Graduating high school is a major event for seniors, marking the end of a significant chapter in their lives and the beginning of a new one. But as exciting as this journey may be, some students can feel weighed down by the costs. It is no secret that college can be very expensive. The average price of attending college in the United States is $36,436 per year, including tuition, room and board, books, and other expenses. Various private institutions like Harvard University can cost upwards of $80,000 per year, totaling over $300,000 over four years. Clearly, the costs add up quickly. The issue is compounded if a student plans to go beyond a bachelor’s degree in the future by attending graduate, law, or medical school. More schooling will equal more tuition.
Colleges offer some students financial aid packages, ranging from generous full-ride tuition to several thousand dollars. To apply for financial aid from a college, students often fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as the FAFSA. Students can also fill out the College Scholarship Service, or CSS for short. One headache for students this year was that the FAFSA was released later than expected due to significant changes to make the program more straightforward for students to use. Another way students can cut the cost of attending college is by following their state school and paying in-state tuition, which is often less expensive than out-of-state. Still, even with these support systems, it is inevitable that a good number of students find themselves worrying.
Hunterdon Central Regional High School is great because it offers seniors a plethora of scholarship opportunities. On Thursday, February 8, the HC local scholarship program opened. More information can be found on the HC website linked here. This year, there are over seventy-five local scholarships for seniors totaling over $150,000. These scholarships are made available thanks to the generosity of local donors and truly represent the support of this community.
Seniors must undergo several application steps to receive one of these scholarships eventually. The first step is sifting through all the information. Students can very quickly see that there are two types of scholarships: ones that use the HCRHS application, which is a document asking for basic information about the student, and ones that have their own private applications. Ms. Nuechterlein, Hunterdon Central’s College & Career Counselor, and the HC counseling department have streamlined the process. There is a document that breaks down the scholarships based on categories such as the student’s intended college major, sports, and extracurricular activities. Depending on the scholarship’s application, students fill out information about their families, grades, honors, awards, and extracurricular activities. After that, the second step is for students to write any necessary essays and obtain recommendation letters from peers and teachers. The third and final step is to submit their application(s) via email. The scholarship application deadline for this year is March 14, 2024.
To help make the process easier, Ms. Nuechterlein hosted two informational sessions for students on February 12 and February 28. This was the first year she did anything like this. During those sessions, she went step-by-step through the entire scholarship application process with students and answered any of their questions.
Though college may come with a price tag, it is ultimately a transformative experience for many students, from academics to learning about the world. While it is essential that students still take the initiative and seek financial aid opportunities on their own, there is much to be grateful for, as the Hunterdon Central community is helping students towards their dreams with its local scholarship program.
Source:
Hanson, Melanie. “Average Cost of College & Tuition” Education Data Initiative, https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college.
