10 College Application Tips for Low Income Students (QuestBridge, FAFSA, Fee Waivers, Jobs, and more)
First off, you’re probably wondering what kind of credibility I have to be handing out advice. I’m definitely not a college admissions officer or professional, but I did just finish up the college admissions process for 2020, and was accepted to Stanford University after having completed QuestBridge, then CommonApp applications, as well as applying for fee waivers and such. This isn’t a comprehensive guide on the application process! It’s just some advice of things I’ve learned and wish I knew before applying to college as a low-income student. If you’d rather watch the YouTube video, click here.
1. Apply through QuestBridge
The QuestBridge college match program is basically a college application tool that allows low-income, high achieving students to apply to multiple colleges, early decision, for free. It has another program for juniors, called Prep Scholars, but that will have less of an impact on the actual admissions process. I’d highly recommend that low-income students check them out, particularly if you’re first-gen or have lots of family responsibilities/work/etc. that you think put you at a disadvantage in the admissions process. The QB application is due in September, which is earlier than pretty much any other applications, but the nice thing about it is there’s really no downside — you apply early, basically get an extra shot at applying to your top colleges, receive resources and advice to help you with your application, get writing essays and such out of the way sooner, and have the chance of being matched for a full-ride with a really good school. Even if you don’t get matched (I didn’t), you can still apply RD through the common app/coalition to the same schools and have a second chance getting in.
2. Get those fee waivers
Things you can get fee waivers for if you qualify:
This is a general fee waiver you can get if ONE of the criterion apply to you/your school counselor can verify this. If you’re applying primarily through the CommonApp, I recommend looking into this one first since it’ll waive fees for ALL your applications through the CommonApp.
School-specific Fee Waivers
Some schools have their own criterion for granting fee-waivers, and you might be eligable for a school-specific waiver even if you weren’t for the CommonApp waiver for whatever reason. A lot of times, you can find school-specific fee waivers in the section for a specific school when you’re filling out information for it in the CommonApp, or do your own research to see if the school’s website says anything about it.
Standardized tests (less applicable to the class of 2021) also offer fee waivers with their own requirements, and qualifying for an SAT/ACT fee waiver might even automatically qualify you for an application fee waiver.
3. Know your resources
Simply try to become more aware of the resources that are at your disposal. This means being proactive, doing everything from finding SAT prep courses on Khan Academy, to asking your teachers questions about your app or their class, putting aside time to research scholarships/resources/opportunities for low-income applicants, etc. If you have to be at a disadvantage, be the least at a disadvantage as you can be by being educated about the options that are out there for you. It really sucks that some people have to work harder than others to achieve the privileged experience of applying to a range of schools, but in the end, it might just pay off (not just from you getting into the school, but the research and communication skills you learned along the way). Besides, if your teachers see how motivated you are, they’ll give you a more genuine and enthusiastic letter of recommendation when the time comes.
4. Apply for a job (if that’s an option for you)
Let’s be honest, jobs, especially as a minor, are a privilege in themselves. However, if it is an option for you, networking (TALKING to people in order to develop relationships and potential job contacts through friends, friends of friends, family, etc.) is often your best bet when applying for jobs as a minor, since if someone’s put in a good word for you, the person offering the job is more likely to take you seriously. Resume-writing and going through the whole process is obviously a really good way to build skills and resources you’ll be scrambling to college in your busy first year of college, anyway.
Whether you need money for high school textbooks, application fees, or a safety blanket in case you don’t get enough financial aid, getting a job in high school if you can will place you at less of a disadvantage. Keep in mind that you don’t have to hold out for your dream job — be realistic and commit to what pays.
5. Finessing the standardized test system
SAT/ACT test systems are inherently classist. Most of the time, the people who get the most preparation for the tests are the ones who can afford official test prep classes, have more time to devote to studying, etc. With this in mind, do the best that you can, but don’t set unreasonable expectations for yourself. Here’s some ideas of what you can do to prepare.
Keep good notes on core classes
This might sound obvious, but keep your notes from your core English and maths classes, take a practice SAT or ACT test early on, and in general be aware of the parts of high school that will be applicable to the tests. If you’re getting the most out of the classes that these tests are designed to test your knowledge on, you’ll be in a better position to succeed.
Khan Academy SAT prep
Khan Academy SAT prep lessons are free, and help you target the areas you’re struggling in. You’ll have to take a diagnostic test, and they have abundant practice tests on there too, so if you can’t afford to take the test multiple times but still want the advantage of practice, this resource is super valuable. This is what helped me the most prepping for standardized tests. I don’t know of an equivalent to this online for the ACT (comment below if you know of one), but there are definitely practice questions/tests out there on the internet, many of which you can access for free.
