As you consider how to pay for college,
the very first place to start is with college grants and
scholarships. Unlike student loans, grants and scholarships
generally do not have to be repaid. There are billions of
dollars of grants and scholarships available from hundreds
of thousands of organizations the key is doing your
research and starting early.
Grants
are based on a combination of financial need, and in some
cases, academic performance. For example, the Federal Pell
Grant offers up to $4,050 (for the 2006-07 school year)
depending on your financial need and the cost of attendance
at your school. Applying for the Pell Grant and other
federal grants is done through the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid, or the FAFSA, which is a free
financial aid form. Your FAFSA results, called the Student
Aid Report (SAR), will inform you if you're eligible for a
Pell Grant, and for how much. Other grants controlled by
the FAFSA include the Supplementary Educational Opportunity
Grant, the National SMART Grant, and the Academic
Competitiveness Grant.
College scholarships are another source
of funds for education that don't have to be repaid. They
are typically offered to students who meet specific
requirements, and are typically funded by private
benefactors. Though many scholarships are awarded on the
basis of academic merit or financial need, not all are.
Some scholarships are random drawings, while others have
requirements designed to focus on improving access to
specific demographics, like minorities or certain fields of
study.
There
are millions of need- and merit-based scholarships worth
over $10 billion. There are many websites listing
scholarships - StudentScholarshipSearch.com currently has
over $7 billion scholarships available for visitors. In
addition to the Internet, meet with your high school
guidance counselor who may have a list of local scholarship
opportunities.
It is
important to research these student scholarships early
since many require an application and/or interview.
Although you will not apply for college until you are a
senior in high school, start to research scholarships in
your sophomore or junior year. This will allow you to
identify potential scholarships and give you time to meet
all the qualification criteria. Be as specific as possible
- the more targeted your search, the less competition you
will have from other applicants and the more likely you are
to stand-out to the organization providing the scholarship.
For more details about how to search effectively, read the
free Scholarship Search Secrets e-Book available at
StudentScholarshipSearch.com.
Apply
for as many college scholarships as possible - there is no
limit and every dollar of scholarship funds you accrue will
limit your need of student loans. Many scholarships require
you to submit an application and/or participate in an
interview, so be sure you qualify for the scholarship
before applying. Try to set a specific time each week to
apply for at least two scholarships - every Sunday
afternoon, for example. In a year's time, you will have
applied for over 100 scholarships.
Another key fact often overlooked is that
in the end, what matters most is how much scholarship money
you have been awarded, whether it comes from a single
scholarship for $1,000, or 10 scholarships for $100 each.
Apply for large and small scholarships alike; the larger
the scholarship, the more competition there likely is for
it, so you may find in your search that applying for many
smaller scholarships will improve your chances of being
awarded money.
One
last word of caution - be sure to avoid scholarship scams.
Typical signs of scholarship scams include asking for very
detailed personal information, such as a Social Security
number or date of birth. Any scholarship award that asks
you to pay money of any dollar amount is likely not
legitimate. Awards which require you to give any kind of
financial information such as bank account numbers or
credit card numbers are almost certainly scams. Receiving a
notice that you're a finalist in a scholarship you never
applied for is almost certainly a scam. Generally speaking,
scholarship search services, while not necessarily scams,
don't offer value above and beyond what a search engine
like Google can provide, so it's usually not worth paying
for them. Above all else, trust your gut instincts - if
something feels like a scam, it probably
is.