Resources to Help Pay for College
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The Federal Pell Grant is a common grant many college students receive as part of their aid package. Make sure you file the FAFSA to be eligible for this grant. The max amount you can receive from this grant changes from year to year, but it’s often several thousand dollars. For the 2023-24 school year, the max amount is $7,395.
If you are a Pell Grant recipient, there are many potential resources that can help you. For example, you would qualify for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which could provide you with reduced-cost internet and even an electronic device for your education. If you are considering applying for other schools as a transfer student, you would also likely receive application fee waivers for many schools simply by being a Pell Grant recipient.
The American Opportunity Tax Credit is another great resource that students can look into, and you don’t have to be a Pell Grant recipient to take advantage of this. Essentially, expenses directly related to your enrollment and attendance at your institution can be considered either refundable or nonrefundable tax credits. Tax benefits are a little more complicated so be sure you research this type of resource effectively.
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Questbridge
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The National College Match
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QuestBridge is a wonderful organization that helps high-achieving, low-income students attend selective institutions. Just a few examples of schools that partner with QuestBridge include nearly all of the Ivy League (except Cornell and Harvard), as well as some of the best liberal arts colleges like Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore. It’s most known for the National College Match, which is a system where students rank up to twelve schools that partner with QuestBridge in their college application, and by ranking a school, the student is essentially applying ‘early decision’ to that school. This is because the highest-ranked school that accepts the student is the one the student is bound to attend, and the benefit is that Matching to a school guarantees a full ride to that school for four years. The National College Match is the only application I know of that allows a student to apply to multiple schools early decision.
If you don’t Match to any school, you can still apply through QuestBridge Regular Decision, since not Matching doesn’t necessarily imply a rejection, it could also just mean the schools were not willing to provide you with a full ride. You could still earn very generous aid through Regular Decision, so don’t be discouraged!
To qualify for applying through QuestBridge (both the Match and Regular Decision), you must first apply to be a QuestBridge Finalist, which involves sending an application to QuestBridge itself very early fall in your senior year, right around September. If you aren’t selected as a Finalist, then unfortunately you won’t be able to apply to college through QuestBridge, but you could still earn generous aid applying through the Common Application or Coalition.
A note of caution on the Match: just because you are allowed to rank up to twelve schools does not mean you need to be ranking twelve. Most people rank less than that—keep in mind that ranking each school is like a promise to attend that school if you Match with it, and the more schools you rank, the more supplementary materials you have to prepare for their applications. Ranking liberal arts schools often does not require any additional essays, however, based on my experience.
As an aside, there is no ‘income cutoff’ that disqualifies you from applying through QuestBridge. Their team evaluates financial situations holistically, so even if you’re unsure, just send in your application senior fall and see if you qualify! Just as important, please don’t hesitate to reach out to other people you know who could potentially benefit from QuestBridge as well, even if you don’t qualify yourself. It could allow them to obtain an excellent education they otherwise wouldn’t have received.
Please visit the website for more information about the Match.
The QuestBridge Partners
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All of the QuestBridge partners have some things in common. For one, they’re all highly selective institutions with generous endowments. Some of them are public, but most are private. They all have generous aid, meeting 100% of demonstrated need, but some do so entirely with scholarships and grants (usually private) and others include loans (usually public). Some promise not to use loans if your household income is below a certain amount.
Importantly, because all of the QuestBridge partners have the same promise of meeting 100% of demonstrated need, you could potentially negotiate between partners to get a better aid package if you applied QuestBridge Regular Decision (there is no better package than the Match).
For a complete list of the current partners, please visit the website. Note that QuestBridge constantly seeks to expand its list of partners: Johns Hopkins University and Smith College were just added in 2023.
Being a QuestBridge Scholar
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If you attend a QuestBridge partner school through QuestBridge, you will be considered a QuestBridge Scholar. Many graduate schools and employers know QuestBridge and are familiar with what it means to be a Scholar, so don’t feel ashamed of your background! Importantly, at the partner schools, there each is a QuestBridge chapter where you can engage in social events with other QuestBridge Scholars. Oftentimes, when many low-income students aren’t able to travel back home for breaks, they’ll spend time with each other and also do many other fun activities throughout the years.
But beyond social events, QuestBridge continues to implement programming to help its students succeed in college and beyond. For example, QuestBridge hosts networking workshops where students can meet QuestBridge alumni, learn from their backgrounds, and learn how to navigate a professional space. There are also some events such as QB Convene discussing financial information specifically targeted toward students with low-income backgrounds. In 2023, QB Convene involved discussing things like a scarcity mindset, the ethical costs of upward mobility, and the basics of handling personal finances such as setting up a Roth IRA and importance of saving. QuestBridge doesn’t just disappear when you head off to college; the organization will continue to support you and provide resources for you to succeed.
Also don’t forget that beyond your school’s alumni network, you can also tap into the wider QuestBridge network as a whole. Oftentimes, two QuestBridge scholars who came from different schools will still have experienced similar struggles and have a connection to build off of. So don’t hesitate to connect with other Questies!
QuestBridge for Grad School
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Although QuestBridge’s main focus has been focusing on connecting high schoolers with selective undergraduate educations, it has also recently begun to expand to graduate schools as well. So far, there is only one graduate program, the Graduate School Match. This name is a bit misleading since really it’s only a business school program, but essentially, any QuestBridge alum is eligible to apply. Similar to the National College Match for high schoolers, you rank each of the business schools as you apply, and if you’re admitted, you get a full ride, but what’s different is that Matching is nonbinding. The Graduate School Match is a very new program, and its college partners could be subject to change: as of summer 2023, QuestBridge partners with Stanford GSB, Yale SOM, UPenn Wharton, and Chicago Booth.
QuestBridge is also working on expanding their graduate school opportunities to include other graduate programs, so even if you’re not interested in pursuing a business education, there may be some great opportunities waiting for you down the line.
For more information about the Graduate School Match, please visit the website.
College Prep Scholars
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While QuestBridge’s resources for high school students are primarily geared towards seniors and their college applications, the organization also offers programming for high school juniors. The College Prep Scholar program connects high-achieving low-income students with resources to better understand the college application process and help them realize that it may be possible for them to attend selective universities. This is important because many low-income students are doing well in school and their communities but don’t believe that selective universities are an option to them because they are used to thinking of these institutions as too expensive. That’s why being a College Prep Scholar is empowering!
The application for being a College Prep Scholar is in the winter of your junior year, and the programming occurs later in the spring, where College Prep Scholars have the opportunity to attend a conference with representatives from each partner school to get to know the schools better. Statistically, there’s also a high correlation between being a College Prep Scholar and a QuestBridge Finalist, so it’s a good sign for your application to QuestBridge in senior fall.
For more information about the College Prep Scholars program, please visit the website.