Student Scholarships

When looking at financing college it’s all about building up funding from various places, and one of these places you can look into is college scholarship opportunities. Scholarships are free money because if accepted you don’t have to pay any money back to either the Government or the private company.

Undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships are normally presented to students that display skills in one particular area, for example you might be excellent at swimming, athletics or soccer. Scholarships are also sometimes available for student that some from a particular area of the country or if you display financial need.

What different types of scholarship are there?

Hope Scholarship

This is one of the larger and better known scholarship programs that is open to applications and is titled the Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally (HOPE) scholarship. If you qualify and are a full time student you can expect to receive $3000 per academic year. You can apply for this type of financial aid if you are studying at an eligible Georgia public college, a private school, college or university.

Fulbright Scholarship

Another of the big scholarship programs is the prestigious Fulbright scholarship program. It has been running since 1946 and aims to grow connections between the United States and other countries by exchanging knowledge, people and skills.
You are able to apply through a Fulbright program Advisor (FPA) who can be found on your college campus. If selected, you can be covered for travel to the host country, maintenance costs, books and research, health insurance, tuition and language courses. Quite impressive.

Strange and Unusual Scholarships

There are so many weird scholarships out there that there are bound to apply to your circumstances. Here are a few of them.

The Left Handed Student Scholarship is awarded by the Frederick and Mary F. Beckley Scholarship and has a value of $1000. It is only awarded to students enrolled at Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.

One scholarship where the applicants get quite creative is the Duck Brand Duct Tape Stuck on Prom Contest. Sound strange? That’s because it is. Students must make a prom outfit made entirely from duct tape and send in a picture of themselves. May be worth looking up as the first prize is $3000.

The National Make It Yourself with Wool Competition gives away $2000 and $1000 to entries knitted from wool that show creativity, design, coordination of fabric, presentation and that show the best fit the applicant’s lifestyle.

If you have a part time job then your employer may offer a scholarship plan. Mcdonalds offers a scholarship opportunity for which they select one student scholarship application that demonstrated an excellent commitment and level of work and achievement and awards them $1000. Burger King and Coca Cola offer similar scholarships that may also be worth your time.

It’s worth asking your employer even if they are not a large company because from their point of view if they invest in your future you are more likely to work for them for longer or even build a career with them.

One useful tip woth mentioning is that there are lots of scholarships and grant that are specific to the individual college, school or university and so it is well worth enquiring at your college as to what aid is available to you.