Scholarships with August Deadlines and for Adult Learners

Jonathan Hughes: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to the MEFA Podcast. My name is Jonathan Hughes.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: And I'm Julie Shields-Rutyna.

Jonathan Hughes: Today, we're going to talk about scholarships, everyone's favorite topic again, and we are going to welcome back to the show, Lauren Danz, to go over some of the scholarships that we're highlighting.

And so every so often we have Lauren on the show to do this, and what we usually do is have her come on and talk about scholarships that have upcoming deadlines. And we are going to do that today, but we're also going to highlight a second group of scholarships, and that is scholarships for adult learners.

So lots and lots of scholarships today, but first, Julie, before we get into that, what do you say we kick things off with a mailbag question?

Julie Shields-Rutyna: I would love to.

Jonathan Hughes: Okay, so just in case you [00:01:00] weren't sure, these are questions that have come in to us over the past weeks and been answered by our college planning team.

Remember, if you have any questions, you can email us at collegeplanning@mefa.org, you can call us at 800-449-MEFA and you can also reach us over social media on Facebook that's @MEFAMA. On X, it's @MEFATweets and on Instagram, it's @MFEA_MA, our question today comes to us from Jennifer who writes, I'm wanting to know options for loans for my student going to college this fall.

It appears she needs $25,546 per year. What is the fixed interest rate and for how long? Also, I heard there's a way to lock in at a great fixed rate, but pay little throughout the school year with 0 percent interest. Could you please share loan options? There's a lot to [00:02:00] go through there, Julie. Where do you want to start?

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Yes, there's a lot to that question. I guess I would say that the first place to start when you think about borrowing is definitely with those federal student loans. And those would be probably listed in the financial aid offer that the college sent. So you want to start there. And there's a website, studentaid.gov, and that's where the student would go in, learn about those loans complete what's called an entrance interview. and sign a master promissory note for those. So that is the first place to start. However, the maximum for a freshman to borrow those loans is $5,500, so usually not enough. Since this family is saying that the student needs about $25,000, that would only cover a smaller portion of that.

Jonathan Hughes: And that's part, that $5,500 is probably also already. factored in with the financial aid, right?

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Oh, it might be depending on how they are [00:03:00] determining how much more they need. It could be. Yes. Yes. So then the family can determine after all of the aid is subtracted from the costs, what else do I need?

And maybe in this case, it is a full $25,000. And so really I advise that families go about this the same way you would go about any financing. If you're going to borrow. Buy a house by, a car that you want to find financing or a loan. That's going to have the best terms, interest rates, repayment options for you as a family, and that could differ slightly from family to family.

One thing that's great is there's a MEFA College Loan Calculator, and that allows a family to go in and put in the amount that you're going to borrow and the number of years that the student will be in college and it will show you all of the [00:04:00] options. So there are options where a family can start repaying immediately.

There are options where a family can pay interest only, or they can defer that loan until after the student graduates. And so they would be able to see the different interest rates in terms and payment amounts and monthly payments for all of those different options. I think it's a really good idea to do that research with MEFA, with other lenders maybe the family has a bank that they do a lot of banking with.

They can check out any educational loans there. There's also the federal plus loan that the college will tell them about. They can look into that, the rates, the terms because they really do want to treat this as any other loan and try to get probably the lowest interest rate and the best terms.

Jonathan Hughes: All right, Julie. Thanks. And one more time. If you have questions, you can email us at collegeplanning@mefa.org. You can call us at 800-449-MEFA or Facebook is @MEFAMA, X @MEFATweets [00:05:00] and Instagram @MEFA_MA. Just remember we have a bench of college guidance experts waiting to answer your question.

Now let's move on to scholarships, ones that you can apply for right now. In fact. have to apply for right now because they have deadlines approaching. So these are our scholarships with deadlines in August and here to talk about them is our friend MEFA’s own Lauren Danz. Hi, Lauren.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Hey, Lauren.

Lauren Danz: Hi.

Jonathan Hughes: Welcome back to the show. Now, as I mentioned, you do this for us every couple of months. So what do you have for us this time?

Lauren Danz: Yes thanks for having me back. And our first scholarship is the race entry student scholarship. And this is by organization called race entry, and this refers to running races, so marathons and whatnot. And RaceEntry is an online race [00:06:00] registration company, which just goes to show you how many different companies and organizations can offer scholarships. Who's eligible for this? So it's open to students who are enrolled at an accredited U. S. college or university.

Jonathan Hughes: So this one is for current college students. So what do you have to do?

Lauren Danz: Yeah. So for this one, you write an essay between 1000 and 2000 words explaining what inspired you to run a race, what challenges you faced and what you learned through the experience. The prize amount is 500 and the deadline to apply is August 15th. The website is raceentry.com/racetoinspirescholarship and we'll post that link in the show notes too.

