It’s that time of year for graduating seniors to start thinking about their future. Those that are going to college or secondary schools find that it costs a pretty penny to cover all the expenses that come with moving on with your education. When it comes to class costs, books, supplies, or even travel expenses, planning for your college career will not be cheap.

Fortunately, there’s a variety of ways to help cover those expenses, and one of the best and biggest ways to do so is by applying for scholarships.

Scholarships are a sum of money awarded to a student to help them further their education. They are the easiest and most hassle-free way to get some extra cash to help pay for college. The biggest thing to remember about applying for scholarships is to start looking early on in your school year and always make sure you are reading the rules and requirements for the scholarship closely.

I would suggest asking businesses or organizations around your hometown if they have any available, and what is needed to apply for them, or try searching online by using websites like scholarship.com or collegeboard.org to help you find more outside of your area.

Filling out any scholarship application is always free, so watch out for any fishy websites or places that ask you to pay for an application or send you private personal info like your SSN or bank information. The only major drawback of applying for scholarships is that the amounts you are given can affect any federal student aid you may qualify for that year when you are applying for the FASFA. Make sure you read over the rules for each scholarship application very carefully.

You may not always get all the scholarships you go after, but the biggest thing is that you don’t stop trying in your searches. Every little bit helps when paying for your education, and you in the future will appreciate all the hard work and effort you put into your educational expenses now. Scholarship searching doesn’t stop after you graduate high school either, as there are still other scholarships available for those in college if you look for them.

Here at Family Financial Credit Union, we are awarding 4(four) $500 scholarships to high school seniors.

Visit: ff-cu.org/scholarship/ to apply today!

Barbara Engquist