When I was a high school senior, I was worried about how I was going to afford college. The cost of attendance for my in-state university is nearly $25,000 per year, and I knew my mom — a single parent — and I couldn't afford that on our own. So, I quit my part-time job.

You may be thinking, Wait, what? It sounds counterintuitive, right? I thought so too, but my mom told me that I could keep working at my job after school making minimum wage, or I could invest that time into applying for scholarships. Now, I'm not telling you to quit your job, but if you're so busy that you can't set aside time to apply for scholarships, you may have to sacrifice something, like hanging out with friends, watching Netflix, or participating in an extracurricular activity.

Setting aside time to work on scholarship applications is the hardest part. My strategies below can help you from there.

Find scholarship resources online and in your community.

Research if there is a community foundation that manages scholarship opportunities or an education foundation that helps students in your city. Meet with your school guidance counselor to inquire about scholarships. Talk with the colleges you are interested in about their scholarship opportunities. Make accounts on trustworthy scholarship websites like Raise.me, Sallie Mae, Going Merry, and FastWeb. It's important to start sooner rather than later because many national scholarships have early deadlines, like the QuestBridge National College Match, Horatio Alger National Scholarship, Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship, Gates Scholarship, and the Bryan Cameron Impact Scholarship.

Get a head start!

Create a resume with your education, work/volunteer experience, extracurricular activities, and honors. This is useful to have ready to attach to scholarship applications whenever possible and appropriate; your resume has the potential to showcase your academics, community involvement, and experience to scholarship reviewers.

Since you will probably need several recommendation letters, I recommend asking for three from your teachers, guidance counselor, or coach (preferably at least two teachers). When you ask an individual to write you a letter of recommendation, bring a physical copy of your resume and approach them in person at least 3-4 weeks in advance, if possible. Request the letter at least two days before the actual deadline in case of an emergency.

Begin brainstorming what you would like to write about in a personal statement essay. A personal statement is an essay about you: your education, career aspirations, and inspiration written in an honest and sincere way. Not all applications ask for a personal statement, but you should have one prepared for those that do!

Find your edge.

Students with memorable applications have the best chance of earning scholarships. Find what makes you stand out by creating a list of your strengths, and bring them up in your writing. For instance, you can write about an experience, challenge, or activity that shaped you into who you are today and/or inspired you to pursue your career path.

Stay organized.

While researching scholarships, make note of the ones you would like to apply to. Establish a system for keeping track of scholarship deadlines, requirements, and submission methods. Personally, I used a Google Sheets page with columns for the scholarship name, amount, due date, requirements, notification date, and link. When I submitted a scholarship application, I highlighted the corresponding row yellow to mark as complete and motivate me to work ahead.

Apply for as many scholarships as you can.

There are scholarships for everything! For example, there are scholarships for merit, financial need, community service, race, religion, illness, first-generation status, competitions, etc.

When finding scholarships, apply regardless of the award amount because everything helps. Also, don't just apply for large national scholarships; you are more likely to earn local scholarships because they have a smaller pool of applicants. I applied to almost every local scholarship I was eligible for. It sounds time-consuming, but most scholarship applications require the same materials. Once you have your personal statement, resume, and recommendation letters, it's easy to apply to multiple scholarships.

I applied for about 50 scholarships, and I earned eight of them. Of the eight, seven were scholarships from generous people and organizations in my community that wanted to support local students. Even if you doubt that you're the best fit for a scholarship, you should still apply. In some cases, you could be the sole applicant.

Submit scholarship applications before the deadline.

This will give yourself enough time in case you experience problems. Some difficulties I experienced included obtaining my transcripts, allocating enough time to mail my application, waiting for a recommender to upload a letter of recommendation, and submitting the application online.

Finally, never give up! If you persevere, your hard work will pay off.