GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - We're only a month (or two) into the school year for most high school students, but it's never too early to start planning for college.
Author and speaker E.J. Carrion brought a national speaking tour for his "Student Success Agency" mentoring program to the Twin Cities on Tuesday, for engagements at Cooper and Fridley High Schools.
"I was a first generation college student, I had no idea what I was doing," Carrion said. "I ended up really getting obsessed with the scholarship process. I applied to over 30 scholarships and got three back; but one of those was the Bill Gates scholarship, which paid for a full ride to go to school."
Carrion shares his strategies with students for applying for colleges and college scholarships while on a budget.
"My biggest thing is starting early," Carrion said. "There's tons of scholarships out there, you want to focus on national scholarships, which are the big scholarships that are hard to get; but then there's local scholarships, which is a little less competitive. Then, the big ticket is the colleges you want to attend; they have a list of scholarships they give to students once they're accepted."
Learn more about Carrion's program at Student Success Agency.