Financial Need Scholarship Essay - how to start and make it sound appealing

tips for describing current financial situation

Prompt - Please write a 1-2 page essay explaining in detail your current financial situation and why you need more scholarship based solely off of your extreme financial situation.

Evening all,

I am an international student from a developing country, Indonesia, and the exchange rate between USD and IDR is not good and makes items in the USA much more expensive than it is here. I'm not quite sure on how to answer this essay and make it appealing to the reader who will be considering my scholarship. Should I be talking about my achievements and why I deserve it? Should I be talking instead of the struggles of my family? The prompt says "why you need more scholarship based solely off of your extreme financial situation", so should I be taking this approach literally as in state how much income my family makes or should I create a narrative like where I describe my family's hardship and open the essay with a specific event? Any tips perhaps on making the essay appealing?

Many thanks!

"Should I be talking about my achievements and why I deserve it?"
If you want to highlight some of the ways you've overcome the difficulties of financial hardship (excelling academically, leading a club/organization, etc) you can do towards the end the essay. But definitely your main focus should be on what the prompt states: explaining in detail ... based SOLELY off of your extreme financial situation. You don't need to provide actual numbers about the amount your family earns, but if you have a way to express how little it is (through a story...just being honest about what you've actually experienced. Don't try to overplay the "I am so poor give me money" trope. Everyone applying to this scholarship obviously has extreme need...give them a reason that shows why you need the money, maybe discuss at the end how it will help you in your academic goals, and how it can lead you to your professional goals).

Shannon it appears to me that this is a scholarship that considers the family's ability to pay for at least a portion of the education of the student. Which is why they are asking for the financial circumstances of your family. The best approach to this essay would be to focus solely on that. Indicating the jobs of your parents, their separate and totaled income, household expenses, expenses for sibling education (if any) and how the current savings of the family stands. This prove their ability to not support or partially support your education. If the family has set aside some sort of educational fund for you, then you have to mention that in the essay as well. The scholarship program is obviously looking for true indigent students to award the scholarship to, which is why they require specific financial information from you.

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What to write re: Talk about your financial needs and why you need this scholarship

I have no clue what to write about I don't have financial needs I have 2 sisters and I show livestock and I pay for that but I don't know am introduction for the essay!!!! HELP

If I were you, I would choose to describe an original moving story about your financial situation, not in a pitiful way, but in words that showcase that the scholarship you want to get is going to go in good hands. The more details the more believable it is.