Seeking Out Scholarships

When it comes to paying for college, scholarships can be your new best friend. They can greatly reduce the costs of your education and they aren't too incredibly difficult to win if you're determined to do so.

After taking your ACT's and SAT's, you'll want to start applying for as many scholarships as possible. Don't be deterred by the amount of work involved. They take quite a bit of work to do but it all pays off when you get a letter in the mail informing you that you won. Still not sold on the idea? Here's an example that'll probably change your mind: let's say you apply for 10 scholarships and you spend 5 hours on each one. You win one of the 10 scholarships, worth $5,000 towards your college costs. All totaled, you spent 50 hours winning that scholarship for $5,000, which comes out to $100/hour. I dare you to try to find a part-time job that pays that well!

College-sponsored Scholarships

These are scholarships that the college gives out to students after they have been accepted. Sometimes, you don't even have to apply for them because they can be awarded based entirely on your college application. However, many schools will send you separate scholarship applications in the mail after you have been accepted. Be sure to take the time to fill these out.

Corporate Scholarships

A lot of big companies offer scholarships to the kids of their employees. If your parents work for a reasonably large company, be sure to check with them to see if they offer a scholarship like this. A lot of times, nobody applies for these so you will have a decent chance of winning.

Other corporate scholarships are given out to students who aren't necessarily related to the company. For example, Target gives out a scholarship to students involved in a lot of community service. Other large companies like Wal-Mart and Coca Cola offer similar scholarship.

Organization and Trust Scholarships

There are many non-profit organizations and trusts out there that award a certain number of scholarships to students each year. These scholarships are usually for under $5,000 but they're definitely worth applying for. They usually require that you write an essay and fill out an application. Be sure to check with websites such as FastWeb for a list of scholarships like these.

Applying for scholarships can seem tedious and boring but they'll really pay off if you can manage to win one or even a couple of them. And the payoff is quite large, considering the amount of work that you put in. Good luck with your scholarship applications!