growNman
growNman
I am growNman 132 The Scholarship Gap
Navigating the path to college has become increasingly complex and financially challenging for today's families. As my daughter graduates with the Class of 2025, I've learned valuable lessons about preparing students for higher education that I wish someone had shared with me years ago.
The harsh reality? Good grades alone won't secure the financial support needed for college. During scholarship ceremonies, we witnessed incredibly polished seniors who had participated in numerous activities throughout high school, making them prime candidates for substantial financial aid. These students had developed leadership skills, communication abilities, and community connections that set them apart. Meanwhile, billions in scholarship money goes unclaimed annually simply because students don't apply consistently or don't know where to look.
For families without generational college knowledge, the landscape can be particularly challenging to navigate. Parents must take an active role in researching scholarship opportunities and creating application routines with their children. Aim for applying to 2-3 scholarships daily during senior year, and start researching options as early as freshman year. Beyond finances, encourage involvement in clubs, sports, and volunteer work that align with your child's interests. These activities develop crucial skills colleges value while building the leadership capabilities that scholarship committees seek.
Remember that your children are watching and internalizing your habits—both good and bad. If we want to raise responsible, respectful young adults ready for college success, we must model these qualities ourselves. Simple courtesies open doors and create positive impressions that last. By preparing early and strategically, you can position your child for a more financially manageable college experience while developing the character and skills they'll need for lifelong success. Don't wait until senior year to start these conversations—the time to begin is now.
mic, check what up doe and welcome back to I'm growing man, this, your man, john d. In the building, uh, today's episode is pretty much just shouting out uh, the class of 2025. My daughter was a part of that class, but what I wanted to really get on here and talk about my my daughter is an excellent student, but there was there were some things we attended uh, for possible scholarships and being a first-time parent of a senior, we'll be better prepared for our son. But when I tell you, if you have kids that are in high school and you want them to do well in life, I highly suggest you get them involved in many clubs as possible, but it should be clubs that they're interested in Now. If you don't, it's going to be very difficult for them to develop certain skills that you get when you're doing that.
Speaker 1:Looking back, I wish we were a lot more I don't know forceful with our, with our daughter. She came out of her shell during her senior year, but if we could have got her on a different track, I think it would have been a lot easier for her to transition to Michigan State University. Go green. And when I say that I'm saying like, like I said, she's an excellent student. We think she's going to do well in college, but financially we were not ready or prepared for, I guess, everything that comes with it. We definitely dropped the ball in things that would have made it a lot easier. When I say that, I mean, like when we went to these award shows and the way that they each student that got called they had, they had done so many different things. So this is an episode that I want to try to give to young parents that have no clue what it's like to have a polished senior, because these kids that I saw they were extremely polished. I mean, I think, like their parents, maybe second or third generation college graduates. And you know, the more education your family's based in, the easier it is to navigate in this world. And being that me and my wife uh, for the most part you know, we were out of all of our friends like that was the closest we were, we had the oldest kids, so nobody told us, hey, you should probably do this or do that. So everything that I heard or seen, I just want parents to have a better start.
Speaker 1:Just talk about scholarships. I think my wife and I knew we were supposed to get started on those early. They have all kinds of scholarships. The problem is that you have to actually just complete them. This is the information that I've got A lot of times. You have people who make a lot of money and they have scholarships to help underrepresented people in different communities to go to school. I'm not saying that those scholarships are it's a lot of those but if you apply to, let's say, a hundred and I know you're saying a hundred is a lot, but to go to school for free should be applying to a four thousand.
Speaker 1:And I think that's where the discrepancy came between the way that we were looking at it. The in-state tuition is more than the out-of-state tuition. When I was here and and I'm like I cannot believe that it's gotten so expensive and you know, to go to school for free it takes a different type of kid. Every kid cannot do it. It's almost like an academic boot camp. Is you want to develop a routine to just start applying for scholarships, like two or three a day during your senior year, going into your senior year, and then you put the work in? I think that as long as that's a part of your routine, I think you'll get an abundant amount of money as long as you're taking care of your grades and your test scores are reasonable and you don't, test scores aren't even necessary for a lot of the scholarships. So please forgive me for saying that, but they do on what they're going to do to put their kids in the best position when it comes to graduating.
Speaker 1:I don't like the way that me and my wife went to Michigan State. We went to school differently than they are now and it's a lot more competitive as far as when it comes to getting money more competitive as far as when it comes to like getting money. So you got to find the routine of applying and being prepared to spend about three or four hours a week just applying for scholarships. And the reason why I'm encouraging this is because there are so many families that are not aware of this. Like they say, billions of scholarships maybe not billions, I don't know, but at least millions for sure are lost every year because people just don't apply for them. So if we can increase that, it will reduce that ticket.
