Category Archives: scholarships

Scholarship Friday, scholarships

Scholarship Friday: How to Find Scholarships Online

 

scholarships onlineThe full title of this book is Get a College Degree Without Drowning In Debt: How to Find Scholarships Online. This is NOT your average scholarship book. While many scholarship books list the names and details of the scholarships, this book takes a different approach by providing you with the search sites and ranking them. With so many scholarship search engines available this will save your college-bound teen valuable time and energy.

What makes How to Find Scholarships Online unique is:

  • The internal links that send you directly to the search sites.
  • The scholarship search engine ratings.
  • The extensive list of scholarship search engines.
  • The step-by-step guide on how to begin your search.
  • The list of online resources related to scholarships: blogs, podcasts and videos.
  • Demographic search links (i.e. military scholarships, minority scholarships, etc.)

Authors Gyan Devi and Myrriah Lavin explain their detailed reasoning behind spending time on scholarships with facts and figures, ending with this statement:

. . .  spending 450 hours applying for and winning scholarships takes substantially less time to pay off your student debt than the 2,940 hours at a part-time undergraduate job, or the 1,470 hours working full time after graduation. The choice is yours. Wouldn’t you rather work for 450 hours at a job where you set your own schedule and the better you are at your job, the more you’re paid?

Scholarship research and writing is a part-time job that pays you handsomely and allows you to work from home, in your jammies, on your own schedule. But, more importantly, it gives you financial freedom upon graduation to live debt-free and make decisions about your life that aren’t driven by monthly student loan payments for the next 20 years!

In a world of so much information and very little time to assimilate it, Gyan does all the leg work for you. She has followed these steps herself to pay for her own education and has proven her technique personally. The great thing about an ebook is that it provides you with an online copy, allowing you to go directly to the links provided.

Interested? If you are (and you should be) today is your lucky day! Gyan is providing my readers with a coupon code good until May 31st to download the book for FREE. That’s right: FREE. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain! Just follow the link below:

Get a College Degree Without Drowning in Debt: How to Find Scholarships Online

USE COUPON CODE: SL92E at checkout

 

Scholarship Friday, scholarships

Scholarship Friday: Top 10 Scholarship Posts

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top 10Today I’m sharing my top 10 posts about specific scholarships, the scholarship application process, and scholarship tips. If you haven’t looked at them before, this is a good time to check them out. Sit down with a cup of coffee and be prepared to be informed!

1. Scholarships for special groups

This is a recap of some previous posts about college scholarships for special groups. If your college-bound teen fits into any of these groups these posts should help you find scholarships.

Read more . . .

2. Minority scholarships

Your cultural heritage, your sex, and your sexual orientation could end up paying for your college education. There are scholarships and grants that are reserved for specific minority groups. You don’t need to be a first generation immigrant to qualify for these scholarships; you just have to prove that you are indeed a member of the minority to qualify for the awards.

Read more . . .

3. How to apply for scholarships

There are many scholarship opportunities that anyone can apply for. Some are merit based, meaning you need to meet particular standards, some are based on financial need, and there are many for having a certain background. They can be awards of a few hundred dollars or can cover all of your tuition costs, but whatever the amount, they will decrease the price of your education. How do you apply for scholarships?

Read more . . .

4. Go local

Consider going local. Unearth local scholarships in your own community. The applicant pools for these scholarships are smaller and your chances of winning them increases. You will be surprised at the local scholarships that are often overlooked and no scholarship money is dispersed.

Check out these resources and add them to your scholarship search criteria:

Read more . . .

5. Merit Aid

Financial aid is always on the minds of parents and students, especially when they begin to research college costs and their financial aid statistics. The terms can be a bit confusing and today I want to discuss merit aid and answer a few questions about what it is, how do you find it, and how do you apply for it.

Read more . . .

