Savings: College Edition, Episode 3

Welcome back to another great episode of the Influence Her Mindset Podcast!  Today, our host, Miko, will be talking about Savings: The College Edition! We have a special guest on the show, the Scholarship Mommy and she is ready to help you obtain free money to pay for college!  Did you know that as of July 2024, American’s outstanding student loan debt was a staggering $1.753 trillion! It’s more crucial than ever to explore alternatives ways to save and pay for your child’s college tuition.

 We'll also discuss practical tips for parents and students to navigate the scholarship application process, highlighting the importance of preparation, research, and persistence. The Scholarship Mommy shares her journey of successfully securing thousands in scholarships for her daughter, in her first year of college! Tune in for essential steps in the scholarship process such as, gathering necessary documents, crafting standout essays, and leveraging social media for scholarship opportunities. Join us as we empower you to make informed healthy financial decisions and potentially avoid the pitfalls of student loan debt!  

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Transcript

Welcome to another episode of the Influence Her Mindset Podcast, thank you for joining us again today's episode will be about savings specifically additional ways to pay for college. We're doing the savings college edition. I have a special guest here with me today, Miss Denise. Hello. And we will just refer to her as the scholarship mommy. I will tell you a little bit more about why I’m calling her that in a second. 
But first, let's get into tax free weekend. So we're here in Houston and it's tax-free weekend for, I didn't know they separated by states. So this is the weekend for Texas. Okay. And I thought I’d talk a little bit about what I saw on the news this week about what they were fine as a goodbye for tax-free weekend. And so they talked a little bit about school supplies and they said, you know what? School supplies might not be a great buy during this tax-free weekend only because they're going to be marking it down.  All the school supplies probably in another couple of weeks for September during Labor Day. So that is usually a big weekend for specials. But they, you know, they talked about school supplies and a lot of people have back to school drives or whatever, and you might get some free school supplies. Right. So that wasn't one that they thought would be a good find. as well as clothes and shoes. Sometimes you're buying for your kids for back to school clothes and things like that. But they didn't think that clothes and shoes would be a good find either, because a lot of times you're trying to, as a retailer, get rid of your off season things like that. So they didn't think that was a good find. Have you ever found like something good that you purchased for a tax free weekend? 

I think it would just be probably like a laptop. Yeah. Okay. You know what? Now that you say that, they did bring up computers and laptops because that would be a good thing that you might want to purchase for kids going back to school because that tax savings, you're not paying the sales tax at that point. And a lot of the computers are actually marked down 40% now. You're right. And a lot of manufacturers even give gift cards. Yeah. And rebates and all kinds of things like that. So they didn't think, you know, school supplies are closed, but definitely laptops and computers were a great thing to purchase. So as I said, we're going to be talking about savings today. And I know that most people would like to, you know, save, but they want to develop a savings plan. A lot of people reach out to financial planners and unless they can do it themselves, they want to get a plan in place for savings to meet their financial goals. Have you ever worked with a financial planner before? Actually, I have. Yes. Good. Yes. Was your experience a great thing? Yes, it was definitely necessary. They pointed out a lot of things that I needed to focus on regarding both saving and spending. Okay, great. So I know some of the things that you would want to save for would be your emergency fund, purchasing a home, maybe paying for a wedding, and maybe starting a family or even college tuition, which is a lot of what we're going to be talking about today. 

So, um, did you know, like for savings in the financial planning industry, it is recommended that you say like 12 to 15% of your income. Okay. And for emergency fund, you should at least say six to 12 months of your monthly expenses, whatever that is for you, like yours might not be the same thing with mine. So if I have five thousand worth of monthly expenses at this time, I need to be saving enough to cover six to twelve months. But you know what? Savings right now might be a little hard to do. It definitely is. Because with inflation and things that we're, you know, trying to account for on a daily basis, the truth of the matter is Americans are in debt. Yes. A lot of people are in debt right now. So savings you know might be hard to do and that might be the last thing they're thinking about they're just trying to make sure they meet their monthly expenses that's true so i am so grateful that you came today to talk about more savings and how we don't have to go into debt paying for college that's true so in my mind let me know if you agree being in debt more of a mindset because, you know, you don't go into debt overnight. However, if you change your mindset, I believe that you can put some steps in place to get out of debt. Would you agree? I definitely agree focusing on areas of your life that's important because every family lifestyle is different, right? 

