Searching and applying for college scholarships is a lot of hard work. It is imperative that you keep your information for each scholarship you have applied for organized.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: N/A
Here's How:
- Purchase an accordion file holder. This will give you the best bang for your buck when it comes to simple file systems. It is portable, has a lot of compartments and it’s hard to lose any papers out of it.
- Mark the first tab: Scholarships to Research. This is where you put scholarship information that you have not fully read, which peaked your interest and you’ll decided on later.
- Mark the second tab: Applications in Process. This is where you put scholarship applications and essays that you are working on.
- Mark the third tab: Scholarships Sent. This is where you keep a record of the scholarships that you have sent out. In this record for each scholarship you’ll need to keep a copy of everything sent, date sent and where it was sent. This is in case it gets lost and you need to send another copy.
- Mark the fourth tab: Scholarships Awarded. This is where you keep a copy of all scholarships that you have gotten. Here you should keep a copy of the application and letter of award.
- Mark the fifth tab: Scholarships Rejected. Keep a copy of the application and the letter of rejection. If it is a yearly scholarship, put it in the next tab.
- Mark the fifth tab: Miscellaneous/Future Scholarships. You can learn a lot while searching and applying for scholarships. If you find something interesting that you may want to use later like future information for graduate school scholarships, file it here.
Tips:
- Many accordion file folders have lots of tabs. To get the most out of this system, separate the entire file folder into five sections – don’t just use the first five tabs.
- With homework, sports and other activities, teens can be very busy. You can help your too-busy-teen by employing this system for them and keeping it up-to-date.
- Do you expect to pay for your teen's college degree?
Parenting Quizzes for Parents of Teens

