Your Last Name Could Mean Thousands in Scholarship Money
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Here's your money briefing for Wednesday, June 12th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal.
What surprising categories of non‑academic college scholarships exist?
Beyond academics and athletics, there are more categories of college scholarships available than you think.
There is one for duck calling abilities. There's one for particularly tall people. There are ones for people who want to go into different fields like candy manufacturing or certain technical industries. There are some schools that have literally dozens of these where if you're a descendant of a particular person or you have a particular last name, you are a preferred recipient of a certain scholarship.
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal reporter Melissa Korn after the break.
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There are various scholarships available to college students, more than just for academics, among them having a notable last name. Wall Street Journal reporter Melissa Korn joins me. Melissa, what types of non-academic scholarships are out there?
The main non-academic scholarships are need-based scholarships, and that is a significant avenue for many families to be able to afford college. But there are scholarships out there for all sorts of quirky skills or characteristics or just write an essay about a particular topic and you could maybe win $500.
How can students find niche scholarships like duck‑calling or height awards?
It's a big mix and some of them are very small. You'd have to cobble together a whole lot to pay for school and some of them, they can cover all of tuition.
What are some of the oddest ones you've come across?
There is one for duck calling abilities. There's one for particularly tall people, although the cutoffs aren't that extraordinarily tall these days. It didn't seem outrageous. There are ones for people who want to go into different fields like candy manufacturing or certain technical industries. It really runs the gamut. There's these scholarship search websites where you can find anything that you might be eligible for.
Those are some pretty specialized categories. Are students usually aware of all this money that's available?
They're getting more and more aware of it. So some scholarships are through outside organizations, you know, the Kiwanis Club or the local Rotary, that sort of thing, or industry trade groups encouraging people to pursue that industry. And then a set of scholarships comes straight from the schools. And for those, generally students are automatically... put into the pool for them, especially for need-based ones. Or if they have a certain last name, they'll be flagged as possibly able to get a scholarship for people with certain last names.
Yeah, I want to ask you about those scholarships based on last names. How common are they?
They're not common. It's not like every school has dozens of these, but they're not that out of the ordinary. There are some schools that have literally dozens of these where if you're a descendant of a particular person or you have a particular last name, you are kind of a preferred recipient of a certain scholarship set up by somebody with that name decades, generations ago.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:41
2
What surprising categories of non‑academic college scholarships exist?
0:41–2:38
3
How can students find niche scholarships like duck‑calling or height awards?
2:38–5:04
4
How common are scholarships reserved for specific last names at colleges?
5:04–8:30
Speakers
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