By Anastasia Benstead, Asst. Editor-in-Chief
Brianna Membres received over $50,000 in scholarships to pay for college tuition and housing. This number actually exceeded her amount owed to University of Indiana, Indianapolis that she not only graduated debt free, but also received check refunds while in undergrad. Although she originally wanted to become a teacher, her passion for helping others led her to be the founder and CEO of SheEdits, a service that helps students find, apply for and win scholarships.
Brianna Membres founder and CEO of SheEdits – Photo by Briana Membres
On Wednesday Oct. 23, TRIO SSS partnered with SheEdits and Membres hosted a student scholarship writing workshop. Membres led the presentation via Zoom which students were also welcome to log in to in addition to being able to attend the session in person in the TRIO SSS meeting room.
Membres did not graduate high school with a 4.0 GPA, she did not play any sports which might have led to athletic scholarships, nor did she have a college savings account. As a first generation college student, she had no idea how to fund her higher education. At first she started applying to every scholarship she could find, including the big name corporation scholarships– she says this is a huge no-no. She specifically deters students away from competing in those scholarships saying that the odds of winning are “one in a million.” The same is true for no essay scholarships. “They are only looking for contact information, meaning you’ll never win anything and ending up with a bunch of crap you don’t want in your inbox, but don’t fear. There are still ways to win scholarships,” said Membres.
The biggest piece of advice Membres gave was to look for very narrow scholarships. This involves filtering the application criteria to more specifically match the applicant. This can be things as broad as race, religion or gender or as detailed as number of siblings, jobs of parents, or county lived in. “The more specific, the better the odds of winning,” said Membres. For students looking for these scholarships, a regular internet search will yield results, additionally, Membres also highly recommends the scholarship database of Bold.org.
The workshop lasted roughly 90 minutes and students filled out a worksheet during her presentation. The organizer is linked here. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SIlknnC6tArHyHre_InxrMiURHwpEs0qz-DC0Pn6HNc/edit?tab=t.0
This can be accessed by anyone using an Aquinas email. To complete the worksheet, hit file → make a copy.
Brianna Membres graduating from IUPUI with over $50,000 in scholarships – Photo by Briana Membres
Membres shared many statistics about how the average cost of student loan debt is $30,000 that takes on average 10-25 years to pay off. “You guys are all roughly 20, right? Imagine being 45, you have a life and kids and maybe they’re starting college and you are still paying off your debts. That ain’t worth it,” said Membres.
For anyone in TRIO SSS, enrollment into the next SheEdits cohort is still open and will begin on Nov. 7. This is a course which consists of 5 weeks of modules and then once a month weekly meetings, on the third week of the month, for the next three years even if the student has graduated. The purpose of this is to connect students with opportunities and resources to apply for scholarships.
For students not in TRIO, there are still a few important takeaways from the workshop. “Always remember to GLOW,” said Membres. Scholarship essays often give very similar prompts about overcoming a challenge. When responding to one of them students should answer these questions:
G- Grow (how did you develop when overcoming the challenge?)
L- Learn (what did you learn from this experience)
O- Overcome (what did you do specifically to overcome this challenge?)
W- Who (who can you now help with what you have learned?)
In addition to writing a good essay, if students are committing to the scholarship route for paying for college, “consistency is key,” said Membres. She recommends spending 20 minutes a day on either searching or writing an essay for scholarships.
“Applying for scholarships should be like a part time job. You cannot just call into work when you’re cold and tired and say ‘hey boss, I can’t come in today, see you in november,” said Membres. It is important to stay up to date on opportunities. No amount is too small to be worth applying for, her professional opinion.
Lastly, she recommends getting organized. Scholarships are not just for incoming first year students with high grades- anyone can win them, so it is important to have current transcripts, relevant test scores, resumes and letters of recommendation ready to go.
The purpose of this event was “assuring students that it is a process with a lot of steps, but there are so many resources out there to help students,” said CORE director, Nisha van Larr. Students who are not in TRIO SSS are still welcome to ask van Larr any questions they may have, as well as contact Membres directly at info@SheEditsLLC.com
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