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When I graduated high school I made a list of things I wanted to do in my life. One of them was to start a scholarship for students at the high school I graduat
by djb_hackernews 11y ago
When I graduated high school I made a list of things I wanted to do in my life. One of them was to start a scholarship for students at the high school I graduated from.
A few years ago I first offered the scholarship. It's only a one time $1000 scholarship and my alma mater definitely didn't have the higher ed access issues it sounds like this town did, but one of the criteria is the student CAN'T be in the top 10 of the graduating class.
This mostly bore out of the fact that during my awards ceremony the top 10 absolutely cleaned up, some getting full ride scholarships they weren't even going to use. I get you want to reward hard working students but I worked very hard in high school but I just don't think the system I was in was perfect for me and, several years later, I'm contributing just as much to society on average as the top 10 students from my class. My point being, high school isn't a great predictor of future success on a few different levels.
If anyone out there has experience starting scholarships for high school students and expanding them, please reach out to me. I definitely have big plans but I could use someone that's done this before.
- Nicholas_C 11y agoI want to start scholarships for students from my high school that are from humble backgrounds and want to attend community college for the beginning of their college careers. Eventually I would like to start a scholarship fund. I haven't really found a lot of good resources for starting a scholarship. How did you go about setting up your scholarship?
- ics 11y agoI've wondered the same and finally remembered to search thanks to this story. I'd be interested in hearing the parent's response but it's also a surprisingly easy thing to search. Here are some links: How to Start Your Own College Scholarship - http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303759604579093412425492826 http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527023037596045790934... Grant Space: What resources are available for setting up a scholarship fund? - http://grantspace.org/tools/knowledge-base/Funding-Resources/Individual-Donors/scholarship-funds http://grantspace.org/tools/knowledge-base/Funding-Resources...
- djb_hackernews 11y agoWhat I did was contact the school guidance department for help. What they offered made things super easy. I have total control over who gets the scholarship, they send me candidates that fit my criteria and once I make a decision I cut a check to the towns scholarship fund and they cut a check to the student. I present the scholarship at an end of year awards night. In fact I just today received a very nice thank you note from this years recipient. In the future I expect this to change and create my own 501c/trust if I want to raise additional funds outside of my own, which I fully intend to do but the system works for me for now.