Yeah, and if you want you can go to the site and view the past winners and read their submissions which I always think is really helpful to do so when I was researching this I was able to go on and take a look at them and do that.

Again, 1, 000 to 2, 000 words [00:07:00] is not so long we'll see shorter later on, but they're not so long, so you don't have a ton to write in order to win that one.

Jonathan Hughes: What's next, Lauren?

Lauren Danz: Yeah I'm along the same lines. The next one is the Mrs. Printables Educator Scholarship, and before you ask, Mrs.

Printables created the original gourmet caramel apples more than 30 years ago, and now offers a variety of caramel and chocolate confections as well. Who's this for? And what do they have to do? Yeah, so this is open to incoming or current college students. who are majoring in education, and the applicants have to complete the application and write an essay on why they want to be an educator and what they believe they have to offer the students of the future.

Jonathan Hughes: I thought Mrs. Printable would be an educator herself, but gourmet caramel apples and just happens to be a fan of educators. That's nice. And what's the prize amount there?

Lauren Danz: Yeah, so the prize is [00:08:00] 1, 000. And the deadline for this one is August 18th and the winners will be notified around August 23rd. So it's a quick turnaround time on this one.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: And I noticed they say winners.

Lauren Danz: Yes, I noticed that too. Although it doesn't say how many winners there may be, but the website to apply to is mrsprintables.com/news/educationscholarship.

Jonathan Hughes: Okay. now you have one more for us., do you?

Lauren Danz: Yes. And this one is the Apprentice Ecologist Initiative, and this one is open to students between 13 and 21 years of age. And applicants must conduct their own environmental stewardship project and write an essay about the project and what it meant to them, including some photos of the project in action. It is offered by the Nicodemus Wilderness Project, which is a non profit ecological group.

And if you visit the link that we'll post in the notes, you can view some of [00:09:00] the past projects. And they range from all over. So New England, Santa Fe, Texas, and they cover projects like the funding of a climate change advocacy organization and the protection of gardens and natural land. So three winners will each receive 1750, so 1750 each, and the deadline is August 31st.

Jonathan Hughes: How do we get these scholarships? They're quite a diverse group.

Lauren Danz: Yeah so they really come from all over. So some organizations actually email us and say, we have this scholarship, we'd love students to take advantage of it, could you please promote it in one of your articles or on social media. Some of them we come across ourselves.

So we just will do our research and look for scholarships that have deadlines in a certain month, say, or maybe you have a gear towards a certain group of people, like [00:10:00] nursing students, for example, if we're going to do an article on that and then we also get a regular number of newsletters from other organizations that we'll list out some upcoming scholarships or sometimes if one of those looks like a good fit, we'll include it as well.

Jonathan Hughes: All right. Thank you, Lauren. Now on to the second type of scholarship that we're going to be highlighting. And I do, I love this one because it was new to me. It's scholarships for adult learners.

And what I mean by it's new to me is that when I talk about scholarships to families, I'm always stressing that really young students can find scholarships to apply for. And people are always surprised to hear that, as I was surprised to learn it. I always say I've seen scholarships for students as young as the third grade.

So I'm always emphasizing how young you can be and still get scholarships or apply for scholarships. But honestly, I didn't really ever think of scholarships for adult learners. So I love that they exist and they're good. So I [00:11:00] don't want to ruin the surprise, but I think some of these are for a fair amount of money. Let's kick things off then with the first one. What is it Lauren?

Lauren Danz: The first one that we're going to highlight has a really good name. It's the Boomer Benefits Scholarship.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: I love it. Who grants this one?

Lauren Danz: It's an organization called Boomer Benefits and they actually help people to understand Medicare in all of its different iterations.

And the prize is $2,500. It's open to U. S. citizens and permanent residents age 50 or older who are currently enrolled in an accredited undergraduate or graduate program and have at least a 3. 0 GPA.

Jonathan Hughes: Okay, so you need to be enrolled in college for this one. What do folks need to do then?

Lauren Danz: You have to complete the application, including an official transcript and a letter of recommendation, and write an essay describing your current career goals, how your education will help you achieve those goals, and your community service history. Yeah, and this is another August deadline. It's August [00:12:00] 27th.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: And how many winners can there be?

Lauren Danz: There will be two winners for this one. If you go to the website, which is boomerbenefits.com/scholarshiprequirements, they have the requirements and some FAQs listed as well. And of course, we'll put the link in the show notes as well.

Jonathan Hughes: All right, Lauren, what's next and who's up for it?

Lauren Danz: Yeah, so the next one is the return to college scholarship. And applicants must be a U. S. citizen or legal resident starting a program of higher education within the next 12 months, or they're currently a full or part time student already.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Okay, but is this for adult learners?

