KENT, Ohio, Jan. 21, 2009
When School Gets Pricey, Getting Creative
CBS Evening News: Students Dig Into Oddball Scholarships When Traditional Funds Fail
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Play CBS Video Video Paying For College As the cost of paying for college steadily rises, many are finding it hard to keep afloat. As Richard Schlesinger reports, some students are finding interesting ways to pay for school.
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When Sharon Dranko needed extra money for college, she found a scholarship in an unexpected place: duct tape. She won a competition by making this dress entirely out of the sticky stuff. (CBS)
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Interactive Education In America Backpack ready? Learn more about education in America through fun facts, national statistics and unusual schools.
"My parents were only prepared to pay, like, $15,000 a year, and my school is $27,000," Dranko said.
She's now a fashion student at Kent State University and fashioned a way to get scholarship money that it's safe to say - you have to see to believe, CBS News correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports.
She got $3,000 from a company that makes duct tape, when she won a contest by using 134 rolls of the tape to make her high school prom dress. It weighs 50 pounds - and you can hear it coming. It's more fashionable than functional.
Schlesinger asked: "Can you dance in this?"
"Uh, you kind of have to move from side to side," Dranko said.
So, no slow-dancing? Dranko said it would be difficult to get close to someone else while wearing the dress.
Dranko made not just her dress but also a duct tape tuxedo for her date. He got $3,000 too.
"There are scholarships for a ton of strange things out there," she said.
For example, left-handed students can get up to $1,000. Skateboarders, up to $5,000. And at DePauw University, there's money available for any female student who can sing or play the National Anthem - with sincerity.
So students are cashing in on whatever they can.
At Southern Connecticut State University, Morgan Lehoux got money from The Tall Clubs International because she's 6 feet plus - and wrote a good essay.
Did she ever think that her height would be an advantage?
"Not really … just for basic things like grabbing things off a shelf," she said.
But it was also good for $500 toward tuition.
If nothing else, the scholarship hunt teaches valuable lessons in creativity and in the case of Sharon Dranko's duct tape dress - sticking with or sticking to a project until it pays off.
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- When I went to college, I got $800 for being named "Smith". There are certainly a lot of scholarships out there for the kids/parents willing to dig them out.
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- Kids: Take a page from morphndol9''''s lesson book -- Don''''t waste your college years dropping acid!
Posted by RRozsa at 10:30 AM : Jan 22, 2009
LOL! This is true... - Reply to this comment
- Kids: Take a page from morphndol9''s lesson book -- Don''t waste your college years dropping acid!
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- I think it''s a shame that these students must spend so much time and energy tracking down $1,000 here and there in order to go to college. It must be a full-time job tracking down those little scholarships and contests. It''s just sad this is even necessary.
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- Great idea and it worked! I am an educational consultant with www.scholarshipsandcollegeplanning.com and I have a listing of unusual scholarships that students can apply for just like the duct tape scholarship.
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- God bless her for being a go-getter!
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