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So many students, and even their parents, don’t believe they should dedicate the time and effort to a scholarship search or applications because the student did not have a high profile academic or school career. Sadly this is a bad decision. There are almost two million options for scholarships, prizes, grants and forgivable loans available – totaling in the area of eight billion dollars in annual awards.

This means that there is literally an option for almost any student. However this does not mean that the billions of dollars lie around unclaimed each year. In fact, scholarship applications are becoming more and more competitive, and students are now required to begin thinking “outside the box” when it comes to their essays and applications.

Any scholarships that are not awarded each year are simply not applied for, and this equates to greater opportunity for students who are actively seeking the kind of financial support available through scholarships, prizes and forgivable loans.

While the competition for scholarships is quite stiff, a creative scholarship search will turn up some unique and unusual groups and organizations making money available to students. For example, a student and their parents should look at the talents, achievements, activities, interests and skills of the student as a method of locating funding opportunities. Churches and synagogues, hospitals, civic organizations and even businesses and individuals are making scholarships available for unusual students.

This means that while the “top” performing students and athletes are lining up to take their chances at the biggest and largest scholarship dollars, other less prominent students will have a chance to “wow” the scholarship committees of smaller or more specific groups. For example, there are industry specific groups that do not reward high levels of academic achievement, but instead give funding to students with a unique field of study or set of interests. This could mean that a fashion design student can get a scholarship from a textile group or fabric manufacturing company.

The reverse is also important to remember – academic excellence is no guarantee for specific scholarship awards. A student, who is at the top of their class and has achieved great success in their high school career, may count only on the biggest or most well-known scholarships. They may however be disappointed when they come up against a national pool of candidates who are equally matched to their level of achievement. Such a student should also do a full scholarship search as described above, and take advantage of any and every unique or unusual opportunity for academic financial support and reward.

Finally, a student and their parents must realize that a thorough scholarship search will turn up all of the most viable opportunities, but even a well done search and beautifully executed applications and essays are no guarantee of funding. They should never hesitate to work with a school loan officer to supplement the money they will need to pay for their student’s education. There are currently no scholarships that are negatively impacted by the use of loans to pay for school, and applying for a loan will not affect anyone’s chances at winning numerous scholarships.