal being in Grade 12 — this is your Grade 12 year — you should have some fun. [Grade 12] should be your confirmation year, the year that you’re really just confirming where you’re going. Imagine trying to do [the] information [step] that year,” Pillay said.
Personal profiles should include information such as extra-curricular activities inside and outside of school, volunteer work inside and outside of school, and recognition students earned inside and outside of school.
In the case of volunteer work, Pillay suggests commitment over time is more important than listing a lot of individual volunteer activities and, when students later have to talk or write about their activities for applications, they should always consider what they learned from their experiences, rather than just listing them.
Pillay suspects some students don’t apply for scholarships because the process seems daunting or they think someone else is better and will get them.
He recalls reading a study that found 30 or 40 per cent of scholarships go unclaimed — not major ones that are highly sought after, but the middle and lower range ones.
Fortunately, online search engines allow students to submit their profile and update that information as time goes on — as grades change or activities or volunteer work increases.
The sites will inform students what scholarships they’re eligible for based on the information they submit.
“You don’t have to always be aiming for the large national scholarships. You could be looking at local or regional or community-based awards that can all accumulate and add up,” Pillay said. “What [I’ve] seen is students who may not want to apply usually start seeing a lot of awards.”
Once they see the list of awards they’re eligible for, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll get them. At that stage, it takes some work. Students may have to put together a good application, which might include an essay.
That’s where the profile they started creating in Grade 10 comes into play. Students can use the information in it as fodder for an essay, and change a few details here and there for each scholarship application to make it specific to that application.
If they started gathering information and looking at what’s available in Grade 10, they’ll also find out critical details such as certain awards require community service. That allows students to start working towards fulfilling those requirements early on.
“You don’t want to be in Grade 12 looking at an award that might be due in a month and now starting your community service,” Pillay said.
Keep in mind a wide breadth of scholarships are available from various schools and organizations and they can vary significantly in amounts, he added. Think sports associations, banks, unions, organizations or workplaces parents are affiliated with, businesses, community groups or schools. Even Burger King offers one.
“You can get small awards of a couple hundred dollars to national awards that would be considered major scholarships of $40,000,” Pillay said. “[Awards] that are one-time amounts, renewable awards or awards that are subject to continuous performance.”
Applicants don’t always need to be A-students to be eligible, which is a common misconception, according to Pillay. Many awards look at a variety of factors. Some look at a combination of grades, merit and service.
“There are awards that have certain criteria that minimum averages do apply. So you are competing. But they’re really looking at that profile — the student as an individual, as to what they can contribute. They do take all of that into consideration once evaluating a students’ eligibility,” Pillay said.
Students who are prepared will avoid last-minute pressure since some scholarship deadlines can be as early as the end of September of their Grade 12 year. Other deadlines might be rolling deadlines until the scholarships are filled.
“If a deadline is as early as the fall of your Grade 12 year, then when have you had time to prepare for it?,” Pillay said. “Having that chance to look ahead, you can be using your summers or the year before to prepare for those awards.”
But he doesn’t want to discourage students who haven’t being preparing for years.
“I don’t want [parents/students] to think it’s too late ever. Because you might not get one going in, but you might be eligible for something while in post-secondary,” he said.
Examples of scholarship and financial assistance websites:
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