Students Need to Search for Scholarships?

Answer 1

College is a worthwhile investment in a person's future, but financing higher education can be expensive. Students who do not want to be burdened with tens of thousands of dollars in loans can turn to scholarships to pay for college. Some scholarships pay only a few hundred dollars, but every little bit helps. Other scholarships offer the full-meal deal and cover most, if not all, of the expenses.

Here are some tips to help students find scholarships:

Begin the scholarship search locally. The high school counselor's office will have information on businesses, civic organizations and private individuals that sponsor scholarships. Because the applicant pool is smaller, the competition for local scholarships is not as intense as on the national level.

Students should next check with the financial aid office at the college they plan to attend. This office will know about scholarships that are offered college-wide as well as scholarships that are open only to applicants with specific majors. Major colleges offer hundreds of scholarships to students, and not all of them are tied in to financial need.

Search the internet for scholarships. Students can quickly turn up hundreds of possibilities. They can narrow this list by searching for scholarships by major or occupation. For example, a student who wants to study agriculture can find scholarships offered by commodity groups; chemical companies and other agribusinesses, including banks, and general farm organizations, such as the Farm Bureau.

Students who have not decided on their majors yet will still find plenty of scholarship opportunities open to them. College scholarships are available for students with physical or learning disabilities, are twins or practice a specific religion. There are even scholarships where the main requirement is that the applicant is left-handed. It pays for students to be creative on these searches.

College scholarships are especially plentiful for minority students, such as Hispanics, Afro-American and Native American, though other races and ethnicities will find many scholarships for which they can apply.

Students who are diligent in their searches and leave no stone unturned will be the most successful at financing their college education.