Nolan Catholic College Counseling
Class of 2022 - March 2022
Senior To Do List - March 2022
- Senior Survey - Please let us know about college admission decisions and scholarship awards!
- The Waiting Game! By now most of you have submitted your applications and are waiting for responses. Congratulate yourself on surviving a process that seemed very overwhelming and confusing at the onset! While you're waiting to hear from schools, here are some things that you can do:
- Keep your grades up! All admission offers require that you successfully complete high school. If "senior slide" sets in and your grades drop, you may have a lot of explaining!
- Talk to students who are home from college for Spring Break to learn more about their college experience.
- Continue your involvement in extracurricular activities. Make a positive difference to your school and community!
- Appreciate your family! Next year you may be going off to school and will not have the opportunity to spend as much time with siblings or parents.
- Hang out with friends and agree ahead of time that you will not talk about college for a while
- Check Application Portals & Emails - You may have good news in your inbox!
- Financial Aid and Scholarship Awards - Check application portals for financial aid and scholarship awards! Most schools will post awards online prior to mailing award letters.
- FAFSA - Did you complete and submit the FAFSA? The FAFSA is required to receive all financial aid, student loans, parent plus loans, and most scholarships! See below!
- Scholarships - Get serious about looking for and applying to scholarships! Check out the scholarships and scholarship search engines listed below!
FINANCIAL AID
Compare Your Award Letters
CollegeBoard BigFuture has an easy to use tool or calculator to help you compare the cost of each college - HERE.
- First, gather the materials you will need:
- The award letters for all the colleges you are considering, along with any accompanying materials.
- The viewbook or other application/admission materials for these colleges. (If the award letter does not contain complete information about college costs, you can often find it in the viewbook or other application/admission materials.)
- Read through each award letter carefully. Circle or highlight each of the aid types and amounts you've been offered. It's important to realize that each of the award letters will probably present the aid offer differently. Some may list each aid type and amount in columns. Others may list some or all of the aid types in narrative paragraphs.
- Click on the links in the left column. Before you enter data into the comparison tool, click on the links. They provide important information and advice about each of the cost and aid fields, and will help you better understand your aid offers.
- Ask for help. If you're having trouble understanding your award letters, stop by the Guidance Center and ask you counselor.
It's Not Too Late to Apply for Financial Aid - FAFSA
- Student - Create an FSA ID - HERE. FSA ID's are needed in order to sign and submit your FAFSA.
- Parent - One parent must also create an FSA ID (separate from your student's) - HERE
- Use 2020 Federal Tax Return data!
- Use the IRS Retrieval Tool if you are eligible
- Complete the FAFSA for the 2022-2023 school year.
- Add all the colleges to which you're applying! If you add colleges to your list after you have completed the FAFSA -- just edit it and add!
- Use your legal name!
Scholarships Awarded by a College or University
Check the Financial Aid and Scholarship webpages of each college you're applying to! Are there any additional applications needed (besides the admissions application)? Are there any scholarships that fit your profile and need an additional application?
Complete a Net Price Calculator for every college on your list! Net Price Calculator's, available on every college's website, are an easy tool to use to estimate how much each college might give you in scholarship money!
Scholarship Search Engines
- Going Merry - It’s free! Going Merry has thousands of national, regional, and local scholarships. To sign up, go to: https://app.goingmerry.com/sign-up#students
Scholarships!
- Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Scholarship - due April 15
Mexican American College Education Fund - due April 1
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater North Texas Scholarship - due April 1
Hispanic Scholarship Consortium - due April 30
- OU Club or Fort Worth- see attachment, due March 11
- OU Fort Worth Alumni Scholarship - see attachment
- Colleyville Garden Club Scholarship - see attachment, due April 6
- UA - Diversity Based Merit Scholarship - due May 1
- The University of Tulsa Music Scholarship
- VFW - Voice of Democracy National Audio Essa
- Horatio Alger Career & Technical Scholarships
- National Rice Month Scholarship Contest
- The Coca-Cola Scholars Program Scholarship
- Baylor University Specialty Baylor Awards
- College for All Texans, Bordering States Waiver
- Oklahoma State University Out of State Scholarships
- University of Texas at Dallas - The Eugene McDermott Scholars Program
- Dayton University - Leadership in Service Scholarship
- Catholic College Information Scholarship
- Around the Corner from College Scholarship - due Dec 31 and June 30