With the high (and ever-rising) cost of college, many people turn to scholarships to help fund their higher education. Hear how one debt-free graduate did it and turned her knowledge of scholarships into a business. And you’ll finally get the answer to the question – Is The Scholarship System Legit?

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Student loans are predicted to push past the $3.3T mark by the year 2024 which should have parents, students and Universities quaking in fear. Parents because they’ll be on the hook for a chunk of those loans, students because they’ll be paying off the loans for the next 20+ years, and Universities because at some point society will begin to question whether or not higher education is worth the price of admission.

No matter which group you fall into, know this:

1. There are ways to minimize what you have to pay in tuition if you look hard enough.
2. People are figuring out ways to take advantage of you to “help” you navigate this process.

Scholarships Are Part Of The Answer

While the estimated numbers vary, suffice it to say there are billions of dollars worth of scholarships that go unclaimed every year for a variety of reasons. When I’ve asked high school and college students why they don’t apply for more scholarships they give me answers such as: “I’m too lazy” “Don’t know where/how to look” “My grades aren’t good enough” and “I hate writing essays”. All of which are valid (and very honest) reasons.

But none are GOOD reasons.

One of my credit union clients gives away (10) $2,000 scholarships per year and on a good year they receive 40-50 applications. That means you have a 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 chance of winning the $2,000 prize. (If you had a 20-25% chance of winning the lottery, you’d be buying a scratch off ticket every afternoon!) If you’re not even willing to write a 200 word essay for a 25% chance at $2,000, you must LOVE working long hours for little pay.

The scholarship application process is literally the highest paying part-time job you’ll ever have.

Both parents and students have asked me where to go to find scholarships like these and while I’ve done hundreds of hours of research in the scholarship field, I’ve found that recent graduates who have done the hard work and built their own systems are often more helpful.

Introducing Jocelyn Pearson – Scholarship Expert

I met Jocelyn Pearson while she was still in college. She was one of those students who had come from a financially challenged family of 7 and she was the first born (AND the first to attend college). Getting funding from her parents to cover her schooling wasn’t an option and Jocelyn had made it her job during high school to find as many scholarships as humanly possible.

She managed to get her first 2 years covered through local and a couple regional awards and was hooked. Spending a few evenings and a couple weekends a semester, Jocelyn managed to find, in total, in excess of $125,000 to help get her through the University of South Carolina with absolutely NO student loans.

It would be easy to sugarcoat Jocelyn’s story and tell you she was a driven, motivated kid who wasn’t going to take no for an answer. That’s partially true. However, what’s more relevant is to say that she worked her tail off to get the scholarships she did. While some of her friends were going out, Jocelyn worked diligently to get applications in well-before deadlines. In fact, she created a system that she followed to track submissions, award dates, deadlines, and essays written.

About two years after graduation, Jocelyn and I connected again. She was working for a Fortune 500 company and was questioning what the future looked like for her. We got to talking about skills and resources she brought to the table and one that we kept coming back to was her knack for finding free money for school and helping others do the same.

After all, she had created an effective system that, if followed, could help virtually anyone uncover scholarships that were right under their noses. They just had to know HOW to look. If she could create an easily digestible, easy-to-follow framework for helping students get school paid for, she might be on to something.

The Scholarship System Works

Jocelyn took her processes and methods, boiled them into easy-to-consume modules and started testing the materials with students from around the country. Before she ever launched a business, she wanted to make sure that her results weren’t just a fluke or dumb luck.

To date, Jocelyn has helped students find and win over $750,000 in awards.

Through a 6-step process, Jocelyn leads students and families through getting the right mindset, understanding college funding, finding free money, heating up the application, knocking out applications one at a time, and tips to seal the deal to keep money coming year after year.

Her passion lies in helping those students who thought graduating debt-free was a pipe dream. Students that come from backgrounds just like hers that have no one to guide them in the process. While her system works for parents who are steering the ship as much as the students, the satisfaction of knowing that there are grads who will enter the workforce with little to no debt thanks to her system fuels her everyday.

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When asked ‘Is The Scholarship System Legit?’, my answer is always: It will definitely work if you do. 

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When Is A Coach/Expert Necessary?

For most high school students today, relying on the guidance counselor for the most up-to-date scholarship information means you’ll be waiting in a very long line. The average student to counselor ratio in most schools is pushing 50:1. It’s nearly impossible for a guidance counselor to stay on top of the latest opportunities AND counsel the teens who just binge watched 13 Reasons on Netflix.

If parents aren’t willing or able to spend hundreds of hours sifting through the myriad of information online, let alone keep their kid dialed into the application long enough to get it completed on-time and well, you may want to use a coach.

Finally, if you think essays aren’t really your thing, it’s probably wise to tap into the expertise of someone that can help you craft your story in a way that’s both compelling and inspiring for a scholarship committee.

Is The Scholarship System Legit?

Yes. Without question the information contained in The Scholarship System will help you find, apply for efficiently, write killer essays for, and win awards for college.

If you’re on the hunt for a magic bullet of some kind to rid yourself of student loans forever, here it is: You will put in work for these scholarships. The harder you work at it, the more money you’ll receive. Simple as that.

Jocelyn put everything in a neatly organized package that also includes a private Facebook group, a free app, AND a chrome extension that allows you to track your application deadlines and award dates.

Committing to this process is key and, if you do, I can assure you you’ll finish college with significantly less borrowed (which means you’ll have WAY more fun than most of your friends after graduation!).