Cut Them Free!

Seniors, as you start narrowing down your college choices, it is important to cut the other schools free. What does that mean?  It means that as you begin identifying which college or the few colleges that are still in the running that it is important for you to notify the other colleges that you do NOT intend to attend their school beginning next year. Please, wait to tell the schools that you will not be attending until you are completely sure that you are no longer considering them. However, I realize that many of you have already decided or have at least narrowed your choice to a smaller group of colleges and you have completely eliminated others from consideration. Those which have been completely eliminated are the colleges I am recommending you notify as soon as possible.

This is important because it allows the college to plan for their upcoming student body and to know if they have room to accept other students off of their wait-lists. Think about your classmates who might be on the waiting list for a school and they want to hear back from the schools as quickly as possible and there are other students across the country in the same situation. Colleges can't begin opening up additional slots until they know which students will or will not be attending. Additionally, if you received scholarship offers from one of the colleges that you have eliminated from the running, this can also potentially allow the college to offer that money out to other students which, again, can help people such as your fellow classmates. Believe me, the colleges will not be angry with you for deciding that you will not be attending their school - they understand that this is part of the process, so just go ahead and take a few minutes to let them know of your intent to attend a different college.

Local Scholarships

The local scholarships are now completely updated and available on the Lexington Student Services Center website.  These scholarships provide a great opportunity for students to earn some additional financial help for college. And, with the scholarships being local, it means that there would be less people applying for the scholarships (compared to national scholarships) which gives you a better chance of receiving one of the scholarships.
Please take the time to carefully read through the criteria for the scholarships to see which ones would be appropriate for you to apply for and then start working. When you go to the Student Services website and click on the SENIOR TIMELINES & SCHOLARSHIPS area you will be taken to the listing of all of the scholarships and it has the link to each scholarship application.
Most of the deadlines for completed applications are coming up in April and May(some are earlier) and no late applications can be accepted. I cannot stress enough the importance of planning ahead and starting to work on these scholarships now!
Also, please pay attention to see if the applications require a written recommendation letter and ask your teacher(s) for a letter as soon as possible - especially if they have not already written a rec letter that you can use for the scholarships.