Speaker 1:To get into an institution of higher learning, because it is not cheap and good grades is not going to be enough to go for free. You know it's way more competitive now. And if we don't prepare our kids, we're just we're preparing them to take loans and then some of us can't get loans because we're just not qualified to get any more loans. So we definitely have to prepare our kids to find different scholarships. You know, I do know, that they have scholarships you can find as early as your freshman year, but you got to look for it. And this is another thing. Parents, you can't just tell your kids to go do it. You have to do it with them so that they know what it looks like. But if you just go say I need you to go do this and you haven't done it before and you don't like, you can't expect a high school kid to take on that task unless they're just extremely aware or you have already showed them what it looks like and you believe that they can do it on their own. But if you don't do that, this video wasn't for you. This video is for people who may not even know what that looks like, but are going to ask questions and try to figure out what they can do to put their kids in the best position possible.
Speaker 1:Because I'm telling you, although college isn't for everybody, I do believe college is for those who want to go and if you have a way to go, I believe you can get a great experience out of it. It is an experience, an expensive experience, but if you can get what like the fruit out of why you're going, it'll benefit you in the long run. I think you would eventually catch up and be like you know. That's the reason why you went, because I'm telling you, these degrees have not made me feel like being in debt to student loans. Is it's good at all? It's not, and it's it's unfortunate because I would.
Speaker 1:I was, I had to be the person in my family to learn this way. And when I say learn this way, I mean like I was taken out long while I was going back to school, like I have three degrees and I'm actually just I'm not even using any of them. And because I'm a teacher and I'm teaching math, I do have a math specialist. But my point is that I wish I was better prepared. If we don't show them how to reduce that debt, we'll just show them how to increase it, and I don't want anybody, I don't want any young people to be slaves to debt.
Speaker 1:If you're going to be a slave to something. Be a slave to getting better, working on your craft so that you become so good that people pay you for it. You know, I've been on this journey for about six and a half, seven years and I have definitely seen the growth in myself. But you have to fall in love with a routine that automatically yields like things you haven't even seen before by just working on yourself. So, parents, you're going to have to learn how to apply for scholarships. Show them the expectation and I'm telling you, if you teach them and they understand it, you won't have to teach them again. And if you don't know how to do it, you need to ask. You need to get on some social media and ask some of your friend groups and say, hey, I want to get ready to start applying for scholarships for my kids so that they don't have to get these loans. And you do that, you'll appreciate it. Your family will appreciate it for generations to come. You're just going to have to find a way to incorporate it in your routine because most likely, you're going to have to be like the foundation of this, because if your family's already getting money from scholarships, you're probably not listening to this.
Speaker 1:But if you need scholarships and you need money to go to college, it's out there and some of you don't have maybe good safe, you don't have the parents that's capable of doing it and you know that. Then you need to ask your teachers. They have to everybody in that building. Then you need to ask your teachers. Everybody in that building for the most part has a degree. They had to go to college and they heard about scholarships. If you talk to them, go to the administrator, your favorite teacher, and say hey, how do I start looking for scholarships? And I'm telling you, if they don't already know, they're going to lead you to somebody who's going to know. And let you. If they don't already know, they're going to lead you to somebody who's going to know. And let's say, if you don't even go to college, it is great information to have because you don't know For the most part, if you were going for free, you would probably go.
Speaker 1:But if you're not coming from a wealthy background where that's adamant or evident that you can just go, you need to prepare and put in that work. Like I said, regular grades just ain't. It's not enough. You have to participate in clubs, you need to get in sports. You need to volunteer, you have to learn to work with like other people, be respectful.
Speaker 1:You know, I think there's a missing element in like teaching kids manners Like thank you, yes, sir. Yes, ma'am, you're welcome. That goes a long way with adults, but for some reason I just don't understand why it's not being taught. You know it's like it's just. I don't understand why it's not being taught. You know it's like it's just, I don't know. Is the world getting that harsh where we can't even just be nice to people or just be, just have manners? Thank you, you're welcome, and I see it in adults too. But we have to be the example that we want them to become.
Speaker 1:And if we're not working on ourselves, all we're doing is complaining about this generation. That, like, if you're not putting that work in to improving, you're probably a part of the problem. And what do the future? What do they have to look at? They're watching you complain. They're just going to become better complainers than you. But if you decide that to focus and lock in and find ways to become a better parent, your kids will become better kids, I promise.