6. What are the odds?

Most students hope for some sort of scholarship for college. Few are able to pay for the entire four years. Parents dream of getting that letter in the mail that says, “Congratulations, you have won a full ride for four years.” It happens, but it’s not the norm. The students who receive scholarships work hard and spend time searching and applying.

Read more . . .

7. Ask an expert

My commitment has always been to provide parents with the best information available to help with the college process. I recently listened to two podcasts on How to Pay for College HQ about scholarships. The guest was Elizabeth Hartley, owner of Scholarship Gold Consulting. I thought the information was so valuable, I wanted to share some of the excerpts with you. Make a point to listen to both complete interviews (you won’t regret it and you will save money paying for college) via the podcasts.

Read more . . .

8. 10 Scholarship summer prep tips

For students, summer vacation usually means sun, beaches, and fun.  For parents of the college-bound, however, summer means one step closer to college tuition bills and students loans.  There are a number of things students can do to get a jump-start in the college scholarship process during the summer, while at the same time saving time for fun in the sun.

Read more . . .

9. 10 Easy Scholarships

What could be easier than winning a scholarship and you didn’t even have to write an essay and/or fill out a long application? There isn’t. The rewards may not be as big as those long, involved essay scholarships, but 10 $1000 scholarships add up to $10,000. That’s not chump change! Most of them just take a few minutes to enter:

Read more . . .

10. Should your college-bound student apply for scholarships?

There is great discussion among parents about whether or not scholarship applications are worth it. I happen to be one who believes they are. My daughter attended an expensive private university based on the scholarships she won from outside sources and from the university itself. Those scholarships allowed her to attend a school that was financially out of reach. Hence, I’m a firm believer in the value of scholarships.

Read more . . .

Scholarship Friday, scholarships

Scholarship Friday: 5 Scholarship Apps

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scholarship appsIn today’s world of smartphones and tablets, parents and students are doing more on more with mobile applications. Recognizing the need to access easy information, app creators are designing scholarship apps to help with the scholarship search and application process.

Scholarship Advisor – FREE

Finding the right scholarships can be overwhelming. This exclusive Scholarship Search (powered by StudentAdvisor.com) is a mobile app designed to make it easier to find money for college. Browse their hand-picked lists on topics including academic, athletic, health care, military and more. Discover unique, relevant scholarships you never knew existed. You can easily search, find and even apply for millions of dollars in scholarships right from your device. Easily add important dates to your calendar – never miss a scholarship deadline again!

Scholarships.com – FREE

Whether you’re just starting your financial aid search or have already enrolled at your dream school, Scholarships.com can help you wherever you are in your academic journey. Search their database of 2.7 million local, state and national college scholarships and grants worth over $1.9 billion. And since college is expensive enough, all of Scholarships.com’s tools are free for you to use.

Scholly – .99

Scholly is an easy way to find scholarships for high school seniors, current undergraduates, and graduate students. Designed to ease the scholarship search process, Scholly’s adaptive matching engine promises to deliver smarter, targeted lists of scholarships. Scholly seeks to fix the current outdated process that requires students to fill out long, tiresome forms and then fail to deliver relevant results.

Scholly gives students a curated list of scholarships. We don’t waste student’s time with random scholarships that they do not qualify for nor do we give them a list of things that are not even scholarships like loans, internships, and advertisements. Deadlines are updated as soon as they are available and scholarships that no longer exist will be removed from our database. Scholly’s goal is to make the scholarship search process as simple as possible.

This app receives high ratings in the app store.

SAIL Scholarships – .99

(Also available on GooglePlay)

This app was created by college graduates to help students find scholarships. Their goal was to dramatically decrease the amount of debt students have after graduation by creating this app to help students search for scholarships. A quick glance at the app says that it’s easy to use and sort awards. It hasn’t been rated yet by iTunes or GooglePlay and I’m not sure how extensive their database is. It’s up to you whether you want to risk the .99.

