The time to hunt for college scholarships is now

DENVER - It may only be November, but experts say if a student wants a college scholarship, they should start looking now.

To find a scholarship, Linda Jimenez had to learn to use a gun. She is taking an ROTC class at South High School, and the money from the program could help her go to college.

"It would really help out because I have basically no way to pay for college besides getting loans and this is going to put me more in debt," she said.

South High has a high immigrant population.

"So their families, their parents, wouldn't necessarily know about them [scholarship opportunities,]" Eva Bonilla said.

She works in the school's Future Center, telling students about those opportunities.

Bonilla says some programs are being cut because of the economy.

"At the same time there are more students applying for scholarships and so it's more competitive. It's definitely important to apply for more than one scholarship," Bonilla said.

"I believe that a lot of people forget they should be applying because they're like, 'Oh, I'm just a senior. I'm gonna goof off. I'm gonna get senioritis,'" Jimenez said.

"You might think that December is too soon and it's not time yet to be thinking about it," Kristin Todd, senior vice president of the Daniels Fund, said.

Todd says the Daniels Fund's scholarship program's application deadline is in December.

"Now is the time to be applying for colleges and more importantly to be researching scholarships," Todd said.

The Daniels Fund Scholarship is named after cable pioneer Bill Daniels. His foundation gives out 250 scholarships each year. Each tries to cover the entire cost of college of low-income students.