So, Yeah, going to debt, it is a mindset and it is a it's a it can be avoided. That's when it comes to college expenses and everything else. I would agree. You know, it's a process. It doesn't happen overnight. You didn't get into debt overnight. So, of course, it's going to take you a little while. I mean, there's a lot of methods of paying down debt that you can use, like the snowball effect or the avalanche effect, you know. There's a bunch of ways you can save, you know, you can take your bills and go one by one and just say, OK, once I pay off one bill, the money that I was putting toward the one I paid off, let me use that and put it to another bill and pay extra. Right. Reallocating your bills. Yes. So, I mean, sooner or later, you're going to get to a point where you pay down your expenses or debts. 

and then you'll have a little bit more in savings so it can be done. But let's talk about college. So there's multiple ways that you can pay for college. There's not one way to skin a cat. I mean, there's multiple ways that you can put in things in place over a period of time to pay for college. So I pulled a few that i know that are listed. So you can, of course, save as a parent. True. If you have grandparents, you know, grandparents usually give you gifts and things like that. Yes. You know, over the years they can put a 529 plan together for you because grandparents really get a great deduction for that Roth IRAs okay of course, financial aid, pill grants and things like that. 

Loans of any type you can use for student tuition expenses, student loans, of course, and scholarships. And scholarships are usually based on merits. Your academic merit, you got to make the grade, you got to have the GPA. That's correct. Yeah. And the talents, your special talents are criteria to qualify for scholarships. So, I'm so glad you stopped by today to talk about what you did to help your daughter apply for multiple scholarships. Before we get into what exactly you did, I want to talk a little bit more about student loan debt. Okay. Did you know as of September, no, let me go back, as of July 15th, 2024. The outstanding student loan debt for Americans is $1.753 trillion. Got to be kidding. It is. It is. $1.753 trillion. That makes your mind boggle. 

Yes, yes. And I'm just thinking, where I fall in that number? I know I thought about back in the day, maybe 2019, my student loan debt was about $221,000. Really? And I can remember being stressed out and thinking about how was I going to pay that student loan? I hated it. It was almost like a black clouds standing over my head. All the years that I kind of put it in forbearance, well, once you get a full-time job and it's time to pay it back, you're like, oh my God, $221,000. And that also included interest over a period of time. So that was a lot. Added up. And in Texas, I'm thinking a lot of people probably will still go the student loan route because they make it so available for you. That's true. I mean, they make it so easy for you to qualify for a loan. Yeah. Yeah. It's sign your name on a dotted line and here you go. Yeah. And, you know, you think about the cost of tuition right now in Texas for in-state tuition. I think it's running about $11,556 a year. Wow. 

And that's in-state. Let's talk about out-of-state fees and tuition. It runs about $21,600 for 2024. That's a lot. That's a lot. That is a lot. Per year, yes. And just because we're in Texas, let's just look at a few universities. Let's look at what they say it costs for a pre-review A&M for tuition and fees. $11,299. That's not including books and supplies, room and board, transportation, of course, and other fees and costs that they tack on to it. So we're starting with $11,299. Well, $11,300, and that's for a year. Lamar University, $10,894. Sam Houston, $11,370 for tuition fees. Texas A&M came in at $11,550. And University of Texas at Austin for just tuition, $10,858. And those are current numbers. for 24 25 school year okay so if you had to start over how much do you think you need to save just say you had a child that's maybe born right now and in 18 years that child is going to go out to college a four-year college how much do you think you need and let's just see what would be the year 2042, 18 years from now? How much would you say you had to save to cover tuition for four years? I would benchmark say start at $150,000 minimum. Really? Yeah. And did you take into account inflation over a period of time? No, I probably didn't. I probably was thinking more of today's prices, but- Just the ballpark- With inflation then- I'll double that at least 300,000 to start. Yes. I mean, like if you think about all four years and we're just estimating this because this is what the estimation amount is in 2042 to put a child, you know, to be able to pay for the four years of college, you need to have about 300,000 saved up. That's a lot on average. You take into account it's a four-year price, but each year is about $76,500. So those numbers I just gave you, that's not going to even scratch the surface at that time. I mean, I started thinking like, oh my God, if I to start over again, like $300,000, that's massive. That's a lot. And I do have a son that's starting college this year. 

