I NEED A COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP!

There is no doubt about it ---- college costs, but there’s no need to panic about paying for school if you plan early. Spend some time gathering information and apply for everything you are eligible for. If you play it smart, you can attend school at little or no cost to you!

There Are More Scholarships Than You Think

Did you know that there are scholarships for students with asthma? There is a scholarship for C students, left-handed students, cheerleaders, physically challenged students and children whose parents are in the military? There are thousands of scholarships out there and I’m sure you qualify for many of them. You just have to find them and then apply. Most scholarships fall under these categories.

• Guaranteed
• Minority
• Service-community or volunteer
• Leadership
• Merit-academic, athletic or fine arts
• Special Areas-circumstances or conditions

Search Engines

The easiest way to begin your scholarship search is with on-line search engines. An on-line scholarship search engine is a web site that specializes in finding scholarships that you qualify for. After going to the site you are asked to answer a few questions about yourself and your college interests. After processing the information the search engine will give you a list of scholarships you qualify for. The list is continuously updated so you will continue to receive scholarship information until you tell it to stop. The best thing is this information is free!

Remember, there is more than enough free information about scholarships, so if someone offers to help you find scholarships for a fee say, “No, thank you. I can do it myself.” Check out these scholarship search engines:

http://www.fastweb.com
http://apps.collegeboard.com/cbsearch_ss/welcome.jsp
http://www.collegenet.com/mach25/
http://www.fastaid.com
http://www.scholarships.com
http://www.scholarships.geoportals.com
http://www.srnexpress.com/index.cfm
http://www.studentawards.com/
http://www.freschinfo.com

Other Resources

Another good resource is your local library. Most libraries have a whole section dedicated to college. These books list hundreds of scholarships. Flip through the pages and see which ones you qualify for.

Next, check with your church, civic organizations and businesses in your area and nationally. Many of them have money for the taking that very few people know about.

Don’t forget to check with the colleges you are thinking about attending. Every college offers scholarships just for students that will be attending their school. If you look on their web sites or give them a call the schools will be more than happy to provide you with that information.

Letters and Essays

Many scholarships require letters of recommendation and/or essays. Find two or three people that know you and your academic history fairly well. Guidance counselors, teachers and the heads of extra curricular activities and organizations make good references. Steer away from family because they are related to you and biased toward you so colleges tend to frown upon them as references.

If you are not good at writing essays ask someone who is to assist you. Your English teacher is a good place to start.  Always proofread and copy your applications before you submit them.

The Sooner You Start The Better

Make a note of the scholarships you think you will qualify for in your college portfolio. Be sure to write down who/what is sponsoring it, where you can find it later, the requirements and the deadline. In the meantime keep your grades up, most scholarships have a GPA requirement. Continue participating in extra curricular activities and volunteer/community service. Make sure you apply before the scholarship’s deadline.

Lottery Scholarships

Last year the state of Tennessee started a lottery that allocates money specificly for Tennessee students to attend colleges in Tennessee. Lottery scholarships include:

A. Tennessee HOPE Scholarship
B. Need-based Supplement
C. General Assembly Merit Scholarship (GAMS)
D. HOPE Access Grant
E. Wilder-Naifeh Technical Skills Grant

Check out the web site or call 1-800-342-1662 for more.

Get Started!

Check out our links for a list of sites you might find helpful.

If you know of a scholarship we should list simply fill out the contact us form by clicking here.  Be sure to include contact info for the organization offering the scholarship in case we need further information.