Scholarships & Financial Aid

The majority of institutions require students to fill out the FAFSA to receive any student aid including scholarships, grants, work-study and loans.

FAFSA

Colorado’s College Opportunity Fund is a stipend awarded to Colorado students who are attending a participating Colorado institution. The majority of college institutions in Colorado participate; access the full list.

Financial aid is generally money to help pay for the cost of attending college, including tuition and fees, books and supplies, room and board, transportation and personal expenses. 

Most financial aid comes in one of three basic forms:

• Scholarships and grants – “Free” money that does not have to be paid back
• Loans – Long-term, relatively low-interest loans that must be paid back. Repayment generally begins six months after you leave college.
• Work-study - Part-time jobs that allow students to earn part of their expenses while you go to school.

Each college’s financial aid office administers its programs. The office processes financial aid applications and provides counseling services for students and families seeking financial support. The financial aid office is your best single source of information.

College Scholarships Presentation

Merit aid

Students who get need-based aid can be awarded merit aid as well, and students who have been determined not to have need (according to FAFSA) may have to rely on some merit aid to help offset costs.

All but the most selective colleges offer some form of merit aid, often based on SAT/ACT scores and grade point averages. Other scholarships are based on talents such as leadership, music, the arts and athletics (in NCAA Division I and II schools only).

Students should visit college websites to research potential merit aid opportunities.

Choosing schools

In listing potential colleges, students should think about the “financial safety” of schools, as well as their admissibility. The basic strategy is to figure out where a student fits in the pool of admissible students. Students positioned at the top end of those normally admitted to a school will probably be eligible for some merit aid. Students in the middle range probably will not. And remember the most selective schools – such as Ivy League schools and their equivalents – because they save funding for need-based aid and are very generous with that. 

Ask questions 

When visiting colleges and developing college lists, students should ask questions so they can predict, as much as possible, what kind of financial help they will be able to get. Ask admissions officers and financial aid representatives at each college you visit about how they package students. Do they gap? Do they package preferentially?

Go to Finaid.org to explore financing options, scholarship possibilities and everything else there is to know about how to help pay for college. 

The D’Evelyn Education Foundation (DEF) distributes more than $24,500 in scholarships to deserving D’Evelyn seniors at the annual Senior Awards Banquet each spring. The DEF board and scholarship committee have instituted a digital-only scholarship application process.

Each student must submit the completed digital application along with the required documentation listed for each specific application located within the digital application.

DEF Scholarships

Students will need access to their ACT or SAT scores, Common App essay, a copy of their transcript, often a letter of recommendation, a list of personal experiences, honors, awards and activities, and for some scholarships, a completed coach or teacher ranking form. If a student has easy access to these items for download, the application process should be quite quick and easy.

All completed online applications and required documents are due by the end of February – no exceptions. This includes letters of recommendation, ranking forms, transcripts and scores. Make sure to allow teachers, community members and coaches ample time to complete requested forms and letters so that your applications will be deemed “complete” by the deadline. See the DEF scholarship website for specifics. 

The scholarship committee is happy to help with any questions. Students, don’t hesitate to contact us directly at defboarddevelyn@gmail.com.

Please note: any other links or pages that list any kind of paper application process are no longer valid. Only digital applications will be accepted. 

In the fall of their junior year, students should take the PSAT/NMSQT exam.

Based on scores, the top 0.5% of juniors in the nation are then selected to go through the scholar selection process to determine if they are eligible for National Merit Scholarships. 

National Merit Scholarship

There are myriad scholarships available; here are some tips:

• Call the financial aid office at the college you are considering attending and ask about what scholarships they have available
• Go to your college's financial aid webpage and see lists of available scholarships
• Check out Naviance:
  • Log in to Naviance
  • Click on the “College” tab
  • Click on the “Scholarship Match” link which will provide you with a list of scholarships
  • To narrow down the large list on “Scholarship Match,” go back to the “College” tab, then click on the “Scholarship List” link
  • Naviance also has a “National Scholarship Search”
  • Add scholarships that interest you to “Scholarship Applications”

• Boettcher Foundation
• Bootstraps
• Appily.com
• Colorado Department of Higher Education
• Denver Scholarship Foundation
• Fastweb.com
• Goingmerry.com
• RaiseMe
• Scholarships.com
• Scholarship Workshop