And I'm thinking, ooh, $76,000 a year. I don't know if I'll be willing to do it. Right. Yeah. So part of the purpose of why I started this podcast was I wanted to bring this type of relevant information to my listeners and viewers. This is going to help you make healthier financial decisions. Right. Because the point is, you don't have to go into debt trying to pay for college. You're going to talk about that in just a minute. You're going to give us some very good tips to help us. Yes, I will. But I would add, please leave the student loans alone. Absolutely, I agree. Leave the student loans alone, or at least till the end. Or let it be last resort. Last resort. I totally agree. 

You know, student loan debt is like one of the most critical debts for Americans. I mean, it's one of those things that it probably will never go away. Right. And then there's no guarantee that they would even secure the income that it takes to pay back. Right. That's what the, you know, you're thinking, oh, I'm going to have a full time career. You know, I got these loans and now I got a full time job. I should be able to pay for it. That's right. But no guarantees. No guarantees for that. You are absolutely correct. And did you know student loan debt has no statute of limitations? What? That means your lenders and collection agencies could come at you to increase your chances of paying that student loan debt at any time. Okay. It's not like you're going to get away from it. Okay. 

You are definitely not getting away from paying that student loan debt. Yes. So I would urge you to really take it serious, because did you also know that the US Marshals can arrest you for not paying your student loan debt? I did not know that. They can, because it's a federal debt. Wow. They take it that serious. Yes, definitely. So for a student loan, you know, it's important for you to try to make payment arrangements if you can put it in forbearance if you can't afford to pay because it only takes 90 days for your student loan to go into delinquency or default. That's detrimental. Default status, 90 days, three months. I mean, you could hit a rough patch in your life and three months could come and go. Yes. So another thing that could happen if you don't pay your student loan debt is that your federal income tax refund that you thought you were going to get could get garnished. Like you won't get a refund until you pay the debt, until they satisfy the debt at that moment. 

No refund. So those are a lot of pitfalls with writing when it comes to student loans to take that very serious. It can also damage your credit score. So, I mean, I want to be clear about, you know, please think about what you're doing before you sign your name on the dotted line, because, you know, of course, the financial aid office is doing their job. They're going to make it very easy for. You don't qualify for a student loan. In fact, I do recall going to my son's school with him and they had automatically given him a loan. And I asked them, I said, we didn't apply for a loan. I said, is this loan on him or on me? And they said him. Yes. 

It's not on me. It's on him. Yes. So I'm like, okay, son, please think about that. You don't need to take that loan. I'd rather make payment arrangements, you know, for your tuition than for you to go ahead and sign for a loan. So then what you're saying is that there's really no eligibility. They will just issue you a loan. If you qualify for financial aid, you know, and you get a grant or a scholarship, you know, they will automatically qualify you for a loan too. I'm living proof. So, I mean, I really want to just like really focus, tell you to focus when you're trying to apply for financial aid. Yes, you have to fill out the FAFSA form because they're so mandatory. Yeah, it's mandatory. Even if you get scholarships, you got to pay, you know, you got to fill out for the FAFSA. They want to know your income, all kind of things like that. But they also qualify you for all kind of aid, all at once. 

I was thinking, I remember during the pandemic seeing this, I was on social media somewhere. Do you a guy saying that he had actually got arrested by the US Marshals for not paying his student loan debt? No, I had not heard that. True story, you can query this. And the guy is from Houston. He was arrested at his home and later brought in to court. And the judge made him sign a payment plan for a loan that he borrowed in 1987. Wow. And I think this was in 2016. So we're talking 29 years earlier. he had taken out a loan at Preview A&M for $1,500. So no writing that debt off after seven years. You cannot escape this student loan debt at all. And listen to what he said. He said the marshals showed up at his door with automatic weapons, full combat gear. They forced him to the ground, handcuffed him, and briefly threw him behind bars for his 1987 student loan debt at Prairie View A&M University, which was $1,500. That's how serious they are about this debt. They really are. And I think now, I'm sure he's paid it off or whatever, but at the time, it had increased to something like $5,700. Wasn't that much, but that was overtime interest and everything like that. So it's a real story. That is unbelievable. Yeah. So without further ado, I want to bring forth the scholarship mommy. That's me. Denise. She is here as a parent. and telling us what she did. She didn't take no for an answer. She did not go into debt trying to pay for her daughter's tuition fees and expenses. But she has cracked the code for applying for and actually obtaining a lot of scholarships to pay for her daughter's college tuition. So welcome everyone, Denise, to the Influence Her Mindset Podcast. Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. 

