Many students think that they can only receive a scholarship if they show particular strength in an athletic or academic area, or if they have a strong financial need. This is not the case. There are millions of scholarship awards, prizes, grants, fellowships and forgivable loan programs that make over eight billion dollars available to students each and every year!
A student can do a scholarship search based on almost any fact about themselves. Beginning with a good search engine or scholarship resource, a student can look for a scholarship that is granted for almost any reason. Like to skateboard? Type that in and find the results. It will be quite surprising. Left handed? There is a scholarship program for that as well. Are you a champion at the air guitar? Guess what…there are funds for capturing yourself on film during a great performance.
There are thousands of other scholarships available for far more “serious” achievements, but they don’t necessarily go just to the students in the “top” of a graduating or enrolled class. There are hundreds of writing competitions that make tidy awards to the winners, there are athletic scholarships for those that have skills in less traditional sports such as full scholarships for golf caddies, and incredible financial support for champion level bowlers.
Currently, a scholarship search should include a person’s activities in large organizations, such as environmental groups that offer “green” scholarships. There are some large, and well known, corporations that actively seek out new talent through such scholarship campaigns and contests. For example, NASA, Intel, and Mazda look for science, mathematical, engineering and other types of majors to support and then recruit.
Clearly it benefits a student performing a scholarship search to take some time to really consider their entire life, including their summer or part time jobs, religious affiliations, community or volunteer work, and even hobbies. For example, there are nice scholarship awards for college students that have worked in any part of the ice cream industry. This could mean that spending the summer at a scoop shop or driving an ice cream truck may provide academic funding.
There are also many people who receive financial support for their college career from the organization they belong to as part of a hobby. For example the Numismatic Society gives members enrolled in college the opportunity to apply for scholarship funds.
Most students should take the time to sit down with their school’s guidance counselor to do a very thorough scholarship search based on all available information. A guidance counselor will know the questions to ask and what lines of inquiry to pursue and may turn up some funding that a student never anticipated.
Millions of dollars in scholarships wait for applicants each year, and many of them simply require an application to grant the funds. While a scholarship search may require a bit of time and effort, the rewards are well worth it!