Post your questions for Marshall Rainey, South Carolina State University, Admissions Counselor.  Mr. Rainey is this weeks Focus on Education guest.  Focus on Education is an online forum that has been established to give students and parents the opportunity to have their questions answered by various educational professionals.

You can’t beat free money for college. That’s why smart students use a 1-2-3 approach to paying for college: first, use money that doesn’t have to be repaid—like grants and scholarships; second, explore federal loans; and third, fill any gap with private loans.

How do students find scholarships? What are some keys to qualifying for them? The following are some tips you can give your students to help them locate and take advantage of scholarship dollars.

Don’t rule yourself out. Scholarships are not limited to class valedictorians and star athletes. They’re awarded based on any number of factors—from career goals to exceptional writing skills displayed in an essay contest.

Apply for as many awards as you qualify for. Even small awards can be helpful in covering costs such as books and other expenses, and, taken together, they can really add up.

Understand the conditions of the award. You may be required to maintain a specific grade point average or even play in an orchestra to qualify.

Proofread: Review everything before you send it. Having a typo on your application may limit your chances of being considered for a scholarship.

Enlist support: Supplement your application with personal letters of recommendation.

Pay attention to deadlines. Miss a deadline and you’ll likely miss out on scholarship money. You may even want to try to submit your application early to stand out from the crowd.

Follow up. Confirm that the organization sponsoring the scholarship received your application.

Send a thank-you note after you receive a scholarship. This small courtesy often has a disproportionately big effect.

Make use of free scholarship directories. Never pay for scholarship information. SallieMae.com and Fastweb.com are two reliable sources of free scholarship information.

More information about scholarships is available at Salliemae.com/scholarships and Thesalliemaefund.org/scholarships.

Sallie Mae and Champions for Higher Education are registered service marks of Sallie Mae, Inc. The Sallie Mae Fund is a registered service mark of the Sallie Mae Fund. SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries, including Sallie Mae, Inc., are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America. Copyright 2008 by Sallie Mae, Inc. All rights reserved. 11/08.

Editorial: Black Male Dropouts Getting in the GAME Philadelphia Inquirer March 7, 2008 There’s a lot at stake with a new program starting today that hopes to cut the dropout rate among Philadelphia’s young African American males and set their sights on college. It’s poorly educated young men who too frequently end up in the city’s too-high counts of homicide victims and prison inmates. Trying to help turn that around is GAME – “Getting African American Males Educated” – which is kicking off with a recruitment event hosted by the 76ers at the Wachovia Center. Participants will meet the team and take a photo with their favorite player. More important, they can complete a single online application for admission into any of 34 historically black colleges, including Lincoln and Cheyney universities.  

Sponsored in Philadelphia and 10 other cities by Atlanta-based EDU Inc., GAME has the potential to send 10,000 black males to college in the fall, says EDU president Robert Mason. The program targets young men who may have less-than-stellar grades or SAT scores and are on the fence about college. They will get encouragement from mentors – black men from the community. Mason launched the program last year with the Atlanta Hawks. He pointed out that nationally 12 percent of black males, ages 16 to 24, were dropouts, compared with 6 percent for white males. The high school dropout rate for black males was 53 percent in Philadelphia in 2005. “It was obvious that something had to be done,” said Mason. The program is already getting results, he said. At least 90 percent of the young men who attended the GAME event in Atlanta were accepted to colleges. Naran Butler-Houck, a social worker at Franklin High, says he’s recruiting young men for GAME “to heighten their expectation” of going to college. Dante Morgan, a Franklin senior, says he wants to go to college to show “black males are more than gangsters or rappers.” Before today’s game between the 76ers and Seattle SuperSonics, GAME participants will hear presentations from community leaders and meet their mentors. One student will be awarded a $500 scholarship from Sallie Mae. The program may expand next year to include sophomores and juniors. Plans are to also target Latino students. This worthwhile effort deserves great support.