Great, great, great. I'm going to let you just tell the audience a little bit about yourself. Well, again, my name is Denise and I have a daughter who is a sophomore in college in Texas. She is studying in speech and hearing sciences with aspirations to become a pediatric speech and language pathologist. Great. I originally targeted my retirement fund as a source of income to pay for her college education. And I also hope that with her academic, you know, performance that she could secure scholarships in order to afford college. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So we just went through a lot of the annual costs of tuition. What would you say your daughter's annual cost of tuition is right now? Her semester or for the year? For a full year at her Texas college out-of-pocket for tuition, room and board, and meal plan is about $22,000 per year, fall and spring semester. Okay. And so we're talking books and supplies and meals? That's extra. Well, the $22,000 is the tuition. That's the class load that she registers for, room and board, the dorm room. And then meal plan. Okay. And books and supplies, off-campus meals, laptop purchase, all that's extra. I was just about to say, like getting food delivered to the door or, you know, I don't want to eat in the cafeteria today. So that is extra. Yeah. Plan is only for things that are in the campus dining hall. And washing clothes and things like that, that's all extra. Toiletries, it's like living on your own, it's extra. Because I don't know, do they give them free use of washer and dryer at the camp? There is a washateria that they are allowed to use, but as far as soap, dryer sheets, they have to purchase that. There's no charge though to use them. 

The equipment or the machinery. Well, that's good. That's changed since I was on campus. Okay. So how many scholarships would you say you have actually applied for and obtained since your daughter started her college education? I would guess that it would be about 75 plus different scholarship applications that she submitted. Initially, she got a lot of no's. It was discouraging. But then the yeses started to come in. Wow. So different scholarships, I would say maybe 20 different scholarships that she was actually able to get awarded for that freshman year. But it just took flooding the system, you know, with submitting those applications and just waiting patiently and not being discouraged. And following up. And following through. Yeah. Yeah. So now you got the process down pat. Yes. I think I'm a well-oiled machine now. It took a lot of trial and error because even when I started the process, I really didn't know what steps to take. I think I just figured out some things and followed my instincts. Okay, great. Great, great. So we're talking about savings.  

We want to know, what is like the maximum amount you would say you actually saved toward college tuition and fees that the scholarships have come in handy for? Well, she was successful in getting enough scholarships basically to cover that first freshman year. So for savings, I would say that 20 plus thousand amount. is what we can actually say we saved. It's money we didn't have to pay out of pocket because the scholarships covered it. Wonderful. Wonderful. And do you expect like the same success rate going forth since you know the process? I am very, very hopeful. We found some scholarships that are renewable. So as long as she meets those GPA requirements, those organizations will continue to invest and support her education. So that's a yearly, like renewal process, but the renewables are the best of course, but yeah, I'm hopeful that we'll have the same success rate. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. All So let's get into it. Give us some tips, some best practices. because I also want to know, because like I said, I have a child that's starting college now and I have not been awarded any scholarships If you could, walk us through the preparation process, the searching process, and of course, the essay process, because that is important. So, hey, let's go for it. Okay. Well, I guess when I started the process, I kind of knew that I needed to gather records. When I was scanning scholarships, there were certain documents that pretty much all of them asked for. Sure. to, I guess, to eliminate lag times or delay, I communicated with my daughter and I was like, okay, we need to secure these things. So that would be her cumulative transcript for high school, her most recent report card, test scores, ACT, SAT, and TSI, I think is what they have. She also, I helped her with working on a resume. Because I know a lot of kids think, well, I've never worked before. I don't need a resume. You can have a resume. And even if it's just community service, volunteer, school activities, they can put a resume together with that information. A lot of those items, volunteer items, will qualify even for job experience. So a lot of the scholarships ask for resume. um school related activities. A list of that. um a list of your community service events a list of any awards. um college acceptance letter a professional photograph. They should get that. Like a headshot a headshot yes um they're a class schedule for the college if they've enrolled a college fee statement. 

