These days if you want to go to College you have to have already been saving for many years, Take out a ton of student loans or if you are thinking ahead start researching College Scholarships now. There are many Scholarships out there and some are very specific.
If you start your research now you can be ready when its time to apply. When I was in school the school consular had binders filled with Scholarships you could apply for. Some were so specific that if you had not already done the requirements years in advance you were never going to get it. I would suggest starting freshman year. Start researching which ones you would like to apply for and what info you will need start doing the requirements now.
I lucked out that when i went in to apply I had already had some of the requirements for a FFA Scholarships and one from our local church. There are so many local, state wide and even country wide that if you get a head start on these you could be set for your college years.
Now which ones would you apply for. Apply for every thing you need. There are ones specific for college entry fees, ones or food, ones for housing, ones for books and so much more. For a lot of us these days if it was not for these we would not be able to go an further our education.
Now I don’t know if this is better or worse but now a days you can also research them on lie and be ready. Now why I say this might be worse. In my day unless people took the time to go threw the binder at school they were not applying. Now anyone can research from their home so you will have a lot more people applying then we did back in the day.
Searching ones like Hallie Gay Bagley is going to give you a great start on your search. Now when researching also make sure to see what their requirements are for keeping the Scholarship. A lot of them have a minimum GPA or other requirements for getting and keeping that scholarship.
Make sure no matter what you do in your High School Years to stand out. Make sure to Volunteer when and where you can. Join your school activities. Travel when you can and document everything you do. You never know what big thing or little thing will make you the stand out in your application. Everything you do for now on will be a refection of you and that is what they will be looking for.