11 Easy College Scholarships Your Senior Should Apply For

If you’ve already come to terms with the fact that your kid isn’t a genius, you’ve probably also already waved goodbye to that full ride to Harvard. But getting scholarship money isn’t just about perfect GPAs or SAT scores. Here, 11 scholarships your graduating senior should definitely consider applying for--even if he or she’s not valedictorian (or even close).   

1. Unigo Scholarship
Amount: $10,000
Deadline: December 31, 2016 
Ask your kid, “Weighing the expected investment and return, is college worth it for you? Why?" OK, now have them casually write it down in 250 words or less. Bada bing, bada boom.

Apply here.

2. “No Essay” College Scholarship
Amount: $2,000
Deadline: August 31, 2016
Listen, we wouldn’t say these were easy applications for nothing. 

Apply here.

3. CollegeWeekLive Monthly Scholarships
Amount: $1,000
Deadline: Monthly 
Create an account (get ready for the emails), visit five college pages on the website and that’s…kinda…it.

Apply here.

4. CollegeXpress Scholarship Contest
Amount: $10,000
Deadline: April 30, 2017
Accepted and entering one of these schools? Great. You’re eligible to enter this contest. As long as you know how to spell your own name, you should be golden.

Apply here.

5. “You Deserve It” Scholarship
Amount: $1,000
Deadline: Monthly
Books alone could cost $1,000. You 100 percent deserve this.

Apply here.

6. Coca-Cola Scholars Program
Amount: $20,000
Deadline: October 31, 2016
The initial application requires grades, school and community activities and employment, but no essays. We repeat: No essays. If you’re a semifinalist, a few more materials will be required. Oh, and it’s not just one prize. There are 250 of them. 

Apply here.

7. AFSA High School Senior College Scholarship Contest
Amount: $2,000
Deadline: April 7, 2017
The wording on the website is misleading (it says it’s a $20K prize), but 10 winners will be awarded $2,000 each. Still, not bad for no essays.

Apply here.

8. Second Chance College Scholarship Contest
Amount: $1,000
Deadline: August 26, 2016
Hey, this one can even be for the parents! If you graduated and now you’re going back to school, this easy scholarship can set you in the right direction.

Apply here.

9. Cappex Easy College Money Scholarship
Amount: $1,000
Deadline: Monthly
There’s no crazy essay involved, but you do have to wax poetic about your extracurricular, leadership and volunteer activities.

Apply here.

10. CaptainU Student-Athlete Scholarship
Amount: $2,000
Deadline: June 30, 2017
If your kid is already considering competing collegiately, you might as well apply to this.

Apply here.

11. Atlas Shrugged Essay Scholarship
Amount: $2,000 to first place
Deadline: March 29, 2017
You knew there’d be an essay somewhere in this list. But with over 84 awards of different values given away, it can’t hurt to put that summer Ayn Rand reading to use.

Apply here.