Early bird catches the worm.

Here's a question I get a lot: "When should I start looking (applying) for scholarships?"

With scholarships, the earlier you start looking and applying, the better. Most parents and students are under the impression that scholarships are only for high school seniors, but they're not. Scholarships are available to students of a very young age, throughout junior high and high school, during college, and beyond. So, you should always be looking for and applying for awards. In my mind, if you want to make a giant push to win a bunch of money, you should start seriously looking and applying in ninth grade. Not only are their numerous awards available for freshmen, but at this point you have the opportunity to research awards for the future years--giving you time to improve grades, get involved, and try to qualify for scholarships that may have eluded you if you had not done this early research.

But, let's get realistic. Most of us only start thinking about paying for college when we are getting ready to go. Scholarship applications typically go hand in hand with college applications. The truth is, at this point, you have to apply with what you got (you can't add more activities, hone your skills further, or improve your GPA any more because you are already at crunch time). If you are at this point, take a careful look over your activities list and high school experiences--you may have to be a bit more creative in how you package your application (which I will talk about in a future post). This is not a bad thing. In addition, you still have the opportunity to research awards that are available at your potential colleges and compare financial aid packages. Making smart financial decisions now will save you headaches down the road, trust me.

No matter where you are in school, now is always a good time to search and apply for scholarships.