Scores don’t represent you? Get a reference letter
If you really feel like your scores don’t represent your skill in a particular area (e.g. English) but you really want to convey your strength in that subject, then get a letter of recommendation from a teacher in that area (e.g. your English teacher). This will give admissions officers insight into testing-you versus classroom-you, and will show more dimension to your skills.
Additional information
Use the additional information section of the application (or your interview, if the school offers it) to explain any extenuating circumstances that you believe negatively influenced your scores.
6. Get on top of FAFSA
If you don’t know, FAFSA is basically a form you have to fill out as a prospective or current student to determine your eligibility for financial aid. If you’re a dependent, it requires sitting down with your parents/guardians and putting in an excruciating amount of details from their tax return about household income/assets/other financial stuff. In other words, it’s a pain in the ass, but a very useful one. Also, if you complete it ASAP after it opens up (which was October 1 of my senior year for me), you have a better chance of getting grants (free money) as opposed to loans (you gotta pay it back). So go, RIGHT NOW, and look up when FAFSA will open for you and put the date on your calender, tell your parents/guardians about it ahead of time, and be ready to dive right in.
7. Get on top of scholarships
This is a little hypocritical, because this is one part of the application process that I was definitely not as aware of or on top of as I could have been. However, there are huge opportunities here, so learn from my mistakes and start doing research early on in your senior or even junior year. If nothing else, write down the names of a bunch of scholarships you could potentially apply to the summer before your senior year, so you can be aware of them when the deadlines come around (many of these deadlines will be after your application deadlines in the US, so I’m afraid if you thought you were done January 1, it probably won’t end there).
Here’s some places to start:
Unmet Need Scholarship Program
National Medical Fellowships Need Based Scholarship Program
There are tons more general, state-specific and school-specific colleges, so do your own research! Also see the CollegeBoard scholarship search.
8. Connect with people who can give you advice
Does my prospective school have a supportive community of low-income students?
What is it like to manage a job and a college workload?
How can I balance my familial or work opportunities with the time needed to complete all these college apps?
Find people who can answer your questions about the application process as a low-income student. These are, simply, other people who have gone through the same process. If you have a teacher, family member, friend, etc. who has applied to college as a low-income student, start a conversation with them about it. You may learn things you didn’t even know you wanted to know. If you don’t know anyone who’s been in your situation or don’t feel comfortable talking about it in person, check online for support groups, communities, and other resources for answering your questions. Read pieces like this, and watch YouTube videos about peoples’ experiences. Try to get a picture of someone else’s perspective.
9. Seek out schools that can take care of you financially
One place to start with this is to look at the college partners of scholarship programs like QuestBridge which likely have larger endowments. Basically, if you’re low income you probably have less time to be working on your applications than you might otherwise. One way to narrow down the list of schools you want to apply to is to research beforehand and see which schools would actually be likely to give you the financial help you need.
In-state schools
I can’t speak much to this since I only applied to one, but if you are interested in applying in-state, often in-state schools will cost you less than out-of-state schools, so that is definitely something to look into.
Use financial aid calculators!
Lots of schools offer financial aid calculators on their websites, where you input info about your household income and it gives you back an estimate of what your financial aid package will look like. This was really helpful for me for narrowing down schools.
10. Connect with supportive communities at your college
Connect with low income students who got into the institutions you’re applying to. This might seem daunting, and I’ll admit, I didn’t think of this until after the application process. But maybe by reaching out to the admissions office to ask if they can set you up with a student, or by commenting on a YouTuber or blogger from your college asking for advice, reaching out to a low-income student at the school can do a lot towards assuaging or confirming your fears.
These are the people who are going to know what life at that school is actually like for low-income kids — whether they provide grants for internships, whether financial aid covers study abroad, whether there’s a supportive community of low-income students at that school, etc. This kind of information can be hugely informative to your college decision, and I wish I’d thought of it earlier in the process.
However, if you can’t connect with students before college decisions come out, if you’re choosing between a couple of schools after being admitted, I would definitely recommend looking into talking to current students. Stanford FLIP had a low-income partnering thing where you got to ask a current low-income student any questions that you had, and I found it to be really helpful.
Alright, that’s about it for the tips! I hope some of these were helpful, I read tons of articles and watched tons of videos like this throughout the application process, so I want to help as much as I can. Let me know if you have any questions, and stay tuned for more college-related content!