RecruitU – FREE

If you are searching for athletic scholarships, this is app can help. Whether you’re a boy or girl, RecruitU is designed by experienced college coaching experts to direct your search to your ideal college sports programs. With our comprehensive U.S. college database, RecruitU will match you (or your child) with the perfect college based on your academic (GPA and Standardized test scores) and athletic skills (level of play). Once RecruitU generates your best college matches, you can immediately send an email to the coaching staffs at these schools with your athletic and academic profile (including a link to your game video). The app also connects you to their online recruiting sports network.

Do you know of any other apps available? Leave a comment below to share with our readers.

Scholarship Friday, scholarships

Scholarship Friday: ScholarshipExperts.com Scholarships

 

scholarshipexpertsEach year, ScholarshipExperts.com funds several unique scholarship programs for high school students, college students, grad students and non-traditional adult learners. To make it easy, they have listed their scholarships and the application links on for each of them.

 

 

Here’s a list of available scholarships:

Scholarship Friday, scholarships

Scholarship Friday: Scholarship Search Timeline

 

scholarshipMost parents believe that the scholarship search begins at the beginning of senior year. But if you wait until then, your student is going to be overwhelmed and frustrated. Senior year is so busy, they have little time to search for scholarships, let alone apply.

Here’s a simple scholarship search timeline for each grade of high school that should help you plan ahead to avoid last minute panic:

Freshman Year

Start the search. Begin to look at scholarships that you could qualify for and apply to. Make a list and review the past winners to determine what made them a winner. If there are any scholarships that have no age or school grade requirements, apply now.

Sophomore Year

Continue the search, digging deeper and unearthing local scholarship opportunities. Talk to the organizations and ask them what types of scholarships they offer and if you need a member to sponsor you. Sign up for scholarship search engines to receive weekly emails matching you to scholarships.

Junior Year

Narrow down the scholarships you’re going to apply to and make a calendar of all the deadlines. Review the essay requirements, if any, and begin thinking about how you would write about them. Summer is a good time to begin writing any essays.

Senior Year

Hit the ground running. Apply, apply, apply. Most college scholarships have deadlines for seniors. Don’t let them creep up on you and use a calendar reminder to stay on track. Pay attention to local news for scholarship announcements and deadlines. Gather all your necessary information: transcripts, recommendation letters, and any honors and awards that might help.

Don’t make the mistake of waiting until senior year to start the scholarship process. In order to win the most money, you have to put in the most effort. Stay focused and keep your eye on the prize.

 

 

infographics, scholarships

Scholarships Demystified

 

Everyone knows that students in America love scholarships. Each year, millions of students apply for financial aid as they prepare for college in the hopes of easing the financial pain of rising tuition costs. But did you know just how much money was being dished out every year? Or where that money came from?

FluidReview, a company that specializes in scholarship management systems, has put together this infographic that demystifies the topic of scholarships in America. Some of this information might surprise you. Click on the excerpt below and it will take you to the complete infographic.

scholarships demystified

Scholarship Friday, scholarships

Scholarship Friday: “You Like Me…You Really Like Me” Facebook Scholarship

 

facebook scholarshipScholarships.com’s “You Like Me…You Really Like Me” Facebook Scholarship is awarding a $1000 scholarship or a Kindle Fire for college. It’s easy (and everyone likes this kind of scholarship) to enter and the deadline is March 31st.

According to Scholarships.com, here’s what you need to do:

Love our scholarship search? Tell us why. Is our financial aid section really helping you out? Send us an example. Think our college prep section is the bee’s knees? Give us a shout out. Awards will go to the users that are making the best use of Scholarships.com’s many resources as determined by our team – impress us!

Step 1: “Like” Scholarships.com on Facebook.

Step 2: Post on our wall how Scholarships.com is helping you with your scholarship search. Once you do this, you are automatically entered to win a $1,000 scholarship or a Kindle Fire for college.

