Many high school seniors are aware that there are scholarships galore that can ease the burden of paying for college. You just have to be willing to put in the time and effort to go after the money.
Gabrielle McCormick has turned the search for scholarships into an art form and business model, making for a success story that would be the envy of many college graduates currently swimming in student loan debt.
McCormick, who lives in Greenville, Texas, near Dallas, earned her undergraduate degree and MBA, graduating early from a five-year program at Texas A&M University-Commerce, where she studied accounting. She's now on track for her doctorate degree this year.
But here's the really impressive part: McCormick, 28, has not taken on one penny of debt throughout her college years. Instead, she received more than $150,000 in scholarships to pay the college tabs – a number, she added, that probably doesn't express the true value of the awards when you consider the full rides she earned because of her good grades.
McCormick is also a budding entrepreneur, with a website called The Scholarship Informer (www.scholarshipinformer.com). It's filled with free resources to help students achieve their own debt-free college education. Her company's motto says it all: "Own Your Degree."
But McCormick's story is about more than money and full rides. Her journey required lots of heart, smarts, a great work ethic and perseverance. Especially perseverance.
Go back 10 years to McCormick's senior year of high school. A talented basketball player and star student, McCormick's dreams of earning a college basketball scholarship on the Division 1 level ended when she tore her Achilles tendon that November.
McCormick needed a Plan B and quickly.
"I knew I was in trouble," McCormick said in a telephone interview. "My parents were divorced. My mother essentially said, 'How can we pay for (college)?' My dad said, 'You may have to work, take out student loans and take on the bulk of the costs.' "
That's when the underdog drive in her kicked in.
McCormick began researching college funding opportunities, created a scholarship profile of herself that listed her special interests and strengths, and began entering essay contests.
Rather than applying for the big-dollar national scholarships that are hard to come by, McCormick focused on small scholarships – with many under $2,000. She figures she applied for at least 50 scholarships.
She also discovered there are scholarships for just about everything; she wrote essays, for example, for a basketball sportsmanship award offered by a referees' association, as well as one for one offered by the company that ran her high school cafeteria.
McCormick fully understands the financial pressures and roadblocks many families face in trying to save for college and why borrowing can add up.
According to the College Board, in 2016, students attending public colleges borrowed an average of $27,000 over four years; student borrowers at four-year private schools tallied $32,000 in debt.
To avoid debt and find as much "free" money as possible, McCormick preaches a five-step approach. It's her "Money" system, and this is how she spells it out:
– M equals mindset. "You have to believe it can be done, knowing that it takes hard work," she said
– O equals organization. "Be prepared," she said. Keep essays, resumes and everything else a school or organization needs to know about you online to avoid time-wasting emails and telephone calls with financial aid officers and scholarship judges.
– N equals network. Utilize your own network of students and friends, but also your parents' network from work, church and any local organizations they belong to. "Ask yourself, Who can help me find pockets of money?" McCormick said.
– E equals efficiency and effectiveness. Set a goal of filling out seven to 10 scholarship applications a week. Starting with high school, save journal entries, homework assignments and other writing that could be the inspiration for a scholarship essay.
– Y equals you. As McCormick said, "You have to take action. ... You have to work at it."
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