jacoblund/Getty Images
- Local scholarships and scholarships with smaller awards often have less competition.
- There’s no limit to the amount of scholarships you can apply for, and the money can stack up.
- Make sure to stay on top of deadlines so that you don’t lose out on opportunities for free money.
- Read more of Insider’s student loan coverage here.
Scholarships are a great way to cover the cost of college because they don’t need to be paid back. You can find a ton of private scholarships, big and small, that require various amounts of effort to apply for.
However, make sure you check with your college to see if it will let you stack private scholarships and grants on top of the aid the college offers. Sometimes a college will deduct whatever aid you receive from a private source from the amount of grant or scholarship aid it offers you.
1. Apply for local scholarships
Local scholarships often have less competition than national scholarships and are targeted at specific members of your community. For example, there might be scholarships for people from your high school who have a specific major. Your guidance counselor may be a great resource for finding scholarship opportunities in your area, and you can also look at opportunities online.
2. Look for scholarships with smaller awards
There’s no limit to the amount of scholarships you can apply to, so multiple small awards can add up to a significant contribution toward your educational costs. Additionally, some students might not consider smaller awards because they’re focused on the flashier, bigger prizes, so your competition may be less fierce.
You can use the Department of Labor’s free scholarship search tool or use other online private scholarship databases to find opportunities available to you. Make sure you filter that information by the specific criteria you fit; for instance, you may be involved in a mental health awareness club and qualify for a certain service-based scholarship.
3. Start searching for scholarships early
You can apply to scholarships as early as your junior year of high school, so begin early and make a list of all the scholarships you think you’re interested in or may qualify for.
You should keep applying to scholarships even after freshman year, as many scholarships are open to students of any age. Put some time in your calendar to search for scholarships every year, as you never know what new opportunities may pop up year to year.
4. Keep track of deadlines for your scholarship applications
It’s a good idea to make a spreadsheet with information about the scholarships you’re applying for. This may include the name of the scholarship, the award amount, the required information, and the deadline to apply. You might want to color code this spreadsheet, organize it by deadline, or sort it by applications that need essays and those that do not.
Make sure to get in your scholarship applications on time, as most organizations won’t consider late submissions.
5. Take time to apply to scholarships that may require more work
A lot of the most attractive scholarships are ones that just require the click of a button to apply. In between applying for college and finishing up school, students might not have time for lengthier applications. Some students may bypass scholarships that require essays or letters of recommendation in favor of easier scholarships that only need basic information.
However, if you can carve out some time to apply for scholarships with more rigorous requirements, you’ll likely run into less competition for cash than with “easy apply” scholarships.
Importantly, this doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch for each application! It’s not cheating to repurpose essays for different scholarships, just make sure you’re still answering each individual prompt when you’re doing so.
6. See what scholarships your school offers
Schools offer scholarships for a variety of reasons, but merit-based and athletic scholarships are the most common.
Merit-based scholarships are usually earned by meeting or exceeding certain academic standards and might be based on your field of study, GPA, ACT or SAT score, or some other academic achievement. Colleges often offer merit-based scholarships to entice high-achieving students to attend their schools.
Athletic scholarships are often offered because of outstanding athletic achievement, and they usually require you to play one or more certain sports to qualify for aid. Standards for athletic scholarships are different depending on the school. Schools may also have varying amounts of money available for specific sports.
While you may need to put in a significant amount of time and effort into finding and applying for scholarships, they can make the cost of college much more affordable – and prevent you from taking out aid you need to pay back, like loans.
Powered by WPeMatico
