How to win scholarships to pay for a college education

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By LukeLiu4434
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win scholarships to pay for a college education

Paying for college is a challenge for many families. Beyond financial aid, work study, and student loans, scholarships are a great way to help pay for college. Here are some tips on how to win scholarships for college.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Step 1

Start early. There are literally thousands of scholarships available for you to apply for, and they go all year round. Many have age requirements, such as senior in high school, rising junior, etc. Either way, start looking early to increase the opportunities you have.
Step 2

Sign up for scholarship search sites such as fastweb.com and scholarships.com. These invariably come with loads of advertisements and often point you to scholarships that you can't apply for. Still, they are a great way to be exposed to the great variety of scholarships out there, and will occasionally show you a winner. It's a great starting point.
Step 3

To find even more scholarships, you can search for them on the internet based on your personal attributes and interests. Also, utilize local resources such as your high school guidance counselor and the library. Local rotary clubs often give out scholarships and only require an interview
Step 4

With finding scholarships down, lets consider strategy. There are basically three kinds of scholarships.

1. Scholarships given based on prior accomplishments and current situation (racial, financial, geographical). These are the generally the easiest to apply for as they only require filling out a form, writing a short persuasive essay, recommendations, and a transcript. They don't require you to achieve anything beyond what you've already done. Examples are the Best Buy scholarship, any kind of achievement scholarship, the Coca Cola scholarship, etc. These typically pay $1000-$5000.

2. Competition scholarships such as essay, art, or music competitions. These require a great amount of time, effort, and initiative to actually win. However, they are great because if you do these early, such as freshman, sophomore, or junior year, your participation can be used as a booster on your college application. For example, you may not win, but if you finish as a semifinalist, it's impressive to admissions officers, depending on the prestige of the competition.
Examples: Intel Science competition, Siemens Westinghouse competition, UNA-USA essay contest, JFK Profiles in Courage essay contest, etc.

3. Specialty scholarships given to people based on where they work or other extraneous criteria. For example, if you caddy at a golf club, the club may offer scholarships to certain caddies. Getting these depend on your situation.
Step 5

Remember that the hardest part about getting scholarships is applying. If you spend time applying to multiple ones, you can earn thousands of dollars. Put in the effort to interview, write, and apply to as many as you can. Keep your eyes and mind open. All it takes is some extra searching to discover the hundreds of thousands of dollars of scholarship money that others miss. Getting several small scholarships really adds up!