My
Financial Aid Story...
Hello Educators, Parents, and Students,
I would like to share my quest for financial aid with you.
It cost me approximately $130,000 to attend Purdue University’s
Aviation/Flight Program in West Lafayette, Indiana from 1990
- 1994. I received nearly $90,000 in scholarships, grants,
and institutional aid to help pay for my college tuition and
flight training fees. However, knowing what I know now, I
believe I should have gone to school for free or close to
free. I attended Chicago Vocational High School, which is
a public high school located on the south side of Chicago,
IL, and in my senior year of high school I was Class President
and salutatorian. I had a 4.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and I was
a member of various clubs and organizations in school such
as the Track & Field Team, National Honor Society, National
Beta Club, Law Club, Math Club, etc. I also volunteered as
a tutor at a local church and community organization to elementary
school students.
When it was time to start applying for financial aid, my
mother and I didn’t have a clue about the financial aid process.
We made numerous mistakes on the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA), and I didn’t apply for most scholarships
in which I was eligible. I felt the scholarship application
process was a little intimidating, especially when I had to
write an essay or prepare for an interview. If it had not
been for my mother and guidance counselor pushing me to complete
the scholarship applications that I had, I would not have
received the scholarships that I was awarded.
Although, I received nearly $90,000 in scholarships, grants,
and institutional aid to pay for college. I still had to borrow
close to $40,000 in student, PLUS, and Alternative loans to
pay for the remaining flight training expenses. I should have
applied to more scholarships to reduce the number and amount
of loans I had to borrow for my education. Despite my financial
aid mistakes, I was still able to pursue my childhood dream
of becoming a professional airline pilot. And currently, I’m
a pilot for a major airline.
After graduating from college, I wrote and published my first
book titled Aviation Scholarship Directory to help
students find aviation scholarships. After publishing the
second edition of this book, I was asked if I could help students
that were not interested in aviation with their scholarship
search. So I started to reflect on my personal experiences
and lessons learned. Then I researched the financial aid topic
more and attended various financial aid workshops. What I
realized was that students and parents were still having the
same problems that my mother and I had years ago.
So, I decided to write The Scholarship Workbook.
The overall goal of The Scholarship Workbook was
to simplify the financial aid process for students and parents
by making it a step-by-step guide. There are four major steps,
in which I consider as building blocks, to help students with
the financial aid process.
The four major steps (building blocks) consist of:
Step 1: Financial Aid Basics
Step 2: The Workbook (Documenting Qualifications)
Step 3: Scholarship and Financial Aid Sources
Step 4: Completing the Scholarship Application
Each step was designed to help students by making the financial
aid process less confusing and intimidating. I assure you
that The Scholarship Workbook will help students
with their scholarship search and application process. Click
here to order your copy of The Scholarship
Workbook.
Need a Financial Aid
Workshop Host?
If you would like to bring Sedgwick Hines to your school’s
or organization’s financial aid workshop as a host presenter,
please download our Workshop
Host Questionnaire (PDF). Then print, complete,
and fax the questionnaire to AvScholars Publishing, LLC. at
(801) 516-0639. If you have any additional questions or comments,
please Contact Us and we’ll respond to you promptly. The PDF
file requires Acrobat
Reader to view. If you don't already have it, you can
download it for free.
*Receive
$3 OFF Total Order with Coupon Code:
WB5
