IBW Scholarships Guide

Hello IBW Students and Community

This page is a periodically updated guide to local and national scholarships along with important financial aid information. All underlined words will connect you to a external link or resource. If you have any questions please reach out to our College Counselors

Winston Rivas: Wrivas@pps.net

Kelly Milford: Kmilford@pps.net

-IBW CCC

If you missed this weeks Paying For College Night, we have included these slides for families to review!

Additionally ECMC is hosting another online Paying for College Night, see below for more info:

Paying for College Night – October 8 at 6:00 p.m.

Join us for our live Paying for College webinar next Wednesday, October 8! Encourage your families to attend as well!

We’re hosting our annual Paying for College webinar with our friends from The Ford Family Foundation and the Oregon Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. We’ll cover financial aid basics, scholarships, and how to plan for life after high school. The session will be available in English, español and русский язык, with live Q&A from Oregon's financial aid administrators. [That's English, Spanish and Russian!]
https://bit.ly/PFCE_OR

The 2026-2027 FAFSA is Now Open!

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form is your key to unlocking federal financial aid, including federal grants, work-study funds, and loans.

Even if you believe you don't qualify for federal grants or aid, filling out the FAFSA is often a requirement for colleges to distribute scholarships.

Important Tip: Who Should Start the Application?

The Student should begin the FAFSA application and then invite their parent or guardian to contribute.

If a parent starts the form and invites the student, it can increase the chances of getting an error message.

What You Need to Complete the FAFSA?

Gather the following documents and information before you start to make the process quicker and easier:

• Student and Parent's FSA ID

• Social Security Numbers (Student and Parents)

• USCIS Registration Number (if you are an eligible non-citizen)

• Federal Tax Information: Tax returns, W-2s, and other records of income for you and your parents.

• Records of Untaxed Income: Such as child support received.

• Information on Assets:

• Cash, savings, and checking account balances.

• Investments, including stocks, bonds, and real estate (but do not include the value of the home you live in).

The CSS Profile is also open. It’s used by about 200 colleges and universities to award institutional aid. If your students are applying to private or out-of-state schools, they may need to complete this form in addition to the FAFSA or ORSAA.

Check participating schools https://profile.collegeboard.org/PPI/participatingInstitutions.aspx

The Oregon Student Aid is where you will find information and the application to Oregon Specific financial aid and scholarship including the following:

• Oregon Opportunity Grant (OOG): for first-generation students or those with financial need attending any participating Oregon Community College or four-year public or private nonprofit college. A completed FAFSA or Oregon State Aid Application (ORSAA) is all that is required and students should list the Oregon Schools they are interested in. https://oregonstudentaid.gov/oregon-opportunity-grant.aspx

• Oregon Promise Grant: for recent high school and GED graduates with a 2.0+GPA who plan to enroll at least half-time at an Oregon Community college within six month of graduation. Application and FAFSA or ORSAA.

OSAC: Create Your Account (1 app for over 600 scholarships)

One Application for 600 Scholarships ($17 million), some scholarships are specifically for Ida B. Wells students!! For information about Financial Aid, Scholarships, and Oregon Promise (2.0+ GPA, Apply Oct 1-June 1), please visit OSAC (Office of Student Access and Completion) oregonstudentaid.gov/.

OSAC Early Bird Deadline: Feb 15, Regular Deadline: Mar 1.

Step one: Create OSAC account at app.oregonstudentaid.gov/Account/Register.aspx?a=SCH.

More info: OSAC Student Portal app.oregonstudentaid.gov/

Step two: OSAC Scholarship Application Instructions at oregonstudentaid.gov/scholarships-instructions.aspx

From Project Greenlight:

The following colleges have a stated commitment to providing all admitted US citizens and US permanent residents with a financial aid package that covers 100% of their calculated financial need.

In general, schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need strive to be affordable financial options for the students they admit by providing need-based financial aid that is directly tied to each student and family’s resources.

Demonstrated financial need is the difference between the cost of attendance and the amount your family is expected to contribute

Financial aid packages may be composed of grants and scholarship funding (money you do not need to repay), student loans (money you do need to repay), and student employment funding. Some institutions do not include student loans as an expectation in their financial aid package, meeting 100% of demonstrated need with only grant and scholarship funding (also referred to as “gift aid”).

• The financial aid website for colleges you apply to: You often get access to their scholarship portal such as OSU ScholarDollars and UO Scholarship page once you apply. Check you email often

• Foundations, religious or community organizations, local businesses, or civic groups.

• Organizations (including professional associations) related to your field of interest.

• Ethnicity-based organizations.

• Your employer or your parents’ employer.

• If you are are considering serving our country while remaining in school consider ROTC programs that give scholarships in exchange for time commitment: Army ROTC, Navy ROTC, and Air Force ROTC.

• Insurance, banks, credit unions, unions, veterans' groups.

For a more extensive list click this link:

Many of these websites will ask you to create a profile and will pair you will scholarships that meet your description based on academic profile, extracurricular activities and other identities.

You can use these websites to do further searching for scholarships.

The vast majority of scholarships you will receive will be from colleges you get accepted but do not miss our applying to private scholarships as they can give you the extra money that can make college affordable

Mometrix Top 175 Scholarships for College

Big Future

Bold.org

Going Merry

Scholarship Search Experts

GetSchooled

Fast Web

Scholarships

Student Aid

StandOut College Prep Scholarships

Student Scholarships

JLV College Counseling (National Scholarships)

Niche.com

Cappex

Peterson’s