Senior Jade Larrison applies for over 100 scholarships to cover out of state tuition
(photo courtesy of Jade Larrison)
POSE: Larrison poses for the camera holding a Purdue University sign where she will be attending in the fall.
May 23, 2022
Topic chosen, done. Essay written, done. Scholarship mailed, done. Senior Jade Larrison sighs in relief as she completes her latest scholarship application. The process has become familiar considering she has mailed over 100 before.
“I think that the biggest reason why I did this is that I’ve been told there are millions of dollars that are unclaimed a year,” Larrison said. “I wondered if I could figure out where that is, or figure out how to get my hands on some of it. I went and found as many as I could.”
Larrison is planning on going out of state next year. She will attend Purdue University in the fall where she will be studying Agribusiness and out-of-state tuition can be very pricey.
“I knew, if I was gonna go somewhere far away, I’d be in debt no matter what,” Larrison said. “I at least had to try.”
Larrison started applying for scholarships in October of 2021. When she was first applying to colleges, she didn’t know how the scholarships worked for each individual school.
“At first I was confused, but it’s really easy to pick which ones are worth it and which ones aren’t based on what information there is,” Larrison said.
Once she figured out the system, Larrison wanted to know more about scholarships and the easiest way to do it. So, with the help of the social worker Emily Berry, she was able to find the appropriate scholarships to apply to and completed at least ten a month.
Larrison focused on scholarships provided by the school, Community Foundation and Scholarship Universe. They all have different eligibility requirements, so she looked to see what applied to her and what she could do.
“Some of them were very demanding,” Larrison said. “So, I wouldn’t do the ones I didn’t want to do.”
Because a lot of students apply, it takes a long time to find out who received each scholarship. Larrison is just now hearing from those she applied to back in December.
With her determination and hard work, Larrison learned a lot during the process of applying and attained some great life skills.
“The scholarship applications can be really reflective and I learned a lot about myself,” Larrison said. “ I’ve been hard on myself, so that is the only reason I’ve been able to take it this far.”