The FASFA you mentioned earlier, their student aid index is what it's called now. And any recommendation letters, meaning professional recommendation letters from school officials on letterhead. Because a lot of the scholarships, they specify you can't just get it from a relative, but sometimes it may need to be on letterhead. Gathering those things before you start the process and having them in electronic format. will be crucial for you because you don't have to check with your student to say, hey, I get me this. I need that you if you gather those that that gives you a head start. I remember um resume we just talked about resumes. So my son didn't have any uh work experience as well. But what he did do is a lot of projects during school. He did um a lot of hands-on experience in the engineering Department. Okay. And they made like a air carrier, you know, with stuff around the house. Something they created. So I had to help him write up like all of these, um, software he had learned to use, like the AutoCAD, like the engineering software that they do with the desk. So you're right. I mean, you don't have to actually have part-time job or something like that as a student. Right. But you can highlight the things that you've done yes like projects yes definitely and I like I said I found that a lot of the scholarships ask for a resume. And so you can fulfill that requirement with volunteer activities or school related activities. And what about the recommendation letters? Because During the summertime, I can remember trying to get more recommendation letters for him. However, the teacher is on vacation, too. Yes. So we try to reach out to the counselors. We try to reach out to the teachers. And, you know, you pretty much have to get that done before school is out or before the next year. Absolutely. I would recommend them getting those recommendation letters before they're needed. Mm hmm. 

And I was kind of taught as I learned through this process to ask your recommender, you know, for the letter, follow up with an email, you know, reiterating that request. And at the end of the request, make a statement saying, I hope that I can count on your support. It kind of, you know, gives them a nudge. Put them on the spot. Yeah, definitely, definitely. But it's been successful. Of course, you know, the thing of it is like most kids, they don't see the value of trying to get those recommendation letters. But later they will see the value of it because it is someone else's account of saying this student really does have some things we can highlight. It's a great kid. He's did great things or she's done great things. I mean, she was a student helper or whatever. 

Whatever it is. Right. It's someone vouching for them and putting it in writing. Right. And it's one of the criteria for these applications. So you can do all of the work but not get the letter of recommendation and can't meet the criteria to apply. You're so right. So getting those ahead of time is crucial. Yes. You don't want to put all that effort in and not be able to submit the application. Correct. so after that, the next phase of my process would be the search process. Okay. And when you're looking for scholarships, you want to search Google by the major. You want to look up your county, your city, your state, zip code even, race, gender. One thing, tip that I found extremely helpful was social media. I did not, I was searching Google and when someone called me and told me, have you looked on social media? It was like jackpot. I found that a lot of organizations would advertise on social media and it kind of made sense to me after the fact because it's free advertisement. Right, right. That makes sense. And, you know, and then when you're doing that search, you're fine tuning the criteria. So you're narrowing your search and hopefully narrowing your competition as well. Because those are the scholarships that I think my daughter was successful at securing is those where it was minimal competition. So what would you say you put in social media to do the search? What was something that you put in social media when you were doing the process? The same searches that you would do on Google is the same searches you would conduct on social media. So if your student is going to major in engineering, 

There's a lot of scholarships that cater to that field simply because of the demand for that occupation is very high. So if you're looking for engineering scholarships on Google, you look for engineering scholarships on social media and all platforms. Makes sense. Okay, cool. And then you also want to search the college as well that the kid is interested in applying to. There are a lot of scholarships that schools actually offer as well. We also found out about like, you know, internal scholarships. Once they're in the school, you know, a lot of that's not publicized or you come in. Outside applicants. Yes, outside applicants. But as soon as you get inside of the university, you can apply for those internal scholarships. But there's a few like for high school students in their first year. It usually is probably under like whatever the major is. 

Is say if it's school of business, they're studying accounting and they're going to be a freshman in August or next year or whatever. You look at incoming freshmen studying accounting scholarship. Yes. You want to look up your classification as well as your major, as well as like you said, school scholarships as well. Yeah. So a good time to start the scholarship search is actually I would recommend 10th grade year in high school. Okay. All right. That's good. Anything beyond that is Lee. Really? Yes. Okay. Well, let me ask you about that. So if you're in the 10th grade, can you really apply or you're just looking and searching at that point? Well, there are scholarships for all grades, actually, even some elementary school scholarships. So you may find some, they may not be plentiful, but 