Lauren Danz: So you don't have to technically be an adult learner to apply for this one, but the organization that gives the scholarship out is geared towards adult learners. And the prize for this one is $1,000. The deadline is September 30th. So you have a lot of time still to apply for this if you're interested and to apply, you have to answer the question. [00:13:00] Why are you getting your degree in three sentences or less?

Jonathan Hughes: That is, I couldn't believe three sentences or less. How do you actually do it? Where did you go online? Do you, is it?

Lauren Danz: Yes. Yeah. So it's on the website which we will post in the notes, but yes, I found this interesting. Here is some of the language under the section on how to apply.

They say, we know the essay requirement does not allow for many words. We want you to focus on the most important reason for getting your degree. Nevertheless, we realize that some of you may want to say more. Therefore, you may submit more than one entry. We will judge all completed entries. Just use some common sense. Under a dozen entries are fine. Any more and the judges may start to question your focus for going to school.

Jonathan Hughes: That's, yeah, I guess that's common sense. Yeah, let's move on to the next one.

Lauren Danz: Yes. This next one, I really like this one. It has a real focus and a good size award. It's the Live Your Dream Award, and this is open to [00:14:00] women who provide the primary financial support for themselves and their dependents, have financial need, and are enrolled or have been accepted to a vocational skills training program.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Okay, this is great. Everyone needs money to help pay for education, but that really does sound like a worthy group.

Lauren Danz: Yes, and more good news, the winner is awarded up to $16,000.

Jonathan Hughes: And how do they apply, then?

Lauren Danz: This is another one with an online application and essay, and the application deadline is November 15.

Jonathan Hughes: And where's it from?

Lauren Danz: The organization is called Soroptimist. And they describe themselves as a global volunteer organization that provides women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic empowerment.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Oh, yeah, that's great. Yeah, I just Soroptimist means best for women.

Jonathan Hughes: Huh. That's new to me too. Wait, that's a [00:15:00] word? I just

It's a word. And it means best for women? Huh. Soroptimist, huh? Soroptimist. Yeah, all right, I like it.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: So anyway, we all always learn things. Hey, that sounds great. Any more, Lauren?

Lauren Danz: Yes, there is one more. And the prizes for this one will vary depending upon the college, but you can win up to 50, 000 for this scholarship.

Jonathan Hughes: That's huge. Who gives that one out?

Lauren Danz: This one is the Osher Reentry Scholarship.

Jonathan Hughes: This is not the occupational Safety and Hazard Administration, right? This is, I'm saying OSHA with a Boston accent.

Lauren Danz: No, granted by the OSHA Foundation, and you would need to be attending college at a participating college in order to be eligible for this.

And the deadline for the scholarship will vary depending on the college you're attending. This is from the organization website. It says, The [00:16:00] Bernard Osher Foundation, headquartered in San Francisco, was started in 1977 by Bernard Osher, a respected businessman and community leader. The foundation seeks to improve the quality of life through support for higher education and the arts.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: All right, tell us about this one, Lauren.

Lauren Danz: This one is open to individuals between 25 and 50 who have experienced an interruption in their education of five or more years and who want to resume their education at the undergraduate level.

Jonathan Hughes: And how do people apply for this one?

Lauren Danz: So even the application process itself varies from college to college for this one.

But generally, it includes completing the application and writing a short essay or personal statement addressing your educational gap, your decision to return to school, and your educational goals. How do people know if their college participates? They can go to the website, which is osherfoundation. org.

But just to give our [00:17:00] Massachusetts listeners an idea, the following colleges in Massachusetts participate in the re entry scholarship program. And those are Boston College, Boston University, Tufts University, UMass Boston, and Wellesley College.

Jonathan Hughes: All right, Lauren. That was quite a lot of scholarships.

So we're going to be posting all of the links in the show notes. Just to keep checking in with us because we are always updating our social media channels and our blogs with new scholarship opportunities. And check out MIFA. org as well, just for scholarship search engine information and tips on applying.

Alright, that has been our show. Lauren, thank you for being here.

Lauren Danz: Oh, thank you for having me.

Jonathan Hughes: Julie, thank you as well.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Oh, no, this has been great. Thank you.

Jonathan Hughes: And folks, if you liked what you heard today and you want to know more from us on planning, saving, and paying for college and career readiness, then you can follow the show.

And you can find us wherever you find your podcasts. And please remember to review [00:18:00] us, because it does help us to keep doing what we're doing and getting the show out to folks like you. I'd like to thank Shaun Connolly, our producer. I'd like to thank Lisa Rooney, AJ Yee, and wouldn't you know it, Lauren Danz, for their assistance in getting the show posted so that you can hear it.

Once again, my name is Jonathan Hughes, and this has been the MEFA Podcast. Thank you.