Our Scholarship Program

Our Scholarship Application Process

CollegeReady offers financial assistance to high school graduates in pursuit of a bachelor’s or associate degree, or general education transfer credits. Students must attend a fully-accredited 2-year/technical college, traditional college or university in the United States and carry full-time student status with a college course load of 12 credits or more per semester. All of our scholarships and Partner Scholarships are applicable to a student’s first year in college, and some awards may be renewable.

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Deadline for 2021 HS seniors is March 23, 2021 @3:00pm

Students complete JUST ONE online application to be considered for a number of scholarship opportunities.

Applicants who are headed for a 2-year/technical college or a 4-year college/university complete the same application.

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM DETAILS

Eligibility

Application Process

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Help & FAQ's

For Graduating High School Seniors

CollegeReady offers financial assistance to graduating high school seniors who are pursuing an undergraduate degree from a fully-accredited 2-year/technical college or 4-year/traditional college/university in the United States. Students must attend college on a full-time basis (enrolled in 12 credits or more per semester).

All of our scholarships are applicable to a student’s first year in college, and some awards may be renewable.

Eligible high schools:

Brown County High Schools: Ashwaubenon, Bay Port, Denmark, De Pere, Green Bay East, Green Bay Preble, Green Bay Southwest, Green Bay West, N.E.W. Lutheran, Notre Dame Academy, Pulaski, West De Pere, and Wrightstown.

Door County High Schools: Gibraltar, Sevastopol, Southern Door, Sturgeon Bay, and Washington Island.

We have two Partner scholarships that serve students in other schools throughout the New North region, too. Click each scholarship to view the list of eligible schools for that award: Rhoades Sanford Foundation Scholarship and Deprey-Skyline Family Information Technology Scholarship.

Recipients are selected on the basis of:

Financial need as established by the Student Aid Report, which is generated by filing a FAFSA.
Academic achievement based on GPA and course rigor, as reported by applicant and school counselor (ACT Score will not be considered in 2021).
Extracurricular activities, volunteer service, paid work, honors/awards, and leadership experience, as detailed by a resumé.
Demonstrated academic motivation, personal growth, initiative and perseverance.
Responses to two creative essays. There is also an optional essay question, which may allow students to be considered for other awards; download our essays here.
Quality of character as described by one school-related reference.

Renewal Awards for Current College Students:

Many of our scholarships are able to be renewed for a student’s second, third or fourth year in college.

Students learn whether they may be eligible for a renewal award when they receive their initial scholarship award letter and award terms & conditions. Those who are able to reapply must continue to meet all eligibility criteria for their award(s) and submit a Renewal Application, which opens in mid-May and closes in early August each year.

Candidates for a renewal award will receive an email reminder in mid-May to signal the opening of our Renewal Application process, which opens in mid-May and closes in early August each year.

CollegeReady awards scholarships through two separate processes each year – students graduating from high school in the current year complete the process for Graduating High School Seniors, while students who are already in college complete the process for Current College Students.

For Graduating High School Seniors

Each year starting in December and ending in March, high school seniors complete just one application to be considered for many scholarship opportunities.

Step 1: In our online scholarship portal, applicants complete their General Application. Based on those answers, students who are actually eligible for our scholarships will be immediately invited to complete the second step in our process, the application for Graduating High School Seniors.

Step 2: After the March deadline, our team of volunteers evaluate and score each completed scholarship application.

Step 3: Once applications are reviewed, we select and notify our Semi-Finalists. These candidates complete a Semi-Finalist Questionnaire to be further considered for an award.

Step 4: After the Semi-Finalist deadline in early June, all applications go through one final round of evaluation, then our scholarship recipients are selected. Recipients receive a letter and invitation to our Lamp of Knowledge Celebration in July, where they are recognized in front of friends, family and community members, and receive their scholarship award letter.

Renewal Awards for Current College Students

Students currently in college have from mid-May through early August to complete their application.

Those who are eligible to apply for another year of funding will be notified of that fact when they receive their scholarship award terms & conditions as high school seniors. Please know that the vast majority of our scholarships for current college students are only for students who received a scholarship from us the previous year. There are just a few opportunities for students who do not meet that criteria – click here for a list.

College students who wish to be considered for a renewal scholarship must complete a General Application and Renewal Application in our online application portal.

You can learn about the scholarships we award and our application process here.

App type	App opens	App deadline
High school seniors	Monday, December 21, 2020	Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 3:00pm
Current college students	Saturday, May 15, 2021	Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at 5:00pm

How do I get started filing my FAFSA?: FAFSA – the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – is a required part of our scholarship application process, so you’ll need to complete yours before you can begin an application and be considered for our scholarships. Learn all about it, and file yours, right here: fafsa.ed.gov. Talk to your school counselor if you have specific questions on completing your FAFSA.

I don’t have a resume yet, where do I begin?: There are lots of free resources online that can help you write a great resume. We suggest downloading one of Google’s easy-to-use resume Google Docs templates. Find the template style that you like, download it, and fill in your personalized information. Here’s an article with instructions to get you started! https://resumegenius.com/resume-templates/google-docs-resume-templates

Does your application require essays?: Yes, applicants must write two essays to be considered for our process. Download our essays here: CR 2021 Essays

I’m not a Wisconsin student. Am I eligible to apply for your scholarships?: Regrettably, no. Our scholarships are only for students attending high school in Northeast Wisconsin. Learn all about who is eligible to apply for our scholarships by clicking on the “Eligibility” tab.

Are scholarships available for graduate studies?: No. CollegeReady scholarships are available for full-time undergraduate students taking a minimum of 12 credits per semester at a fully-accredited college/university in the United States.

I filled out the General Application, and am not eligible for any of your scholarships. What now?: We’ve compiled a list of other resources that can aid you in your scholarship search. Don’t forget to inquire with your high school student services office, and with your intended college/university’s financial aid office, too! Other Scholarship Resources

What are some things I need to do to make sure my application is submitted correctly?: Here is a quick checklist to help you be successful on your CollegeReady application:

Make note of the application deadline and don’t miss it! We do not offer deadline extensions. Period.
When creating an account, sign up with an email address that you’ll continue using after high school graduation. Don’t use your high school-issued email address, please.
You will be asked to provide a name and email address for your high school counselor and for one person at school who will serve as your school reference. You should verify that you have email addresses spelled correctly to ensure message delivery from our online system is successful.
Submit your FAFSA as soon as possible! Once you file your FAFSA, the U.S. Dept. of Education will process your application, which typically takes 3-10 business days. They will provide you with a Student Aid Report (SAR), which is what will need to be uploaded to your CollegeReady application.
Save your SAR and your finished resume in PDF format. Check out our tutorial below for help with this.
Once you upload your documents, hit “Save and Keep Editing”. When the screen refreshes, click the document links to test them and make sure the uploads were successful and they can be opened/accessed.
Take time to develop and compose your essays. Brainstorm, proofread, read them aloud, share them with someone you trust for their comments/feedback. Students who are serious about receiving a scholarship focus on applying their personal thoughts, ideas, experiences and examples, and will submit only their best work.
Consider writing the optional essay, which might allow you to be considered for other scholarship opportunities.

Here are a few tutorials to help you complete your CollegeReady scholarship application:

Saving & Uploading your Student Aid Report as a PDF document

Saving your Google Doc as a PDF document

What is a Financial Aid Offer