When is the best time to apply for college?

Answered

No child/student can not apply to an American university in 10th grade regardless of their GPA. The intent of all colleges in the US is to only admit students who will successfully graduate with a HS diploma fulfilling all graduation requirements prior to matriculating into said college on the correct start date, like Sept 5th, 2022 for the Class of 2026.

A 10th grader will not have completed either the HS's graduation requirements nor in most cases will not have fulfilled the Colleges' HS requirements list of coursework. Most competitive colleges have a list of classes you must complete prior to be considered a viable applicant. ((the caveat is if your student has skipped 2 grades and fulfilled all graduation requirements, then they can apply. But it's because they will be graduating 2 years early not because they are in 10th grade).

Even if you apply during 12th grade, and then fail to finish your senior year or are missing graduation requirements, you will not be able to matriculate into the college because HS counselors submit the final grade report/transcript after graduation to the college. Your admission will be rescinded if you fail to graduate HS or bomb out your last semester of grades.

99.9% of scholarships available to 10th graders are not institutional scholarships which means that the colleges themselves are not giving out tuition scholarships to anyone who hasn't formally applied to the colleges with the required financial aid documents like the FAFSA and CSS Profile. These scholarships open to 10th and 11th graders are in the category or private scholarships for various organizations and companies or non-profits and they usually are small amounts like $500-$2500 and you have to indicate where you are going to school and comply with all kinds of rules. You can't just pocket the money and not pursue higher education if you are awarded these. In many cases they are more like raffles or drawings where they give out $500 a week in order to collect as many names as possible so they can sell their consulting services like assisting with colleges admissions or financing college admissions.

Therefore, no one is giving out either merit scholarships or need based scholarships to 10th graders that cover tuition, room and board.

Hope that clarifies things.