The school year is almost over and summer is almost here! If you are an incoming Senior, you probably want to make the most out of your summer that you possibly can, and we want to help you!
There are a few simple things you can be doing between working your summer job and visiting the pool with your friends that will help you get ready for your senior year and for college after that. In just an hour a week, you can put yourself in a great position to get ready for your important final year in high school!
Apply for scholarships: There are a ton of scholarships available for you, and most of them can be filled out at any point. They don’t take long to fill out and the potential benefits are high. If you need help finding scholarships, we keep a scholarship database at UCanGo2.org where you can sort them by category or deadline date.
We also offer a few publications that can help your scholarship search, like our Scholarship Success Guide and our Scholarship Tracker.
There’s no limit to the number of scholarships you can apply for and no limit to the amount of money you can receive from scholarships, so this is a great way to spend a few summer evenings.
Prepare for the FAFSA: You can’t apply for the FAFSA until it is released each year, but there are a few things you can do to prepare yourself for when it is released.
Create an account at StudentAid.gov – you and your parents will need to have a StudentAid.gov account to fill out the FAFSA. Do that now and you won’t have to worry about it later.
Gather your documentation – you’ll need certain documents to fill out the FAFSA (for example, your Social Security card and your tax paperwork). If you gather those documents now, you won’t have to try and locate them later when the FAFSA is released. For a list of the documentation needed, you can use our Items Needed to Complete a FAFSA checklist.
What Else? If you still want more to do, check out our Senior Checklist. It will show you all the things you need to do during your senior year to be ready for college. You won’t be able to complete all of these steps yet, but you’ll know what they are and you and your family can make sure there’s nothing holding you back when you graduate.