Our Scholarship Program

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 above.

Are your scholarships available for graduate studies?: No. CollegeReady scholarships are for full-time undergraduate students taking a minimum of 12 credits each semester at a fully-accredited college/university in the United States. But you may find a scholarship that’s a fit for you on this list of other resources – click here.

exceptions

I’m already in college. Can I apply for your scholarships? The vast majority of our scholarships for current college students are only for students who received a scholarship from us the previous year.
The two exceptions are for college students who are employed by the Green Bay Packers Pro Shop, or for Door County residents studying Diesel Mechanics – if either are a match for you, please complete our Renewal Application.

Does your application require essays?: Yes, applicants must write two essays to be considered for our process. Click here to view our essays for high school students.

I submitted a General Application but received a “No Eligible Opportunities” notice. What does that mean?: On Step 1 of our scholarship process, students complete a General Application. Between the students’ high school, FAFSA information and any other qualifiers (checkboxes) the student selects, our online system uses this information to determine whether or not a student is eligible for any CollegeReady scholarships.
The majority of our scholarships take financial need into consideration, which we evaluate using FAFSA information entered on the General Application. We do award some scholarships for specific criteria other than financial need (see our Scholarship Opportunities page). Our online system is working in the background to evaluate information entered in a students’ General Application, looking for any possible matches for need-based and non need-based awards.
If the student is not a match with any available scholarships, they will see ‘No Eligible Opportunities’ after completing the General Application – this means they’ve reached the end of the application process with CollegeReady.
We encourage all students to review this list of scholarships offered by other organizations to find other scholarships to apply for.

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 a CollegeReady scholarship application. You can’t apply if you choose not to complete a FAFSA!
Learn all about it and file yours here: fafsa.ed.gov
Talk to your school counselor if you have specific questions on completing your FAFSA, or if you are not eligible to submit a 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

Your CollegeReady resume should include these key sections:

• Honors or awards you’ve earned
• Extracurricular activities (list the number of hours during high school that you’ve participated in each activity)
• Leadership roles that you have held in clubs, sports or activities
• Paid work (list the average number of hours worked per week for each job)
• Volunteerism (list the total hours you volunteered during high school) 

I filled out the General Application, and am not eligible for any of your scholarships. What now?: We’ve compiled a list of scholarships offered by other organizations and other resources that can aid you in your scholarship search. Don’t forget to inquire with your high school counselor/student services office (they probably have a list of available scholarship opportunities), and check with your intended college/university’s financial aid office (they have scholarships just for students attending your school!).

How can I make sure my application is submitted correctly?: Here is a quick checklist for your CollegeReady application:

1. Mark the application deadline in your calendar – and don’t miss it! We don’t offer deadline extensions.
2. When creating an account, sign up with an email address that you’ll continue using after high school. Don’t use your high school-issued email address.
3. In your application, you will enter the name & email address for your high school counselor and for one person at school who you choose as your school reference. Our online system will send each of them an email requesting their help submitting your reference forms. Verify the spelling of those email addresses to ensure our messages are successfully delivered.
4. Take time to develop and compose your essays. Brainstorm, proofread, read aloud, share with someone you trust for their comments and 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.
5. Consider writing the optional essay, which may allow you to be considered for other scholarship opportunities.
6. Submit your FAFSA as soon as possible! The U.S. Dept. of Education will process your submitted FAFSA application, which typically takes 3-10 business days. They’ll provide your FAFSA Submission Summary (previously called the Student Aid Report), which you will upload to your CollegeReady application.
7. Save your FAFSA Submission Summary and your finished resume in PDF format. Scroll to the bottom of this page and check out our tutorial for help with this.
8. After uploading your documents, hit the ‘Save and Keep Editing‘ button. When the screen refreshes, click the document links to test them and make sure they can be opened/accessed.

Finding Your SAI/FAFSA Submission Summary & Saving as a PDF

What is a Financial Aid Offer