Scholarships Made Easy

You’ve heard of scholarships.  Nowadays it seems everywhere you look there are scholarships available from large corporations to small credit unions offering scholarship money to deserving students seeking a college education.  Scholarship amounts range anywhere from $100 to $100,000 or more.

What exactly is a scholarship?   A scholarship is a grant of financial aid awarded to a student, for the purpose of attending a college.  By definition, a grant is money you do not have to pay back.  Scholarships are most often given to students for one of two reasons: achievement or financial need.  Achievement is not exclusive to academics.  Achievement can be in the form of athletics, art, community service, leadership, and hobbies.  There are also scholarships that are not based on achievement or financial need.  These scholarships are based on specifics.  They are awarded based on criteria that are specific to student, career, or college.  Student specific scholarship recipients must qualify by either gender, race, religion, medical history, or more.  Career specific scholarship recipients must qualify by planning to pursue a specific field of study, such as education or nursing.   College specific scholarships are offered by colleges and universities to students enrolled in their school on the basis of academic and personal achievement.   There are literally hundreds of thousands of scholarships out there.  There are scholarships out there for left handed, tuba playing, ADHD diagnosed children of firefighter parents born in the month of June.

Where do you find scholarships?  There are many websites where you can find the two types of scholarships available.

1. Public scholarships.  These are available to you once you complete a FAFSA http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/  form for each year you are attending college.
2. Private scholarships.  There are scholarship websites that you can create an account with for free.  Once you input your personal background, parental background, interest, etc. they will generate a list of scholarships you qualify for, based on the information you provided.  Here are some of the more popular ones.

•      Fastweb http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ 
•      College Board http://www.collegeboard.org/
•      College NET http://www.collegenet.com/
•      FinAid! http://www.finaid.org/

What do all scholarship recipients have in common?  They apply.  The amount of work required to complete a scholarship application is not small.  But there are tips that can make your application process easier.  Tailor one application so that it can be used over and over again for other applications.  Ask for several copies of letters of recommendation that can be used over and over again for other applications.

Scholarship Dos and Don’ts

• Do fill out your scholarship application as if it is a job application.  Everything counts!  Spelling, professionalism, all required documentation is submitted, manners, and neatness, all of it counts.
• Don’t apply for scholarships that you are not eligible for.  If the scholarship specifies that only healthcare majors qualify, and you are majoring in engineering; then do not waste your time.  You will not win the scholarship.
• Do follow directions.  Provide everything that is required, but do not supply items that are not requested.  You could be disqualified.
• Do pay attention to the deadlines.
• Do make a copy of the entire packet before sending.
• Do ask someone to proofread the entire application before submitting it.

What to write on your personal essay?  Most scholarship applications will ask you for a personal essay.  Your personal essay needs to say something about yourself that your resume does not.  Try to avoid repeating information that can be found elsewhere on your application form or transcript.  Talk about what is important to you and your goals, past achievements, past failures, and what you learned from them.  Talk about activities that you are or were deeply involved in and committed to, and relationships that guided you in your development.  Lastly, include concrete details to make your experience come alive.  Don’t forget the five W’s: who, what, when, where, and why.

How many scholarships should I apply to?  Apply for as many scholarships as you can possibly manage.  Be prepared to meet the deadlines for submission.

Beware of these scholarship scams.  With everything that involves free money, there are predators out there waiting to take your money.  Here are the top five signs that the scholarship is a scam.

1. There is an application fee, processing fee, loan fee, or any kind of fee.
2. “Guarantee winning or your money back” Claims.
3. “Everybody is eligible” claims.
4. “We will apply on your behalf” claims.
5. Anyone that asks you for your credit card number or PII (personal identifying information) to include your social security number, birthdate, etc.

Once you are awarded a scholarship, you have an obligation to

1. Accept the award.  The scholarship organizer will determine whether or not this needs to be in person or otherwise.
2. Agree to continue to meet the requirements of the scholarship
3. Submit a thank you letter to the donors
4. Attendance at the annual scholarship reception, if applicable

Scholarships can make the difference of a student obtaining a college education or not.  There is aid available.  Whether or not you are awarded that aid, depends a large part on the amount of work you want to do to obtain it.