Everyone. There are scholarships out there for all college bound students seeking higher education. Regardless of your age, ethnicity, financial status, grade point average, or ACT score, there is financial assistance out there for you.

It’s never too early (or too late) to start! I started as a freshman and had a huge advantage over my peers because I already had all the materials I needed (like letters of recommendation, transcripts, essays, resumes) and I created a list of scholarships that I knew I didn’t want to miss. I’m convinced my early start played an integral part in my major scholarship wins, accumulating more than $900,000 in scholarships for my own college education.

High school seniors should not wait until after college acceptances come out to start applying for scholarships. Many of the best scholarships have an early fall deadline so they can announce winners in the spring before graduation. The sooner you start, the more success you’ll have.

All of them. Or none of them. It depends on your definition of easy. Students usually consider the scholarships that don’t require essays easier than scholarships that do need an essay. However, the no-essay scholarships typically have a much larger selection pool than their counterparts. These “easy” scholarships are often chosen by random lottery OR they are scams just phishing for your email address so they can sell your info to advertising sites. Put in the extra effort and write that essay, you'll be glad you did.

The fact is that the majority of scholarships do not require any financial documentation. You don’t have to be the smartest, or the poorest, or the most athletic to win scholarships. There are scholarships out there for everyone to have college access, there are scholarships out there for you.

I always suggest starting with your local scholarships. Then move on to your state scholarships. After that, research school specific or major specific scholarships, and then look into larger “big name” national scholarships and scholarships that pertain to your interests. The “best” scholarships may be different for everyone.