High School

Resources for applying to and paying for college. I grew up in Upstate New York, so NY-specific options are included alongside national ones.

Deadlines and eligibility change yearly. If something here is out of date, let me know.

1. Application Fee Waivers

• Common App Fee Waiver — Requested inside the Common App. No limit on the number of schools it covers. Your school counselor can confirm eligibility.
• SAT Fee Waiver / ACT Fee Waiver — Cover the test and score sends, and getting these waivers usually makes you automatically eligible for college application fee waivers.
• Email the admissions office — If you don't formally qualify but the fee is a hardship, ask!

Common eligibility criteria:

• Enrolled in or eligible for Free/Reduced Price Lunch
• Family income within USDA Income Eligibility Guidelines
• Enrolled in a program serving low-income students (TRIO, Upward Bound, GEAR UP)
• Living in federally subsidized public housing or a foster home, or experiencing homelessness
• Ward of the state or orphan

Some colleges also waive the fee if you visit campus or attend an info session. Check each school's admissions FAQ.

2. Scholarships

Scholarships come from your state, local community foundations, national foundations, and STEM organizations.

New York State & Local

• NYS Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) — Hub for New York State aid: the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), the Excelsior Scholarship (SUNY/CUNY tuition under an income cap), and the NYS STEM Incentive Program (full SUNY tuition for top-10% students in a STEM degree, with a commitment to work in NY afterward).
• County community foundations — Most NY counties have one administering local scholarships. For far north upstate NY (e.g. Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence County), I got a great scholarship from the Northern New York Community Foundation.
• Your guidance counselor's list — Many local scholarships are announced only through guidance offices.
• Local civic organizations — Rotary, Elks, Kiwanis, VFW, teachers' unions, and local employers, including your parents' employers.

National

• The Gates Scholarship — Covers full cost of attendance not met by other aid, for Pell-eligible students from minority backgrounds. Opens in July, closes mid-September of senior year.
• Coca-Cola Scholars Program — $20,000 for 150 students per year, weighted toward leadership and community involvement. Opens in August. A separate award exists for community college students.
• Elks Most Valuable Student Scholarship — Merit and need-based, up to $50,000 total. Applied for through your local Elks lodge.
• Jack Kent Cooke Foundation College Scholarship — Up to $55,000 per year for high-achieving students with financial need.
• UNCF Scholarships — Hundreds of scholarships for Black students through one searchable portal and a single profile.
• Hispanic Scholarship Fund — Scholarships for Hispanic/Latino students at all levels, plus career services and mentoring.
• APS Scholarships — American Physical Society scholarships for students entering physics.
• Society of Women Engineers Scholarships — One application covers a large pool of awards in engineering and related fields.

Any scholarship charging an application fee is a scam!

3. Fly-In & Campus Visit Programs

Fly-ins are free campus visits for prospective applicants, typically first-generation, low-income, or from underrepresented backgrounds. The college covers travel, housing, and meals.

Many of these programs were restructured after the 2023 Supreme Court decision on race-conscious admissions, with criteria shifting toward first-generation and limited-income status. Some were renamed or discontinued, so the lists below are more reliable than individual program links.

Annually updated lists

• College Transitions — Colleges With Fly-In Programs — Updated each admissions cycle, with links to each application.
• CollegeVine — Fly-In and Diversity Programs — Aggregated list with eligibility notes.

4. Free Learning Resources

Courses & platforms

• Khan Academy — Math, science, and computing from middle school through early college. Also hosts free official SAT practice. I used this for all my test prep!
• MIT OpenCourseWare — Lecture notes, problem sets, exams, and video from MIT courses. The "Scholar" versions are built for self-study.

Free textbooks

• OpenStax — Peer-reviewed textbooks for college and AP-level Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Calculus, Statistics, and Astronomy. Published by Rice University.
• Open Textbook Library — University of Minnesota's catalog of reviewed open textbooks.
• LibreTexts — Free textbook-level material in physics, chemistry, and math, organized by course level.
• Project Gutenberg — Public-domain ebooks, including historical scientific texts.

Coding

• freeCodeCamp — Project-based curricula in web development, Python, and data analysis.
• Python for Everybody — Introduction to Python assuming no prior programming.
• Google Colab — Browser-based Python notebooks with no local installation.