[SuziQ]

Your daughter will have an advantage because she's a girl, especially if she wants to go into any scientific, math, or engineering program. Our #1 son was #4 in his class and got a full scholarship to a state school. Our #2 son was also #4 in his class, but because he chose a very competitive private school, and he didn't apply for any particular scholarships, he didn't get any. He got 'financial aid' because our #1 son was in college at the same time. The FAFSA forms don't ask if the other kids in college have scholarships. ;o) He took out loans for the remainder. Our daughter got a scholarship to the small, Catholic University because she had a good SAT score. Remains to be seen about the youngest son, but he's a Senior so he'll have to start working on this soon.

There are websites out there that give all kinds of info about scholarships. Whatever you do, DO NOT sign up with a company that you have to pay them to search for you; it's not necessary, unless you just don't have the time or the internet skills to do the research. Have your daughter do some searching. I remember reading about a young women who did her research and ended up with $250,000 in scholarship offers! Just involves doing a lot of applications, getting recommendations lined up and polishing up those essay skills!

[mtbopfuyn]

$250k, I’d love to know step by step and letter by letter what she did. Yes, I’m already starting a file and bookmarking websites. During the less lean times, we managed to save for basic tuition to a state school but food, dorm, books, lab fees, etc. just isn’t in the budget. Now knocking on wood and crossing fingers that the GPA stays up there.