Keep your NAVIANCE account up-to-date. Scholarship committees may request information from Guidance and we will refer to this. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT! If you are awarded a scholarship the college you tag in Naviance as your “attending school” will be where the money is sent. Be sure it’s correct! ALSO: ONLY use your home email address on scholarship applications! Your school email account will be deleted shortly after graduation!!

There are TWO types of scholarships: General and Community. Go to “Scholarship Database” under Guidance Links.

1. The General Scholarships are held by the school and decided upon by a school-appointed committee. These are the ONLY ones you bring to the guidance office by the due date, April 22nd! There is one application for these. Two General Scholarships (Miriam Condon and Evelyn Maglathlin) require additional details and a separate packet of info. See button on left of the website for instructions.
2. The Community Scholarships are offered by different local organizations with varying deadlines and submission requirements. We publicize these but are not affiliated with them. There are four pages of these scholarships listed on the website. Most have applications attached. Those that don’t have a link to the awarding organization’s web page where the application can be found.

READ THE CRITERIA CAREFULLY!!! While some organizations may have general criteria (i.e. financial need) others will be very specific (i.e. studying Math or Medicine). It doesn’t hurt to apply to one that you may not exactly fit because there may not be anyone in your year that does! While some organizations may choose NOT to make awards if no one fits, others will look at other qualities and award a “closest fit” applicant. ● If an application is ‘fillable’ (you can type right onto the document) you have two options: fill it in and email it to the organization, or print it out and hand write it in manually.

Be sure your application includes ALL REQUIRED DOCUMENTS or include a note explaining WHY documents are missing. Some colleges do not release financial aid letters by the time your applications are due so you can’t include them. You MUST send them to the committee as soon as they do arrive!

FAFSAs must be included when requested. (Include ONLY page one containing the SAI, Student Aid Index!) When applications ask for your Student Aid Index, don’t guess at this number. It is on your FAFSA Student Aid Report.

Download your COST OF ATTENDANCE from the school’s website and total the amount. Don’t make the scholarship committee do the math.

BE ORGANIZED. Submit your applications in a neat and professional manner making sure that everything is included and signed where needed.

DEADLINES!! Pay very close attention to these dates. Some will say “postmarked by . . .” which means exactly that, the postmark on the envelope MUST be that date or before, and others will say “received by . . .” which means IN THEIR HANDS BY . . . ! There are NO exceptions to these due dates.

We are all very fortunate to live on such a generous island that gives SO MUCH to our students. If you receive a gift of one of these scholarships, please take the time to let the organization know how much you appreciate it! Send a THANK YOU note! GOOD LUCK!

General Scholarship Application Checklist

YOUR APPLICATION SHOULD INCLUDE SEPARATE PACKETS FOR EACH OF THE FOLLOWING:

GENERAL SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS

• Student Aid Report with SAI from FAFSA. Page 1 ONLY!

• Financial Aid Letter from College (or prior year’s financial aid letter if current year is not available)

• Cost of Attendance. (Downloaded from college website AND totaled) Most recent transcript with GPA

EVELYN MAGLATHLIN SCHOLARSHIP and/or MIRIAM CONGDON SCHOLARSHIP

• Cover letter specific to scholarship. Student Aid Report with SAI from FAFSA. Page 1 ONLY!

• Financial Aid Letter from College (or prior year’s financial aid letter if current year is not available).

• Cost of attendance (downloaded from college website AND totaled).
• Most recent transcript with GPA.
• Resume.
• 2 Letters of recommendation from teachers/employers.
• OPTIONAL: Letter of extenuating circumstances if there is a financial situation that is not accurately reflected in the other documents.