Scholarships
by James Hope
One of the great myths about scholarships is that they are few and hard to come by. But in all reality there are many scholarships that go unclaimed each year. Truth is there are several scholarships designed for almost every type of student. Unlike student loans, scholarships do not have to be repaid and usually they have few requirements. Whether you win $10,000 or as little as $200, it’s free money and every little bit helps when going to college.
There are scholarships designed for almost every type of student. The important thing is to take the time to search for the scholarship that best suits you. Some scholarships are academic in nature and are based on GPA and performance in school. Others are based on athletic abilities or extra-curricular activities such as ROTC and FFA. There are many corporate scholarships out there for students designed for minority students and women and/or for students based on a particular field of study or interest. Often, a student’s place of employment offers college scholarships and financial aid to their employees. For example, HEB, McDonalds, Chick-fil-A, Bill Miller’s and others all offer college scholarships and grant monies to eligible candidates. Check with your employer to see whether they offer any scholarships for hardworking students. Parents and grandparents, check with your employer to determine whether any other grant or scholarships are available through your place of employment. You can even find some unique if not very unusual scholarships offers for skateboarding, duck calling, Lego building and for just being left handed. There is even a one-time scholarship of $500 for students who reside on planet earth and possess a grade point average (GPA) of at least 0.01. (Klingon’s need not apply).
The best way to search for scholarships is to use the internet. There are many free scholarship search sites. Most of the scholarship search sites require you to have an email account. Since some free sites may share your email account with sponsors, you might want to set up a separate Yahoo, Hotmail or Google email account. Here are some of common websites.
http://apps.collegeboard.com/cbsearch_ss/welcome.jsp
Don’t waste your money on fee-based scholarship websites. For the most part you can do just as good with the above websites or your own research. Be careful of scholarships and websites that offer deals too good to be true. Rule number one if the scholarship is asking for money it most likely is a scam.
The key to finding the right scholarship is to do your homework. There are many different scholarships out there. It is just up to you to find the scholarships that are meant for you.
