Since the beginning of February, many local scholarships have opened up for applications, according to counseling department chairperson Linda Skafish.

While students can get school-specific scholarships directly from the school they wish to attend, a second type of scholarship is available through foundations, companies and organizations, Skafish said. These groups award scholarships to students regardless of the school they attend, she said.

Skafish said, “This is the time period for those local scholarships.”

Skafish also said that many times, there are only a few applicants for each scholarship, so she recommends students take advantage of vast amounts of scholarships available.

“You name it, and there’s probably a scholarship for it,” Skafish said.

Senior Megan Chalfant said that she agrees with this.

“There are scholarships for a ton of just random things,” Chalfant said. “Like, there’s a scholarship for having asthma…Obviously there are grade and merit-based scholarships, but there’s a lot of interesting ones out there too.”

According to Chalfant, applying for scholarships can take considerable effort, but she said it is worth the work.

“I know I don’t want to get stuck with student loans right after college,” Chalfant said. “…So for me, that’s (kind of) my incentive. But scholarships are still really good, because, I mean, college is expensive. And if you have that money coming from somewhere else it’s just one less thing you have to worry about.”