I recommend doing it simply because you can determine what the essay prompts are. Okay. You can actually draft those essays early. Yes. And when it's time and you're eligible for the scholarship, you can clean up your essay and you're ready to submit. So worst case scenario, you can apply and see if you actually get the scholarship. But once you apply, you know the process and then you turn around and do it in your junior year. And hopefully, since you went through it before, you might get it the next time. Right. You can apply. But I'm also saying that the essays take a lot of time. Minimum, they're like 500 words essay, minimum. You're going to see some that are 1,000 words. That takes time to write a well thought out 500 word essay. But if you, say, spent your summer drafting some of those essays that are going to be very common across your applications- 

You've got a head start. Good idea. Good idea. Okay. So practice. And those prompts don't usually change from year to year to year. Oh, good to know. Good to know. Okay. So start early, start practicing. And even if you don't apply, just go and see what the criteria is. Exactly. What is it that they're asking for? It could be a scholarship that you really are interested in. That's true. So this year, you're a sophomore. Next year... You know, you might actually qualify in the junior year. Right. But now, you know, I'm going to apply for one particular scholarship or whatever it is. And these are the requirements. And I'm ready because I already got my transcript. I already got my letters of recommendation. I've been in sports. I've listed that I was an officer in student government or something like that. So that's a good thing to think about. Right. And with those essays, you know, 

Make sure that you read the prompt. Make sure you answer the prompt. You don't want to write 500 words and never answer the prompt. Yes. And then ask someone to proofread your essay as well. Give your feedback on it. That's always recommended on the scholarships and never wrong. Yeah. So, I mean, I know you told me because we talk all the time and you told me, hey, if you're not... getting what you need. Make sure you grab their attention in that first sentence. Absolutely right. They make the scholarship committee want to read your essay. So grab their attention in the first sentence. So you want to highlight it, in fact, in your resume, whatever your special talent is, or if you are the person that actually has overcome a financial hardship, 

Are you saying maybe put that on the first line to answer the prompt? Correct. For example, if you are from a single parent household and you lost your father at age nine, start that first sentence with, the most challenging event that happened in my life was when I lost my father at age nine. That's going to make the reader want to hear your story. Oh, that's a good point. Okay. All right. So I'm sure that you probably had to revise your essays quite a bit because not every one of them acts the same thing as far as a prompt. Yes, you're right. So practice makes perfect. And I mean, you have to be able to read and understand what it is that they're looking for. That's right. That's right. 

But, yeah, in your essay, just basically highlight your accomplishments, any special achievements, any talents you've had, any things you've overcome, and any volunteer events. A lot of the essays are going to ask those things. Why did you pick your major? Tell me about a community service event that you participated in. Okay. So, you know, having that list in the preparation phase and then just being able to elaborate on your experience. at that event. Okay. All right. Sounds good. Sounds good so far. All So you've helped me quite a bit to learn the process for applying for scholarships, which is why I wanted to have you on the show so that you could share this type of information with more than one person at a time. So what would you say that you could prepare the parents for now, what would you actually say for them to get together for the child and assist them in this process? I would just basically tell the parent to complete a profile sheet and on that sheet, list the kid's major, the schools that they want to attend, any organizations that they may be a member of, even the occupations that the parents may have. A lot of scholarship are offered by corporations and companies for their family members and dependents. Any organizations that the child participates in, any special talents that they might have. And yeah, what their career choice may be, because all of those things will be helpful in the search process to find scholarships that they're eligible to apply for. Like hobbies. Hobbies, any special talents, where you live. I remember we were talking a while back and we talked about the Texas Hazelwood Act. So if you are a dependent on a grandparent's tax return, and they provide a lot of your expenses over a period of time, and they actually claim you on their tax return. That's true. You could actually qualify to get your tuition paid for with the Texas Hazelwood Act. Right. That's right. Texas, you're right. That is exclusive to Texas. But yes, a dependent of a veteran, yes, will be eligible for free tuition benefits. So, I was trying to think, so like, if you were a veteran's daughter, maybe you speak fluent Spanish, and let's say you play varsity tennis and golf, or you're a daughter of a Greek organization, like you're a legacy, you're maybe going to play at one point in time in the future. You're wanting to pursue an accounting degree and you live in Cyprus. So all of those things will be good to gather so that when you're doing the search process, you would want to put that in and see if anything pops up. That's relevant that you are eligible for. Yes. We talked about like local businesses too. Like you don't even expect some local businesses to give scholarships. Actually, the local scholarships really are the best option. 

