Month: March 2025

Be sure to look into and really know what dropping a class with W means before you drop a class. It can impact your financial aid and it can affect your graduation timeline. Reach out and speak to your advisor and financial aid and do NOT go below full-time until you know all of the consequences of that action.

Students who are not yet attending the school they want to, be sure to check out the introductory sessions with colleges. You will find that many have swag, such as shirts or other items, and some offer scholarships for attendees. We will talk more about this later, but look into reciprocity too, that is in-state tuition for a bordering state school.

If you are studying transportation, this scholarship is for you! National and Middle Tennessee both have a Comto Scholarship. The national scholarship closes March 28 - https://members.comtonational.org/page/2025-comto-scholarship-application The Middle Tennessee area one closes April 30 - https://comto.org/news/comto-nashville-chapter-announces-2025-scholarship-application Check out Comto to read more about their work https://members.comtonational.org/page/Mission - Founded in 1971, the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) was created to provide a forum for minority professionals in the transportation industry. Good luck!!

Chattanooga students it’s time for your community foundation scholarship application. It is due March 28 - https://www.cfgc.org/scholarships#browse-scholarships

Be sure to apply by April 1st - https://cfgm.iphiview.com/cfgm/Scholarships/Scholarships/tabid/599/Default.aspx

Advance Financial Scholarship due March 31st for Tennessee residents. Click here to apply - https://af247.tfaforms.net/56

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Hyper local scholarship idea - political party, local scholarships! Be sure to search for Democrat or Republican local scholarships, Tennessee scholarships, regional scholarships, and if you use the word Tennessee or your County in quotation marks, it will bring up results with the items in quotation as a requirement. Here’s the one I was talking about in the video, but there are quite a few more if you just look around. Good luck!!
http://www.tfdw.org

Do you like getting freebies on your birthday? Be sure and sign up for rewards programs and tell them when your birthday is and then check your email or apps the day of your birthday. I’m reading a list of all the emails I got today and over the past week because it’s my birthday!!

What did I miss? I already realized I didn't mention Chicken Salad Chick - I got a free chick meal the other day!

What was your favorite reward you got from a company for your birthday?

If you're a high school senior looking to ask for more money from a school and using another offer to try to see if it's possible, check out something like the template on this Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/financialaid/comments/1cbytq0/why_you_should_absolutely_negotiate_your/

If you've had a change in your financial situation or the FAFSA doesn't show the complete picture try one of these https://formswift.com/swift-student#startmyappeal has a lot of templates you can use. To read more about when they suggest for you to appeal: https://formswift.com/special-circumstances-appeal-letter

If you've lost your scholarship and want to ask to have it reinstated, go to your college's website and search the phrase "Financial Aid Appeal" and you will likely find the forms to fill out and the place to send them once you do. It never hurts to ask for more, but it's best to do it as soon as you see the need in case the funds are limited you want to ask sooner than later. Getting the notice that all funds were already exhausted would really stink if you would have qualified for help.

High Alert - please stay safe out there!!!

One pill can kill.

Posted in memory of my friend's son Keaton - here's his story and some facts about Fentanyl.

I just want everyone to be aware that this happens, and most of the time it's accidental. Laced pills are deadly.