College Survivor Learning the Art and Strategy of Earning Scholarships and Grants

College Survivor is a one of a kind book and very different than current resources for scholarship application. Other resources provide where, when and why. College Survivor teaches you HOW. How is the missing link and the gold. College Survivor Strategy is the heart of the book. It is the HOW. College Survivor Strategy (chapter 15) employs the S.T.A.R. method or Situation, Task, Action, Results. SITUATION - you will identify your current financial and employment situation which will lead to the next step. TASK - you will learn the process of gathering your resources and learning how to organize your resources which will lead to the next step. ACTION - you will learn how to create your personalized action plan for execution which leads to the last step. RESULTS - You will learn how to track your winnings and once again evaluate your situation so that you may begin the cycle again. As a precursor to the College Survivor Strategy, chapter 13 encourages and teaches you how to develop your Dream Team so that you may be more successful as you approach the College Survivor Strategy. College Survivor has specific sections designed for parents, college students, high schools students, single parents and adults returning to college. College Survivor is comprehensive such that it provides more than just a strategy. Additional sections address myths and misconceptions, money issues, the art of saving money in college (Silly Rich vs. Smart Poor), understanding Need vs. Want, Balancing your life, Time Block Management, Parent Mentoring and more. College Survivor is written from a mom and student perspective in real time. There are 17 chapters that cover every aspect of the college experience. College Survivor consistently inspires parents and college bound students to aim for the stars. College Survivor is a must have book and the solution to avoiding unnecessary college loans.

About the AuthorThe College YearsIn 1989, I graduated with a BA in Speech Communications from Texas A&M University owing $2,300. I was a twenty-three-year-old divorced single parent at that time. I worked. I went to school. I volunteered. I was active in extra-curricular activities, and I raised my toddler son. I had earned several scholarships, including a Presidential Scholarship. During my years in college, I had to learn the scholarship, grant, and loan system on my own. I had to learn everything on my own, just like the students today. And just like the students of today, I had to endure the pains of evolving from adolescent to adult. All I could rely on was the mentoring that my parents had provided me while under their wing. My parents were not in a position of assisting financially. I can remember my dad giving me $30. That was the best he could do. But Mom and Dad always brought groceries when they visited me, and they always took care of my son during finals and in the summer. My parents provided moral support and a safe environment for my son when I needed help. If I needed to move, they were all hands on deck. They lived two-and-half hours away and were ready to assist with my son at a moment's notice. This was priceless compared to the $30. Relatives and friends would insult and judge me about pursuing my education and insisted that I should find a local job and raise my child. I would hear things like "you are a bad mother; shame on you," "you are foolish and not thinking straight," "you should put food on the table first and education second." I firmly disagreed, and so did my parents, especially my father. I understood the investment of my time and energy. My son gave me the motivation to push hard. I knew that if I were to live to be seventy or eighty years old, those very short four years (just forty-eight months) of getting an education would provide a life for both of us. I was ready to sacrifice anything and everything to achieve my goals. I knew that the payoff would be huge. And I was right.Corporate CareerAfter graduation, doors opened, and I walked right through. I had a wonderful corporate career. I climbed the corporate ladder and won two Presidential Cups. These were the years of my greatest mentoring. I was blessed with amazing leaders that taught me all their secrets to success. Unfortunately, I learned how to become silly rich, and forgot how to be smart poor. Luxury. Pampering. I was a spoiled brat. Reality CheckThen, all the financial success came to a screeching halt with the birth of our youngest son. At five days old, our youngest son had his first open heart surgery. For nine months, he would turn blue and pass out up to three or four times a week, many times right in my arms. For nine months, he was in and out of the hospital almost every week. At nine months old, he had his second surgery. At three years old, he endured his third surgery. Then, at age ten, he had his fourth surgery with a clear expectation of having additional surgeries every ten years minimum. Try to imagine the impact on a mother's body… I had numerous medical issues and surgeries of my own from the stress. Stress is destructive. With the loss of our home, we had no choice but to live in a rental house with used cars and depleted funds. We raised the white flag and surrendered to medical bankruptcy. We were no longer silly rich. Now we were forced to be smart poor again and were served humility on a cold plate. That cold plate of humility has kept our family together. We were rich in a different way and wealthier than those with endless finances. I had to use everything I had learned from my college days of how to stretch the dollar so that we could make it. Life lessons are never lost. Blessings of life situations are priceless, especially when you can teach the next generation. Student Becomes MentorIn 2016, I was placed in the position of mentor rather than student. Twenty-nine years had passed since my college graduation, and it was time to pass on the torch. We had moved across the country for my husband's job, and I worked as a substitute teacher. This teaching experience was daunting and eye-opening as to what the students of today face and how they make decisions. I had two high school children that were college-bound. I knew our children would be faced with paying for college because of our personal financial situation. I could not believe that I would be placing my own children in the same situation that I was faced with as a college student. Unfathomable. I was determined to teach my children my own methods. I started to research the latest in scholarships and grants. I was prepared for an evolution. I knew I would have to relearn the system. I was wrong. During my research, I found that not much had changed. Just the format. Technology. Parents are still parents. Students are still students. The same questions. The same struggles. Adolescents still develop at the same rate. The one difference that I found was the generation gap and the differences in how parents and students approach higher education because of the generation gap. The research was so intriguing. This is why this subject is approached early in the book. Back to my research… the internet was chaos. Finding scholarships without knowing how to execute a plan was overwhelming. Then, I decided to order books. The catalog-style books with lists of scholarships were great because I had the scholarships at my fingertips. I read as many first-hand autobiography books as possible, but they were side-tabled because I was not taught how to search, organize and execute a plan. Essentially, all the books or videos would show me what, where, and why. I could not find a systematic way to execute all the information. I was looking for how. I thought, Someone please help! I have all of this great information, but how do I manage it? How do I organize, execute properly, and do the follow up? And my biggest question was: Can you really earn $500,000 in scholarships? Really? Is this realistic? I felt frustrated again. So I had to devise a system that would work for both of my college-bound children, each facing a road of $130,000 in college costs. A Research Project. A Workshop. A Book.I wrote College Survivor (the workbook) by accident. As I researched and researched, hours became days, days became weeks, and weeks became months. I had to begin organizing all of the information in a three-ring binder. Then, I had to add tabs and categories. Before I knew it, I wrote a 150-page workbook. My children's friends began to ask if I could help them, and I did. Then I had a small workshop, and it was amazing. I learned that parents are parents, and students are students, and that nothing has really changed other than technology. And guess what everyone's question was? "How do I organize, execute, and follow up?" Just like me! The Turning PointIn early fall of 2017, I met two amazing women by happenstance. They both encouraged me to take my original work and publish it as a book. In late fall of 2017, as I talked to personal and business friends about the possibility of publishing a book, I had requests for a Spanish version. I had requests for a chapter devoted to college students. I had requests for a chapter devoted to single parents. The original was designed for high school students. At this point, I knew there was no turning back.On one very bitter cold day in December 2017, I quit my job, hired my IT guru and in twenty-four hours had a book cover design and logo. In January 2018, with my heart racing, I called a publisher. And here we are…