Stop leaving scholarship money on the table

00:00 Speaker A

I think that many people take themselves out of the race before it starts, particularly in scholarships. A lot of people have an enemy with an outpost inside their head. And they think somebody else smarter, wiser, more experienced will, will be a better fit. I don’t deserve this, right? And and to the same effect of of having run into veterans who are like, they leave their own like disability compensation claims on the table. Why I’m a veteran, some somebody else needs it more than I do, right? I see the same thing in the scholarship space.

00:38 Speaker A

Across the board, regardless of if they’re a veteran or not, that is a human thing that we do, and we take ourselves out of the race before it starts. And so with scholarships, there is ample amount of money out there. There are people who have foundations, philanthropic, uh, philanthropic, oh, I can’t think of the word, um missions, excuse me. Philanthropic missions to support higher education, support veterans, support maybe whatever your major is or whatever you’re pursuing.

01:17 Speaker A

Whether that’s an internship, a fellowship, that’s I need a scholarship for my master’s program. I don’t qualify for FAFSA. I don’t want to take out a loan. Uh, my my sagest advice that I can give to folks, having spent hours of calculating how to put these things together, is think about who you are, your values, what your aim educational is, and the big picture.

01:46 Speaker A

Like, if I had just said, I want to get X degree, that’s not enough. It’s like, I want to get X degree to solve this problem. Here’s how I’m going to contribute. And here’s what I’m can do, here’s what I’m doing on campus. Here’s what I’m doing in my community. Here’s why it’s important to me and my family, or here’s my service story and translate that into something that folks can really grab on to.

02:13 Speaker A

And I say this in the kindest way possible, but like if if you’re not willing to put yourself out there, you’re not you’re not going to get get those opportunities. And that’s again a lot of what in business and money and you got to start speaking it out into the ether in order to attract some of it.

02:36 Narrator

This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.