Columbus Family Pays For College Tuition Through Scholarships

Financial corporation Synovus recently announced the recipients of their Jack Parker Scholarship. This year 103 students who are children of Synovus team members were awarded the scholarship.

The parent of one winner says scholarship hunting is key for paying college tuition in a down economy.

In a few months, Bob Putney will head back to Samford University to begin another semester in college. But recently, some students have had to put those plans on hold.

“Bob and I have talked a lot, and he was concerned like maybe I can’t go back to school next year,“ says Lela Shirley.

But it is Bob’s never ending search for scholarships that has helped him return each semester.

Her son Bob says “the scholarship process in itself is pretty long and arduous, you really have to go out there and look, there’s many websites now that really help the process.“

Shirley says many scholarships are never used because people don’t apply for them. She says you can find them in the least expected places.

“Our place of business, where his dad works, where I work, where his step-dad works, we all checked out the different opportunities.“

Bob has started to see many of his peers take on the role of scholarship hunting.

“Let’s face it,“ says Bob “the average college student doesn’t really pay much attention to the finances but there’s definitely been a shift in the direction to being more fiscally responsible.

Shirley believes it would not hurt if more students did just that.

“They can be long they can be tiresome but in the end it’s been very helpful for our family for him to get the scholarships.“

Shirley says the best advice she would give a parent who is preparing their child for college is to write down all of the activities they participate in. She also says try and make sure your child is well rounded while in high school.

Synovus’ Jack Parker Scholarship was founded in 1988 and has since awarded more than $1 million in scholarships to students.