Scholarships and Financial Aid

Scholarships and financial aid can be obtained through three major components: Federal and State Aid (FAFSA), specific colleges/universities, and merit based competitive scholarships.                                               

Federal and State Aid

To receive any Federal or State funding for post-secondary education, parents/students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or the FAFSA. The FAFSA will be available for parents/students beginning January 1st of the senior year. The FAFSA cannot be filled out any earlier as it is based on the previous year’s tax records and income. To be considered for State Aid the FAFSA must be filed by April 15th, although some colleges set earlier deadlines.  Fishers High School will host a FAFSA information night and financial aid workshop for parents in January.  It can be filled out electronically on the Federal Student Aid website. 

Specific Colleges and Universities

Just about every post-secondary institution that you apply to will offer scholarships and financial aid for incoming freshmen. These opportunities are not available through the high school guidance office but rather by contacting the college or university’s Office of Financial Aid. The webpage of the college or university that you are considering should have a link to incoming freshman scholarships and the steps needed to apply. These scholarships are going to be more competitive at the major state universities (IU, Purdue). Private colleges/universities tend to offer more opportunities for scholarships to help offset the much higher tuition costs. Bottom line: Contact the college or universities Office of Financial Aid. 

Merit-based Competitive Scholarships

These scholarships are funded through numerous organizations, some local and some national. The number of scholarships out there are far too numerous to list here. The best way to find out which scholarships fit your resume best is to go to either www.fastweb.com or www.scholarships.com these two sites have over 800,000 different scholarships for high school seniors. Basically, these sites have you fill out a personal profile that will include your GPA, extra-curricular activities, community involvement, and everything else from gender to ethnicity. The database will catch the scholarships that you would be competitive with. Remember, these are open competitions, available to students throughout the country so just filling out the application does not mean you will win it. Scholarship searches can be a daunting task but very manageable if you get started early on during senior year. Never use a site or service that charges any fee to locate scholarships for you and never apply for a scholarship that charges a fee. If you are skeptical about any service or scholarship that you come across, always contact your counselor. Local businesses and organizations will have some opportunities as well and they will always be posted on the Naviance advising system.

Additionally, students may consider the following scholarship options:

Uniform Application for Community Scholarships (UACS)

The Uniform Application for Community Scholarships (UACS) will be available soon through the Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation.

Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) Scholarships

Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) will be awarding over $1.4 million in scholarships this year to Indiana high school seniors.