Where to Find College Scholarships

There are literally millions of scholarship dollars available for prospective college students.  But with all of that money available, it creates a problem.  The problem is trying to figure out where all of the scholarships are, and then how to apply for them.  One of the goals we have at Grants-College.com is to help you in your search by providing information on Where to Find College Scholarships, and how to apply for them.

Although, there are websites all over the net that are happy to assist you with this process, most of them will charge you a fee for doing so.   We want to help you to find scholarship monies that do not have to be paid back and are granted to you without any finder fees.  If you are prepared to spend some time researching scholarships and some effort in completing the application, you can find a gold mine of available scholarship opportunities.  And, believe it or not, it is possible to earn large scholarships even if your family finances do not indicate financial need.  Therefore, never discount the potential for scholarship monies. Having gone through the scholarship search with my own four as well as having participated on numerous scholarship review committees, I know first hand that there are a tremendous amounts of scholarship opportunities. What you need is tenacity and perseverance in searching the right ones for you.

Instead of doing a random search on the Internet, first try good old-fashioned personal networking. Look locally first. The first stop in your search should be your own high school guidance office. They may have applications right in the office or at least have a list of local organizations that are offering college scholarships. Organizations from the Chamber of Commerce to the Lions or Rotary Clubs are usual sources for scholarships. Check the local newspapers too. Most clubs or businesses offering scholarships will publicize them in the paper. Many time the booster clubs for your sport or extracurricular activity will offer their own scholarship each year. Check with your church. There may be endowed scholarships founded in memory of a deceased parishioner by their family members. Ask the clergy or youth minister for their insights. They may know of scholarships available from the diocese or fraternal religious groups such the Knights of Columbus. If you belong to your parish youth group, there may be scholarship available to the members. Although the amounts of local scholarships may be smaller, your chances of being awarded scholarship monies from within a smaller local pool of candidates may be greater. Always keep in mind that each and every dollar you get through scholarships reduces any other types of financial aid that may be needed.

Other sources of scholarship monies can be found through the national offices of local groups that you belong to, such as Boy and Girl Scouts. Check their specific websites or call the local regional headquarters. Also try putting a search term into the Internet that pairs your favorite activity and the word scholarship. For example, search “creative writing scholarships” or “cheerleading scholarships”. You may be pleasantly surprised by the number of scholarship descriptions that pop up. You will have to sort through them, but you will find a wealth of opportunities. Don’t forget to check the Human Resources department of your parent’s employers to see if there are any scholarship possibilities available there for the children of employees.

Finally, personally contact the financial aid departments at the schools to which you have applied. The financial aid officer may be able to give you a list of special scholarship programs that are focused towards different areas of student life. You may find scholarships that are geared towards community service, leadership, club sports, music and theater. If you are accepted, some schools may send you a list, but always be proactive and search them out yourself. Successfully completing the applications require time and in order to make yourself as desirable as possible, you don’t want to rush through the process. Successfully completing scholarship applications is the most critical part of the process. For some great information on completing scholarship applications check the Celebrate College section of Celebration Ideas Online.

If you are already in college, you are already aware of this, and if college is still a year or so away, you will be made keenly aware of it soon – the costs of getting a good college education have gone through the roof. Tuition costs are rising every year, and it seems like the cost of just BOOKS for a semester can be enough to finance a small car.

If you are a high school junior and especially if you are a senior, you should be looking at colleges right now. Applying late, even with a 4.0 GPA will get your application declined if the college of your choice has already reached the maximum number of incoming students for the next semester.

But the real question is how to finance your college education? Some people view that as the question of the decade, but it does not need to be, if you know where to look. The college financial aid offices has tons of brochures and literature about various loans that you can apply for, many at extremely reasonable interest rates, but I would encourage you to “think outside the box” … wouldn’t it be much better to get loans or grants that do NOT need to be paid back?

That is where a college scholarship comes in. Although most people do not realize it, there are scholarships available for a huge variety of reasons, where some are even awarded because nobody else applied for it! Most scholarships do not require the family to have “financial needs” as is the most common myth. And scholarships, although traditionally thought of only to be awarded to the top athletic jocks or the outstanding musicians, are no longer limited to those types of students. Although GPA will still usually (although not necessarily) play a part of scholarship award decisions, there is a tremendously large range of different things that a scholarship can be awarded for. Also note that any student can be awarded MULTIPLE scholarships, sometimes to the point where they will have graduated and it may not have cost them a nickel out of their own pockets.

The trick is in knowing where to look for scholarships. Many people stop searching at the college’s financial aid office or the government student loan web site. That is far from exhaustive and there is a mountain of additional resources for you to look into for scholarships. There are scholarships available that virtually nobody has even heard of. Whether one of your scholarships comes from, say General Motors, or a scholarship of the same amount of money comes from Bubba’s Twine Manufacturing Company, do you really care? A scholarship is a scholarship, and you can probably assume that there is far more competition for the General Motors scholarship than there is for the Bubba’s Twine Manufacturing Company scholarship. But at the end of the day, money is money and it really does not matter!

Another thing you should consider for your college-bound kids is a college student credit card. These come in many shapes and sizes, and all are not created equally, but you should ensure that your child’s college education includes lessons in financial money management, and a great place to do that is with a student credit card. Please visit Student Credit Card Resources for more information and details on this topic.

Bottom line: The scholarships are out there, and a surprising number of them even go unawarded each year simply because nobody applied for them. Be aware of the resources available to you so that you can keep the cost of that college education down to a much more affordable level.