college scholarships

College Scholarships

Due to ever-increasing costs of going to college, it is a good idea to search out available scholarships and apply for them.  Scholarships are one of the most enticing forms of financial aid available today.  This is because they are available to anyone without any repayment requirements!  Many scholarships are overlooked and therefore are a missed opportunity for many students.

If students know about scholarships, they can apply for them, but many students do not know that college scholarships exist.  Most students do not understand that there are scholarships obtainable to them, which could pay a major part of their education.  In fact, the college scholarship can be used for any educational opportunity.  This is includes private or public college, junior college or four-year universities, graduate or certificate programs.

What are college scholarships?

College Scholarships programs come in a variety of forms, which are normally considered free college money.  College scholarships, unlike loans, do not have to be repaid.  Scholarships can be awarded directly to students in a form of a check or to the school itself.  You can receive a scholarship from any of the following types of organizations: charitable foundations, businesses, schools, universities, government agencies, and sometimes-even clubs or groups within the school.

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The College Scholarship Penalty – Don’t Get Bitten

The scholarship penalty is a little known college policy which reduces money available to college students due to scholarship monies they receive.   Scholarships are looked at as a common solution to the college funding problem. Scholarships from organizations such as the DAR, Rotary, Wal-Mart, a local church, the Gates Foundation, or other similar organizations make up only 2% to 3% of the money that is available to help send students to college; but from they attention they receive, you would think the amount available would be much higher. But there is a greater problem with external college scholarships.

External college scholarships are those scholarships which a student acquires by applying to an organization other than the college or university the student attends. Internal scholarships (or merit awards) are those funds awarded directly to a student, typically for academic achievement. Internal scholarships are always good and should be pursued at all times. External scholarships have a penalty which is rarely discussed.   The standard policy of colleges and universities across the United States is to reduce the financial award the school would otherwise give you by the amount of money in outside scholarships the student receives.

For example: Sally is awarded a financial award package from Big University of $20,000. Sally is a sharp student and applies for several scholarships in her local hometown and receives $5,000 in external scholarship money. Big University then reduces her financial award by $5,000.

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