Step 3: You may enter as many times as you want over the course of the contest but please limit your comments to one per day. You must also have a valid Scholarships.com account and adjust your Facebook privacy preferences to allow Scholarships.com to message you should you win. The Scholarships.com Team will then determine which comment best exemplifies what our site is all about and which applicant is using our resources most effectively.

    Ends: March 31st

   Number Available: 3

   Amount: $1,000 for one first-place winner; one Kindle Fire each for second- and third-place winners

This scholarship competition is offered by Scholarships.com and is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook.

Scholarship Friday, scholarships

Scholarship Friday: 5 Video Scholarships for the Budding Filmmaker

 

video scholarshipsBelieve it or not, your student’s GPA isn’t the only qualification to apply for scholarships. Not all scholarships are looking for stellar students. Many of them are geared toward a student’s talents and interests. There are scholarships for artists, writers and even filmmakers.

Many colleges are now accepting video essays, so it stands to reason that there would be opportunities for students to show their skills in video creation and win scholarships. Today’s scholarships offer money to students who have a talent for making videos.

You don’t have to have professional equipment or have specific training to create a video. In today’s world of handheld technology, you can use just about any device that captures and creates videos. Once that’s done, the student can edit it and submit it to the scholarship committees. But don’t forget to follow the rules and guidelines when submitting the video.

For a complete list of all 5 video scholarships, check out USA Today’s article with all the links to the scholarship application information.

Scholarship Friday, scholarships, Uncategorized

Scholarship Friday: Scholarships You Will Love

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scholarships you love
photo courtesy of Zinch

Roses are red,

Violets are blue

Check out these scholarships

And snag some college funds too!

Zinch gathered together a short list of scholarships with deadlines in February and March. Sign up for an account and you can access all the pertinent scholarship information and apply through their site. And here’s a plus–if you win the scholarship Zinch will match your award up to $1000. I can’t think of a better reason to use their scholarship match and application service.

Check out Zinch’s list of Scholarships You’re Sure to Love

Scholarship Friday, scholarships

Scholarship Friday: ScholarshipOpportunity.org

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scholarshipopportunity.orgScholarshipOpportunity.org is another resource available for parents and students to find scholarships. What makes them unique is they have created guides that have scholarships separated into categories.

The Scholarship Guides

According to their site, the “Scholarship Opportunities” series features scholarships available for all students as well as those specifically for minority and under-represented students. They have sorted out the scams and tracked down the legitimate scholarships, internships, and fellowships, saving you months of research. Their books will help you find the scholarships you’re eligible for, so you can get your college degree without drowning in student-loan debt. Their series includes:

  • How to Find Scholarship Opportunities Online
  • Scholarship Opportunities for Non-Traditional Students
  • Scholarship Opportunities for STEM Majors
  • Scholarship Opportunities for Students with Disabilities
  • Scholarship Opportunities for First Generation Students
  • Scholarship Opportunities for Minority Students
  • Scholarship Opportunities for LGBTQ Students
  • Scholarship Opportunities for Veterans and Their Families
  • Scholarship Opportunities for Women
  • Scholarship Opportunities for Everyone

Each guide is available for undergraduates, graduates, and internships and fellowships.

Their publications are available for you to download in a variety of formats (Amazon Kindle, mobile devices, and computers). The Scholarship Opportunity series of books are interactive, filled with links to hundreds of scholarships and their online applications.

The Blog

They also have a blog that helps take the guesswork out of applying for scholarships by giving you tips and tricks to help you find and land scholarship opportunities that can save you money and cut student loan debt.

Each Tuesday they review scholarship sites to help you navigate effectively to find the real scholarships without joining the military. They discuss great sites and sites they think are a waste of your precious time.

On Thursday, they feature specific scholarships, highlighting detailed information on eligibility criteria, award amounts, required documents, contact information, and a link to the online application. These blog posts will give you a glimpse of the rich resources that their books offer.