As students prepare to continue their education in college, one important factor to keep in mind is the financial demand. From tuition and housing to extra amenities in order to enhance the college experience, the cost of attending university quickly adds up to overwhelming sums. However, this can be alleviated by the pursuit of scholarships that provide money in support of a college education.

Students can be eligible for a plethora of scholarships, as foundations seek out students with a wide variety of abilities and skill sets. While athletic scholarships for stellar athletes are most commonly known among students, merit scholarships are another attainable way to help fund a student’s college tuition. These scholarships are automatically awarded to students based on their GPA and grades once they are accepted into a college. Mater Dei Counselor Marybeth Nguyen explains how merit scholarships can dramatically reduce a student’s college tuition.

“I’ve seen people get amazing scholarships for athletics, but I’ve also seen people get big discounts from other universities just based on merit,” Marybeth Nguyen said. “Every school has a breakdown of merit scholarships that automatically apply to your applications. When you’re applying to the school, it will automatically give you a scholarship amount if you meet their criteria for that specific school as part of your acceptance letter. If you can get your merit scholarships based on your GPA and grades, it makes all the colleges end up being around the same cost.”

Senior Izzy Nguyen is one Monarch who has received merit scholarships from the universities she has been accepted to thus far based on her academic achievements. With straight As and a 4.4 weighted GPA, she was offered merit scholarships from Baylor University in Texas, Drexel University in Pennsylvania, and also University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

“For my college application, what stands out the most is the academic part,” Izzy Nguyen said. “It was a great way to get money from that too, and it’s really rewarding.”

As an international student, merit scholarships truly relieve Izzy Nguyen of financial burdens, especially when it comes to balancing the cost of studying abroad between her and her siblings.

“I’m an international student, so I’ve studied abroad since high school, and that’s going to be a lot of money for my parents,” Izzy Nguyen said. “Not only that, but also because my parents are also funding for my brothers, who are also studying abroad in the U.S.”

Third party scholarship websites are another resource in gaining financial assistance. However, one must be careful in determining which websites are actually credible as well as feasible.

“You shouldn’t have to pay for a [scholarship] website, or [any] scholarship access ever, and there’s a couple caveats to that,” Marybeth Nguyen said. “[Also], for some of the third party scholarships, you’re competing with 10s of 1000s of other high school seniors in the U.S. The bigger the website, and the more popular it is, the less of a chance that you’re going to have to actually get it, because it has more competition and more eyes on it.”

Marybeth Nguyen highlights several popular scholarship websites and encourages students to narrow their scholarship search by looking for specific categories that appeal to them as well as scholarships in specialized communities.

“A big, famous website is called fast web, [which is] a big network of lists of scholarships lined up,” Marybeth Nguyen said. ”Another one is called goingmerry.com. That’s where you find a couple current ones. And then that way it’s like shopping when you have eliminated certain categories. Other ones include scholarships.com but you just have to be more careful about what your categories are. There’s also Orange County scholarships in general, so that one Orange County Foundation has different ones that keep it more local, which is helpful. And also within your church, you can see if they have any type of scholarships available to your high school. Mater Dei has certain [scholarship opportunities]. And sometimes your parents’ jobs have different scholarship things they do.”

For seniors specifically, Marybeth Nguyen also recommends searching for scholarships offered at the specific college the student has been accepted to. With application essays that relate directly to certain majors or demographics, the application pool narrows significantly, giving students a greater chance of earning the scholarship.

”A lot of the best scholarships come from the actual university that you end up attending,” Marybeth Nguyen said. “If you know what your major will be, there could be scholarships within that specific area, like I saw one for environmental science for UC Santa Barbara.”

Mater Dei offers various scholarship opportunities for students as well. Senior Awards Night celebrates certain students for their outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements with grants to whatever college a given student plans on attending in the fall.

“Senior awards is something that does get kind of overlooked sometimes, and [there are] just a couple online applications,” Marybeth Nguyen said. “There’s a wrestling specific scholarship, a performing arts specific scholarship, and a second performing arts one. [These are] the best ones that I like to advertise.”

It is never too early to apply for scholarships. Freshman Liam Estrada earned the Anthony Barajas Scholarship for Acts of Kindness after hearing about it through Mater Dei’s email announcements. As a member of Mater Dei’s soccer team and guitar program, Estrada fulfilled the requirements of being involved in both sports and performing arts for the scholarship, similar to Anthony Barajas. After encouragement from his parents to apply, he is grateful that  the financial stress will be lifted from his family’s shoulders after receiving the scholarship.

“Honestly, my parents motivated me to sign up for it [for] the extra [financial] assistance,” Estrada said. “School is really expensive.”

The scholarship required an essay on how the student uses their gifts and talents to help others, Estrada believes the impact of Anthony Barajas’ life as a caring individual propels him forward, reflecting his future goals in life.

”It aligns with just trying to do the right thing,” Estrada said. “Even if you don’t want to, do your best to be an example that people can follow.”

Whether it’s through scholarships granted by colleges or seeking out additional support through other organizations, students should not give up on their scholarship search. Izzy Nguyen encourages students to keep pursuing scholarships, advising them to express their passions and connect it to future contributions and goals.

“Just try your best,” Izzy Nguyen said. “Put in what you’re passionate about, and what you want the college to see in your application profile, to prove that you are worth it for the scholarship [and] that you are suitable for the college to accept you. Then [they’ll] see your passion, and how you can contribute to college.”