DAYTON -- Sending your kid off to college can be an exciting time, but the bittersweet moment can be taxing on the wallet, so scholarship experts advise parents to start their search for funding early.
Waiting until your child's senior year in high school could cause you to miss out on some serious cash. There are thousands of scholarships available for kids as young as 6 years old.
Caroline Wright is the director of scholarships for PACE (Parents Advancing Choice in Education). Nowadays, universities are raising their tuition rates, sometimes annually, which can be stressful for parents. But scholarships are available, you just have to know where to find them. The lesson for parents: apply early and often.
"I think that people have to make wise decisions. You have to look at your resources, you have to look at what you're trying to accomplish and treat college as an investment," said Wright.
Kohls Department Store offers a $10,000 scholarship for kids 6 and up who are involved in community service and if your kid is artistic, Google has an art scholarship for $30,000.
"Sometimes, there might be scholarships that you don't even know about and there are a lot of people out there who get them just because they are the only ones who applied," said Ashley Fish of Fairborn.
Other scholarships available for youth include: The Gloria Barron Prize, which offers $2,500 to environmental activists, Olive Garden Essay Contest and Jiff's Most Creative Sandwich contest, a $25,000 prize for young chefs.
Wright says starting the conversation early can go a long way.
"It's more to it than just a scholarship search, you have to really understand what it's going to take to go to college. Parents need to educate themselves on what's available and it needs to be a family conversation," Wright explained.
On March 9, PACE is hosting a free community expo at Sinclair Community College that will provide families with information about scholarships available in the Miami Valley. It runs from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
There are other scholarship search engines like FastWeb, FinAid and College Scholarships.
Waiting until your child's senior year in high school could cause you to miss out on some serious cash. There are thousands of scholarships available for kids as young as 6 years old.
Caroline Wright is the director of scholarships for PACE (Parents Advancing Choice in Education). Nowadays, universities are raising their tuition rates, sometimes annually, which can be stressful for parents. But scholarships are available, you just have to know where to find them. The lesson for parents: apply early and often.
"I think that people have to make wise decisions. You have to look at your resources, you have to look at what you're trying to accomplish and treat college as an investment," said Wright.
Kohls Department Store offers a $10,000 scholarship for kids 6 and up who are involved in community service and if your kid is artistic, Google has an art scholarship for $30,000.
"Sometimes, there might be scholarships that you don't even know about and there are a lot of people out there who get them just because they are the only ones who applied," said Ashley Fish of Fairborn.
Other scholarships available for youth include: The Gloria Barron Prize, which offers $2,500 to environmental activists, Olive Garden Essay Contest and Jiff's Most Creative Sandwich contest, a $25,000 prize for young chefs.
Wright says starting the conversation early can go a long way.
"It's more to it than just a scholarship search, you have to really understand what it's going to take to go to college. Parents need to educate themselves on what's available and it needs to be a family conversation," Wright explained.
On March 9, PACE is hosting a free community expo at Sinclair Community College that will provide families with information about scholarships available in the Miami Valley. It runs from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
There are other scholarship search engines like FastWeb, FinAid and College Scholarships.