Because most of the time they're hidden and your competition will be limited. So the chances of you being awarded that scholarship are greater because you have less competition. And when we talk about local businesses, these businesses that you frequent over a period of time, all the time, like your favorite eating place, like barbecue places, or some companies have it set up where they have charitable organizations that they give to, However, they still give scholarships. That's true. And so you may be thinking, oh, my favorite barbecue place. Maybe I need to ask them you know have for students? And of course they're probably going to say yes. And this is how you apply. And you're right. During that phase, it's, it's like you have to be hungry. So you have to be aggressive and asking. Creative. Yes, exactly. Yeah. So, um, You're right, because, you know, you can have a part time job and a lot of them give you tuition reimbursement or tuition assistance. Yes, true. And they also have scholarship. That's right. So you could probably benefit from both sides of the house. Not only the reimbursement side, but actually apply for a scholarship for that company. That's true. Yeah. So there's all kind of ways that you can be creative and when you apply. So what about dates, some important dates you can think of as far as applying for scholarships? When's the best time for you to actually apply? Anytime is the best time for you to apply. Really? However, I did find throughout my daughter's freshman year that a lot of the scholarships that she and I came across, a lot of the due dates would happen in the spring. Okay. So you're talking maybe February. 

To me, okay or June even okay and so You don't want to give up during that time They kind of overlap those deadlines, but the effort will be worth it The payoff is it's good, but the work you've got to put the work in so Different scholarships have different dates due dates. Yes different due dates. So I to track them, because even when you're searching, some of the names of the scholarships are so similar to you may even question yourself, did I submit for this or whatever? But if you have a tracking spreadsheet, that would definitely be helpful. Yes. I mean, you got to be organized. You know, I told you, I said applying for scholarships is like a part time job. Yes, it is. It definitely is a lot of work into this. 

And it takes time, but it's worth it. But it's worth it. It really is. It is. And then another thing you told me is don't stop applying just because you haven't heard from them yet. Don't stop. Don't stop applying because you may not get as many yeses in the beginning, but eventually they will come. And the small amounts add up. And even once you start college, right? You can still apply. There are undergraduate scholarships that are available. So it's not just high school scholarship students, but undergraduates as well. Yes, yes. And I do have my daughter on the forefront coming right behind my son. And I said, I'm going to start early now because I know the process and I want to make sure that I'm documenting even in her sophomore year. 

Everything that she's done for community service. Yes. You know, all of the activities that she's participating in, competitions that she's won, you know, and things like that. That way, when you see the scholarships, she doesn't have to gather or scratch her head to try to figure out when did I do what. She may not remember anyway. So, but I definitely, as a parent, you want to keep up with that. That's right. You know, the dates that they won, the accomplishments or, you know, because I remember like, Even when your child gets like the award for having straight A's and you get a president's award for the school for all three years. Yeah. So awesome. So springtime is great. Late winter, May, before graduation in June. You just will see more scholarship due dates during the spring. And it can feel overwhelming because they're all hitting... right there together, but the effort will be worth it. And I'm thinking like a lot of people have sign in day you know, where you commit to a college. Yes. So that's key to you finding out, okay, I got so many scholarships. Now I need to decide what school I’m going to. Yes. Based on all of this money that I’ve accumulated. Yes. I think that's the first decision that the student has to make is where they will attend. Right. Yes. So, and I love this story and I wanted you to share this. You did something very creative for your daughter and it set her apart. It really highlighted something special for her in her essay portion of her application. And just tell us, what did you do and how she was able to become an author? Well, during the COVID-19 outbreak, my daughter was going to school online. 

Because everything was closed down. And she was working on a school project. And she needed to print it out to make a presentation. And we didn't have a workable printer at home. So she called me, emailed me, and said, Mommy, I need you to print out this document in color. It's about 30 pages. And I was like, oh, my God. So I printed it out and, you know, paper clipped it for her. But I, of course, as a mom, I peeked at it. This is really good. She had done an alphabet picture book. And I was very impressed with, you know, the layout and the setup of it and how it just looks so professionally done. And so, of course, I told her, you know, we should publish this. And then later we kind of put it on the back burner. But then after my mother passed, we kind of brought it back to the surface and we dedicated it to her. 

