Posts Tagged college

Funding a College Education: Finding the Right School for Your Child and the Right Fit for Your Budget



Written expressly for parents by two college administrators who were also parents of college students, this book covers the essentials of the entire college financial aid process, from formulating the plan and understanding all the aid options to applying for aid and choosing the best offers and school. It features strategies for determining the family’s financial capability using step-by-step worksheets, a case study of one family’s successful approach, and sample … More >>

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Big College Scholarship Bucks Are Won in Summer

Driving to the beach. Visiting the park for an enjoyable picnic. Seeing a baseball game. Calling on the local fishing hole. These are great summertime activities. Other pursuits include painting, cutting the grass and washing and waxing the car. We look forward to all of them with great anticipation. When the weather gets warm (no doubt about it), thoughts and actions turn to outdoor events.

One activity that gets forgotten by many college-bound students and their families is the inside expedition of hunting for college scholarships, searching for huge scholarship dollars, initiating the quest for money that will significantly reduce or eliminate college debt. This happens for four reasons. First, it is easy to forget because summer is now and scholarships are in the future, the distant future. Second, my child is not smart enough to win a scholarship. So, why bother thinking about it now or
ever. A third possibility: our student has no desire to go to college. Fourth, our family income is too high.

These are all relevant ideas. But, they are all bogus. Here’s why. Summer is the best time to begin scholarship activities because there is no rush to get the job done. One can take time to do everything leisurely and thoroughly. Rushing creates anxiety and anxiety creates mistakes. The old maxim slow and sure wins the race also applies to winning college scholarships.

Some students are slow in developing. The first two years produce mediocre outcomes, while the junior and senior years produce above average results. And, know this, scholarship committees often regard the last two years as more important than the first two!

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Military Scholarship

A military scholarship is the ultimate way for someone with ties to the armed service to get a head start into college. The cash from a scholarship can pay for your tuition fees, books, travel or other educational expenses.

My husband is in the military and I wanted to take advantage of that to get a scholarship to go back to school. Thankfully I found one that targets the military personnel and their families, but even those with nothing to do with the military can get a scholarship which can range from a few thousand up to over $12,000.

Now I want to help others find a financial answer to going to college – scholarships!

Most people without the money for college will consider a student loan. However we all know the downside of loans: you have to pay them back.

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Single Moms Scholarship Strategy

Scholarships are readily available for undergraduate and graduate degrees and vocational programs leading to career starts and changes. Scholarships are not just for the best students. Scholarships can be awarded based on classroom excellence, involvement in extracurricular activities, financial need, desire for achievement, and letters of recommendation. Scholarships are gifts and do not have to be repaid.

Colleges often have scholarship money available to an applicant who has been granted admission. Your next stop should be spending time in the college aid section of your public library. Most libraries will have a number of books about financial aid, including scholarship guides such as the College Board’s Scholarship Handbook. Check out college websites, catalogs, and financial aid offices for this information. Since a great deal of scholarship money is disbursed by colleges, it makes sense to research the scholarships available at the college you plan to attend.

Type any of the terms below into a web search engine. You’ll discover many scholarship sites in addition to these. You can review them and determine which ones meet your educational objectives.

  • State Department of Higher Education
  • Guide to No-Cost Scholarship Searches
  • Scholarship Research Network Express
  • Wiredscholar
  • FastWeb

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Finding More Scholarship Sources

It takes more than making the grades and scoring high on the SATs for students to be college-bound. Each year, students are faced with the burden of figuring out how they are going to pay for their college education. Knowing how and where to search for aid can make the difference in rather or not many students will be able to attend college.

Outside from personal or family savings, there are government grants, federal or personal loans, and scholarships. Government grants are almost always limited and only cover a fraction of the total cost of attending college. Federal and personal loans are debt, which has to be repaid after graduating. Loans are great resources for covering expenses left over after there is no other source of income available. Scholarships are, for some students, the only hope for attending college with little or no upfront cash and without piling up thousands of dollars of debt.

Each year, there are billions of dollars of free scholarship money that goes unclaimed. Students are just not aware that this money is available. The most visible scholarship monies are offered by large corporations and charities. These scholarships receive thousands of applications for a small pot of available money. It is usually the local, community based scholarships that are overlooked by students.

When applying for scholarships, students must be as diverse as possible with their search. National organizations advertise there scholarship opportunities in widely distributed media outlets. The competition for these scholarships is very high and is limited to a few exceptional students. Students should continue to apply for these scholarships despite the competitiveness, but broadening their search to local opportunities will be to their advantage.

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