BEFORE YOU RESORT TO COLLEGE LOANS, which have to be paid back, ensure you’ve exhausted all your avenues for FREE college money.
Scholarships and grants come in a variety of forms, from cash prizes for winning an essay or video contest, to athletic awards or just being exceptionally tall!
Just check out these ideas to to help you explore all of your options.
1. CHECK YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY’S WEBSITE. Depending on your library, there are a couple things that might come up when you type the word “scholarships” into the search box. Some will provide a list of no-fee websites on which you can find scholarships or dates for scholarship workshops at the library (when you search the entire site). Others will display a list of reference books offered by the library that list scholarships (when you search the online catalog). Just be sure you’re looking at a current book, as some libraries keep older, outdated books in stock.
2. GO DIRECTLY TO NO-FEE, SEARCHABLE SCHOLARSHIP SITES. The key phrase here is “no fee.” You should never pay to search for scholarships as there are plenty of free and reputable sites, like Scholarships.com, FastWeb.com, collegescholarships.com, scholarships360.org, scholarshipexperts.com, studentscholarshipsearch.com,Petersons.com/college-search/scholarship-search.aspx and bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search.
3. SEARCH BASED ON YOUR EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES. Many national or regional organizations’ websites (e.g., the United States Tennis Association) will list scholarships and grants related to the activity.
4. SEARCH BASED ON YOUR MAJOR. Many companies designate funds to provide scholarships and awards for students who plan to pursue a degree in that industry. For example, the Intel Science Talent Search gives away more than $1.25 million in awards and scholarships each year in the country’s oldest pre-college science competition.
5. HEAD TO YOUR COLLEGE’S FINANCIAL AID WEB PAGE. Most schools’ offices of financial aid will have an entire page (or more) dedicated to scholarships, grants, loans and work-study.
6. DO A GOOGLE SEARCH FOR ESSAY AND VIDEO SCHOLARSHIP CONTESTS. Although essay contests have been around for a while, (“Write about why the U.S. bicentennial is important to our country for a chance to win $500.”), video contests are a much more recent phenomenon that largely came to be with the increasing affordability of smartphones and tablets.
If you feel as though you need more options, talk to your guidance counselor, who may be able to provide information on some local or lesser-known scholarships.
