“You have to be in there every day and find out what scholarships are available,’ ” his mother, Maria Hall, told him. “You have to first apply, no matter how you feel about the scholarships.”
The Lake Taylor High teen followed his mother’s advice. He spent time nearly every day his senior year in the school’s guidance counseling office, researching opportunities. This fall, he will attend Hampton University with $279,000 in scholarships that will pay for his entire four-year education.
“I knew my parents didn’t have the money for it, so I knew I had to continue to work hard to get the things I wanted,” said Marquis, 18, who graduated this spring with a 3.94 GPA.
The quest for scholarships is a tradition among high school seniors, and the chronically bad economy may be boosting many families’ need for financial assistance, said Kevin Ladd, vice president of Scholarships.com, a website that helps students nationwide in their searches.
Ladd said that in January, typically the most active month, Scholarships.com saw nearly 20 percent more searches than the same month a year earlier. February saw 30 percent more searches than the year before.
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