Search For The Perfect College Scholarships

By Ben Pate

As colleges are finding it more difficult to get funding, college tuition has been rising. Finding college scholarships could be the deciding factor in whether or not a student can realistically attend college. More and more students have been applying for school, which increases the competition. Finding funding for college can be difficult when you do not know where to start.

There are a lot of different kinds of scholarships available to prospective students. College specific scholarships are those that are offered by the college for a specific focus. For example, a college may offer a sports scholarship to a student who has proven to be excellent in a given sport. The college sends a scout out to see the student perform and the will decide if the student should receive the award. The award could be money toward tuition or other benefits.

Sports scholarships are not the only college specific scholarships. Colleges also offer academic scholarships. These are awarded to students with an outstanding academic track record. Sometimes students do not even need to apply for this. In this case the college will offer this to the student when they present the financial package.

Scholarships that do not come from colleges come from private organizations like religious groups, corporations, schools, the military, and unions. These will usually have an application for the student to fill out and may require the student to have some connection to the specific organization. Therefore learning the requirements for these applications is very important. These can be found simply by getting in touch with your own community whether it is through your church, your school, or your parent's employer.

After looking at college scholarships and private organizations other sources to look into are state and federal financial aid. This type of aid can be grants, which is money that does not need to be paid back, or loans, which do need to be paid back with interest. Students do not need to start paying the loans back until after graduation. The parents of a student attending college may also qualify for loans. Student and parent incomes are usually how someone can qualify for these options.

Scholarships can be found online as well as from high school counselors. Searching for scholarships online can return lots of results, but can be narrowed down by closely looking at the requirements and due dates. Once a student narrows down the results based on whether or not they qualify to apply for the scholarship and whether or not the scholarship is still available, it is all a matter of preparing the application correctly and competently. It is safe to assume that hundreds, maybe thousands, are applying for the same scholarship.

Students should be cautious when looking for scholarships in order to avoid scams. If an organization asks for money up front from the student, it is best to ignore the request and look for a different scholarship. Scholarship scams may also offer scholarship services or seminars to help students find money for college. These scams will require the student to pay money or make some kind of investment.

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