How important are scholarships? Incredibly important, according to estimates from The College Board and from The Pew Research Center.
Fact: Based on data from The College Board in 2012-2013, the average published tuition and fee price at public four-year institutions was $8,655 per semester.
Fact: Millennials aged 25 to 32 who have only a high school diploma earn a median of $28,000 per year.
Fact: By contrast, millennials in the same age bracket that had a four-year degree brought in $45,500 on average –– a $17,500 annual difference.
That is over $700,000 over the course of 40 years!
My advice to all of you: know how you are going to get your scholarship money starting now! Don’t ask yourself in four years where your tuition money went!
Let’s assume you’re interested in attending The University of Arizona and you have a 3.0 GPA and your first ACT score came in at a 23.
You decide to prepare for the ACT and bump your scores. By improving your ACT composite 1 full point, from a 23 to a 24, you now qualify for a $2,000 per year scholarship.
$2,000 per year x 4 years = $8,000
And that’s just for 1 point of improvement!
A quality prep course, such as Method Test Prep’s, paired with a hard-working student should reap at least 2 or 3 points of improvement. If that’s you, you could receive $6,000 per year from The University of Arizona!
$6,000/year x 4 years = $24,000
And, if you’re dedicated to going the extra mile and squeezing every last point out of the test, 4-5 points of improvement can lead to $8,000 per year in scholarship awards!
$8,000/year x 4 years = $32,000
And, if you do let Method Test Prep drive your prep, you don’t have to focus exclusively on the ACT or SAT for the entire duration of your high school experience to see these kinds of returns. You can get in, get prepped, and get on with your life!
This, of course, is just one school’s example of the available merit aid to students. Most universities will award some form of merit aid. In fact, Education Life, the higher education quarterly of The New York Times, has published an interactive list of more than 600 colleges and universities that award merit aid.
How much money you can squeeze out of your score depends on a variety of factors––your GPA, where you want to go to school, and how much your score improves. Since GPAs are really difficult to raise quickly––especially if your GPA is already over 3.0––some may argue that the best use of your time right now would be spent preparing with Method Test Prep for getting the best possible score on your ACT or SAT test
Can you see how spending as little as $400 on test prep now can save you $32,000 for college in the next 4 years and possibly $700,000 over the course of your lifetime? Now if I were an investment firm, you would be asking me where to deposit the funds!
Those extra points could improve the chance of being admitted to a great school, and higher scores may also increase the dollar amount of merit-based scholarships. Speak with an expert tutor at Method Test Prep to find out how much return you can make on your investment. By clicking on the following link and signing up for a FREE consultation with one of our experts today, you could be making the best investment in your future!
