I couldn’t do my scholarships. No seriously, for some reason it was way too hard to complete an obviously beneficial application process. It sucked, and I wanted to know if it was just me or if some of my peers were also having trouble with their scholarships, so I did some research. For students it’s no debate: college is expensive. Applying for schools is only one of the big steps for senior students, but planning how they will pay for their education the following year is just as difficult, if not more. Working and saving can be beneficial, but as a teenager, it is hard to make enough money to pay for college, especially while trying to juggle school work. That’s why scholarships are such a necessity when it comes to prepping for college.

So what exactly are scholarships? Basically a scholarship is a sum of money awarded to a student to help further his or her education. Most organizations that offer scholarships will want to award money to students looking to study what their organization excels at. For example, an art studio would want to give scholarships to students interested in studying art. What makes scholarships even better is that they don’t need to be paid back like a loan. “The price of higher education is rising every year, so it’s really nice to have local community members who want to help students reach their goals,” says Fionna.

Unfortunately, getting the scholarship you want isn’t as easy as you would think. Not only must you create an application that fits each scholarship’s theme and requirements, but you will also be competing against other students eager to get the money as well. The students I interviewed are all mentally exhausted from all the effort they put in to their scholarships. “It’s worth it,” said Henry, “I don’t want to be held back from student debt. I don’t know if I’ll get all the scholarships I applied for, but every bit helps.” Many seniors have applied to out of state schools, which are much more expensive than schools that reside in California. “I wanted to go to University of Oregon, but the price difference in and out of state was crazy,” Henry told me, “I had to work extra hard to apply for all the scholarships I could. One girl I met at Cal Poly who lived out of state told me how it’s the same thing for the UCs. The price difference is over sixty thousand dollars sometimes.” This means that applying for as many scholarships you can qualify for is essential, even if it is extremely exhausting.

So what makes them hard? Sure they’re a lot of work, but so is everything else a senior has to do to get to the point of even doing scholarships. Scholarships become available in February, and end in late March or early April. As a student myself, I have found that around this time is when school really starts to turn up the heat; you have to start sacrificing a lot of free time just to get things finished. So the issue could be timing, but as Misha put it, “It make sense. If they release them earlier it won’t make a difference because students will procrastinate for a longer period of time.” The AP tests don’t start becoming a stress until April, so the time before is slower. I asked Alder why it was hard for her, and she said “It’s difficult because you have to talk about yourself in ways you aren’t really used to. Trying to word everything in a positive way, even if it may have a slightly negative aspect, is tricky.”

Some scholarships also require personal interviews, and students will have to attend one that rewards around eight thousand dollars. That may also add an extra layer of stress. Going to an interview may be too much for some students, so it can scare them away from trying different scholarships. “The hardest part for me was preparing myself mentally,” said Henry, “It’s the anticipation for the interview that was difficult, but when it came to writing for the scholarship it wasn’t as difficult.”

While the effort needed is large for this process, the positives outweigh the negatives. Most of the students I spoke with were emphasizing the point that even though it was very stressful to finish, they were happy with their decisions. The time you take to work on them will be worth it knowing that you can fund your future.