INDIANAPOLIS — Xavier Ntamere is a busy student who spends his time on schoolwork, sports and Boy Scouts.
But no matter how busy he gets, the Shortridge High School senior makes time to apply for college scholarships.
"I spend at least an hour every day just going through other scholarships that I've already applied for, following up with action items from different scholarships, or applying for new ones," Ntamere said.
Natalie Carlson is also a senior throwing her hat in the scholarship ring.
"Many people will tell you that your full financial aid package is this patchwork of smaller scholarships," Carlson said.
That means applying for amounts large and small.
"I want to be able to start my adulthood relatively be debt-free, or completely debt-free."
Now, applying for at least some of that free money should be easier for IPS students thanks to a brand new program.
Stephannie Bailey with the IPS Foundation said students fill out the one application and technology helps to sort out the opportunities.
"The idea was, 'How do we remove barriers for students and make it as easy as possible for them to access these scholarship dollars?' So, we pooled them all into the foundation, and set up a common application," Bailey said.
Students have until March 29 to apply for $100,000 in funds.
"My goal is that we spend every last dollar available," Bailey said.
Beyond the IPS Foundation funds, families can reach out to their places of worship, employers and check out Indiana's Scholarship site.
The Department of Labor also offers students a scholarship search engine.
Keep in mind, some scholarships might need families to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as FAFSA, first.
Resources to help students like Xavier and Natalie avoid the $28,000 in loans that the average college graduate receives with the diploma.
If your student rolls their eyes at a $250 scholarship, remind them that if it takes an hour to apply and they get the money - they just made $250 an hour.