Speaker 1:They say the apple don't fall too far from the tree and, depending on your view. Your kids are right there. They can see the good habits, the bad habits and, regardless, they don't even know they're bad. They just this is what mama and dad do. So we have to be more. We have to be more strategic in how we present information to our kids, especially the bad habits, the ones that you think you hide, or how about the ones you think you're proud of?
Speaker 1:You know there are a lot of parents that curse like the kids out. You know, and I'm going'm gonna tell you you may think it's just words, but you're giving that kid trauma, that they are going to walk through life mad about things. They don't even know why today, if they're lucky enough to be mature, to go to therapy or get some type of counseling to figure out why they're as upset as they present to the world People that are upset, they had a tough childhood. They're just trying to figure it out and a lot of them don't know that therapy or having a close person that you can be vulnerable with so they can just listen, because a lot of times you just got to hear yourself out loud and then you'll be able to answer your own questions. But if you don't like, do that you're going to give these kids trauma and it's going to be real difficult later in life, and I know I was.
Speaker 1:I got off of getting students prepared to go to college, but I wanted to make sure that, as parents, we're constantly trying to grow and become better ones, and this is a daily occurrence. If we do not work on ways to become better parents, how are our kids going to become better? It's almost like we're just hoping for a miracle, like just because you say you know these nice things about your kids, if they don't have the work ethic, if they don't even know what it looked like, you're praying for a miracle that your kid gets it. So anybody who has a kid if you are not working on yourself understand your kid watches, observes, sees, feels everything. And you know, I know some.
Speaker 1:I've met people to say your kids are going to do what they're going to do. Well, I know this. If you give them better information, if you practice better habits, it'd be very difficult for them to stray off and do something crazy Not saying that they can't, but it'd be very difficult for them to do so because their parents didn't roll like that. Now I do know this there are some kids that will stray off the path. They will get into some things, but if the foundation is straight they'll be back. It was just an experience to test the waters and guess what? Most kids do that anyway. Sometimes benefits, sometimes it don't.
Speaker 1:But if you're a parent that's trying to get your kid to the next level, you need to get them more involved in extracurricular activities, have them work on a routine every day. Now I understand why kids who used to play an instrument have to do some type of lesson every day. Just imagine if you did that Like over the course of time you would become really good in that area. And you know, I think mastering something is the art of a process, because if you can complete the process while you are of mastery the process of mastery like there's nothing you can't do. That's what I said in the last podcast, like master your diet, you'll develop a different type of clarity and it'd be very difficult to make bad decisions when your clarity is telling you this is bad. So I know this podcast was supposed to be built off of 2000 class of 2026, 728, 2930 and so forth, 930 and so forth.
Speaker 1:Get in as many activities as possible. Try to become like a captain, because what? What people want are leaders and if you don't go learn how to be a leader, you're not going to become one. When you become an adult. Now, something could change. You get a great mentor or something happens to you where you change your life. But overall, right now, you have to go get it and I challenge every one of you because if you go learn how to be a leader in your extracurricular activities and somebody says you're a good leader and you're getting good grades and you and your parents are applying for scholarships, you'll be able to do any and everything. Because a student who understands the process of learning and is doing extracurricular activities to benefit the community, being leadership driven, that's a different kind of kid and I feel like you know, you know who your kid is, but that don't mean they can't learn new skills so that they can become very marketable for themselves later.
Speaker 1:We have to put our students in the best position possible and I feel like with my daughter. Like I said, she's an excellent student, she's gonna do really well in college, but we did not prepare for this ticket that it cost for her to go, and I think that's just. We're just going to say, blame it to experience, you know, and not mastering anything in time where we wouldn't have to have these problems. But we are continuing to move forward, to become better parents, because we definitely have our son left and he already knows because he sees what's going on. So he's already on top of the idea of looking at different scholarships and he'll be a junior next year. He's going to Spain to study abroad for a week with his classmates at his high school, so we're pretty excited for that. This summer my daughter's going to an incoming freshman program. She'll be gone for a week learning what it's like to be on campus and do all that good stuff. So we're really excited about putting our kids in the best position possible.
Speaker 1:You know I have learned that. You know it's only so much you can do, but if you don't do it on purpose, you're just wasting time and that's one thing we don't have unlimited of. You got to watch how you spend that, because once you get it you can't get it back. Y'all make today better than yesterday. Don't worry about anything you can't control. G-a-t-a Get after that action or that action will get after you. Be great on purpose, boom.