Paying for college

I recently attended a planning commission meeting for Penn Hills. During the meeting there was a sporting facility applying for permission to build in Penn Hills. The fact that an entity wants to build in Penn Hills and add value and commerce to the local economy is exciting, but what I learned during the presenter’s discussion was even more exciting!

The facility is a rowing club and in addition to many services it provides it facilitates college scholarships for kids who row. We learned that 75% of kids that compete in rowing and apply for college aid receive it. It is like rowing your way to college. That was amazing to me. I found out that like so many other people when people think about athletic college scholarships they tend to think about football, basketball, and baseball. However, even smaller sports that don’t always make headlines can provide college money to student athletes.

After that presentation I started thinking that maybe there were a lot of other ways to get scholarship money for college that I never thought of before. Paying for college is always a topic of interest and discussion when talking about financial planning. Personally, I am generally against having parents pay for their child’s college education with their own money. First, I don’t think that kids, in general, will appreciate their education as much if they don’t have to earn the money to pay for it. Secondly, I think there is a lot more scholarship and grant money out there that many of us are aware of.

One thing is for sure. Getting a free college education takes planning and preparation. That starts in the freshman year of high school. There are lots of doors that lead to college scholarship money but more of them will open for the students that make themselves more attractive to colleges and organizations through academics, community involvement, and athletics.

I will be writing more about paying for college with scholarships and grants as paying for education will be one of the larger expenses most people are faced with in their lifetime.

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