So we sought an online publishing company and we published that book for her. And it actually set her apart on her college applications because at age 16, teenage, she was an author, a published author. And it also aligned with her major to be a pediatric speech pathologist. That is so awesome. I love that story. And that's the kind of thing that they need to highlight on their applications. Exactly. Something you've done that sets you apart from other hours. Exactly. I love that story. And what a great first sentence. Yes. I became an author in high school or whatever it is that you can pull out of that. That's right. That is so wonderful. Okay. All right. Well, great, great, great. I'm enjoying this. I hope everyone is enjoying it as well. So. 

Can you explain, because we talked a little bit about this, but this was the first time I had ever heard of the word over award or the cap on funds and how it may exceed your cost of attendance. And you found out a couple of ways that you can avoid that. So speak to us about the over award aspect. Well, because of the success my daughter had with, you know, obtaining enough funds to meet her goals. And the cost of attendance is basically an estimate of all expenditures for her to attend for a year. So that's tuition, that's room and board, that's books, that's meals, that's incidentals, transportation, right? It's an estimate. Okay. And I became aware of it when she got close to that amount and the school had initially deducted her... The award that they gave her. Really? Yes. You say deducted? Taken away? They took it away. They took monies away from the scholarship that was awarded to her by the school. Wow. That's the only one that they had any effect on. And so they roll over right and so they reduced that award and then i i started researching then, what is this? What is cost of attendance and why are they taking my daughter's money? And I also stumbled upon her student aid handbook that describes some things. So I found out three ways to avoid what they call over award. Okay. All right. So whenever outside monies or scholarship monies exceed cost of attendance, they call it an over award. So one way to avoid this is to ask the organization that is awarding you scholarships if they would earmark those monies for the next school year. Good idea. Because the cost of attendance is for that single year, and if you get those monies earmarked for a later term, it will not affect that cost of attendance for that year, and they will not reduce your monies because of that. Then another tip I found out is that 

All colleges, from what I've gathered, will give a one-time adjustment to your cost of attendance for the purchase of a laptop. Okay. So if your cost of attendance is $25,000, they would raise it by the cost of that laptop. So that if you have scholarships, it's further between them reducing your money. Okay. And then lastly... You know, I would advise parents to track all of their expenses in all of those categories that define the cost of attendance. And if those estimates are off, then petition for the school to adjust that cost of attendance. So if they've underestimated your travel or transportation costs, that's another way to get that cost of attendance changed. You are really, don't take, I'm not taking no for an answer. 

I want it all. That was hard. Money her writing those essays. Don't take the scholarship away. I got to figure out what happened here. And so was there like a little variance, like a $300 limit if it comes within $300? I found out from searching the Department of Education's website that, yeah, there is such a thing called a threshold, over award threshold. And as long as it's less than $300, the school is not... obligated to reduce their cost of attendance. Very good. I had to fight that one, but the Department of Education interceded and we conquered that. See, that's why we call you the scholarship mommy. Yes, I love it. Well, I want to thank you for being with me today on the show as my guest. Thank you so much. And it was so... 

I mean, I hope that you will definitely be able to help other parents, you know, as well as you've helped me over the last year or so, prepare to send their children to college and not go into debt doing it. I kind of think that this is a niche that I found that might, you know, you know, give me something to do where I like you said, I can help others. Yes. Hey, you've helped me so much. So thank you. I'm glad you were able to share the tips because they were needed. I mean, I learned so much. There was things I never heard of before or even thought was possible to get a scholarship. And just talking to you, I found out so much more. Well, I'm glad I could be of service. So if the listeners want to get in touch with you and want more information or they just want to work with you, like give us some contact information that they will be able to reach out to you. Of course, I mean, they can always reach out to, you know, our show at influencehermindset@gmail.com or go ahead and give them your contact information. Well, sure. They can contact me via email at scholarship mommy, M-O-M-M-Y at gmail.com or they can contact me via by text at 832-779-2288. One more time. Scholarship Mommy. Scholarship Mommy at gmail.com or 832-779-2288. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Okay, guys. Well, that is our show for the day. Thank you, everyone, for joining us for the Influence Her Mindset Podcast. And I look forward to seeing you soon. Bye-bye. Bye.