You did it! The dreaded FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) has been sent off and filed; now you sit and wait for the financial aid to roll in, right? WRONG!
Now is the time to apply for college scholarships. Lots and lots of college scholarships! Sure, the necessary and most important step of filing the FAFSA is a giant weight off of your shoulders, but if you stop there you will be missing out on thousands of dollars in scholarship money that you have the potential to win. College scholarship money is available year round for all levels of students, so let’s get right down to how to find it. Call, email, or search the web to see if these organizations offer scholarships:
- Hospitals (Local or in your state of residence)
- Community Foundations
- College websites
- Veterans (You, parents, grandparents-check requirements)
- Scouting (Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts)
- Employers (You, parents, grandparents-check requirements)
- Banks/Credit Unions (Need to have an account to apply? Open one!)
- High school websites (Yours and any local high school)
- Religious/Church Organizations
- Clubs (Lions, Masons, Rotary, Elks, Young Eagles-check for requirements)
- Google your college major/area of interest (“Engineering Scholarships 2012”)
- National Honor Society
There are plenty of other places to look to find college scholarships, but this will get you started. Do not make the mistake of filing your FAFSA and then doing nothing. The scholarship possibilities are endless and taking the time to apply for as many as possible will pay off when those checks start coming in the mail. Take charge of your future NOW and reap the rewards when you are able to go to school with no or minimal student loans. The future is in YOUR hands!
Have you found a college scholarship that you'd like to share? Please leave the name of the scholarship in the comment section and thank you!
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