Nothing gets seniors’ attention like an advertisement for free college. That’s why many seniors attended an informational QuestBridge presentation via Zoom hosted by counselors Dr. Heath Stevens and Mrs. Shelle Bates on Wednesday, Aug. 26. With growing college application fees, scholarships are highly sought after by seniors, adding to the appeal of the QuestBridge scholarship program, especially for low-income students.

“Like most people, the big sticker saying ‘free college’ is what interested me in this opportunity,”  senior Faith Bradford said about the QuestBridge College Match.

QuestBridge College Match connects prospective students to 42 colleges through an in-depth application process that examines financial need, academic excellence and extracurricular activities. For matched students, this scholarship fully covers tuition, fees, room and board, books and travel expenses.

Senior Nina Vo felt that there is no reason to not apply to the program.

“QuestBridge’s scholarship is a full four-year scholarship if you get matched and is partnered with really great schools, and even if you don’t get the scholarship, you can still apply to these schools through regular decision,” Vo said.

The scholarship is an appealing opportunity for those who are interested, but there are certain application requirements. The QuestBridge Match Program limits the pool of applicants to those who meet the household income requirement of $65,000 or less for a family of four. MSMS students are also required to rank between 8-10 schools they would feel comfortable attending if they received the scholarship.  When ranking colleges, students can be potentially matched to the college that appears highest on their list. For applicants of the match process, a college match would indicate a binding contract for the student to attend that school.

“I would have to be comfortable attending my eighth-choice school, so I will need to consider the pros and cons before deciding to apply,” Bradford said.

Still, the collegiate opportunities remain alluring to seniors.

“The QuestBridge scholarship is appealing because I won’t have to worry about the financial aspect of paying for anything associated with college costs,” senior Shanay Desai said.

Along with general Questbridge information, the meeting incorporated a Google Slides presentation that provided additional insight into the Questbridge application process. The slideshow included upcoming checkpoints for applicants, including the official match day on Dec. 1. In order to digest the influx of information, the meeting attendees were actively engaged in the presentation.

“The attendees this year asked more questions than the previous two years combined; the questions were also of better quality,” Stevens said. 

Following the meeting, seniors were left with much to think about and faced several decisions concerning their future. While some were left on the fence, others were still determined to take advantage of the financial possibilities. 

“All of the colleges on my list are QuestBridge partners, so it just makes sense to apply,” Vo said.