KnowHow2GoKy

Working hard to do well in your classes and getting involved in school and community activities are a great way to set yourself up to save money on the cost of college. Scholarships are gifts (money that does not have to be paid back ) offered by schools, employers, individuals, religious groups, professional associations, social organizations and others to help students pay for college. Students can earn different types of scholarships for different things:

• Merit: based on academic or skill achievements such as the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship
• Need-based: based on financial need; Examples include the College Access Program (CAP) Grant and the Kentucky Tuition Grant
• Career Interest: based on the major or career field students plan to pursue. Examples include Kentucky’s Osteopathic Medicine Scholarship Program and the Teacher Scholarship Program
• Community Involvement: based on community service or contributions, such as the Lewis E Owens Scholarship
• Location: based on where students live, such as the Kentucky Coal County College Completion Scholarship

The Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) is one way Kentucky high school students can earn as they learn. Starting in 9th grade, students can begin earning money in their KEES account by earning a GPA of 2.5 or higher and doing well on standardized exams. Click here to see how much you can earn through KEES.

Start looking early and often. Though students typically don’t apply for scholarships until their senior year, some scholarship programs will have requirements that need to be planned for and/or completed well before then. Be sure to check all deadlines for scholarships.

The Individual Learning Plan (ILP) is a great tool to find scholarships – it has a customized scholarship search that includes more than 1,500 scholarships that students may qualify for based on their goals, achievements and/or financial need. The ILP also lets students record the classes they take in middle and high school and build a resume of extracurricular activities and community service - a great resource when applying for scholarships.

• ILP student and parent login
• KHEAA state scholarship and grant program information
• Finding Scholarships from StudentAid.gov