Paying for school is daunting enough when you have the financial support of your family. But for students whose parents can’t or won’t contribute to expenses, figuring out how to pay for college on your own becomes a whole different challenge.
In this guide, I'll lay out everything you need to consider about how to pay for college without parents and all the steps you need to take.
Pell Grants are awarded by the federal US government to help students pay for college or vocational school. Figuring out whether you're eligible can be confusing, but this post will guide you through all the eligibility requirements you should know about if you want to apply for a federal Pell Grant.
McDonald's charities offer many different scholarships for college-bound seniors all over the country, all with different awards and eligibility requirements. Because there's so much variability among awards, applying for a McDonald's scholarship can seem daunting. Ultimately, though, it's worth it to apply - since 1985, Ronald McDonald House Charities have given out over $65 million in scholarships. Wouldn't it be great to get a small piece of that?
I'll walk you through the different types of scholarship awards that McDonald's offers, in addition to offering tips and strategies to optimize your chances of winning your own award.
Many students think that they should begin looking at college scholarships once they actually start applying to college—so some time early in their senior year. Although it’s true that many big-name scholarships require applicants to be high school seniors, there are some great awards out there for younger students as well.
So why not get a head start in applying for scholarship awards? You could win money for college, sure, but you’ll also get experience in the scholarship application process before submitting even more applications during your senior year.
I’ve compiled a list of scholarships for high school juniors. This list will be a great place to start, but you might also want to search for more targeted awards (e.g., by geographic area). You can browse the scholarships below based on whether they're competitions or merit-based scholarships. Read to the end for tips and strategies on getting the most scholarship money possible!
The Florida Bright Futures scholarships are great funding options for Florida residents who want to stay in the state for college or vocational school. All three awards are easily renewable, which means you could significantly cut your college expenses for several years.
You might think there’s some complicated paperwork involved in submitting the Florida Bright Futures scholarship application. As it turns out, much of the process is streamlined and automated —you actually don’t have to jump through too many hoops to apply. The eligibility requirements are a bit of a different story, but once you meet those, the application process should be pretty easy.
In this post, I'll briefly explain about eligibility requirements before moving on to the application timeline. I'll end with tips and strategies you can use to submit the best possible Bright Futures application.
You’ve taken the SAT or ACT (or both). You’ve researched a list of safety, target, and reach schools. You’ve written what seems like 100 college essays, and nailed down several letters of recommendation. You think you finally have a minute to take a breather, and then you remember: you have to figure out how to pay for all of this!
Most students know that financial aid is an option, but the whole financial aid application process can be confusing. What counts as financial aid? Where do you get it? What’s the typical application process like? How much can you get? It’s enough to make your head spin, especially if you don’t have much guidance on the subject.
In this post, I’ll answer all those questions (and more) to start you off on the right foot. Heading off to college should be an exciting new adventure, not a stressful financial burden—this guide will help you get all the financial aid you need to make this upcoming college transition a pleasant one.
The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship programs are awesome education funding options for Florida state residents—if you can get through the application process, that is. The scholarships offered are particularly nitpicky and tedious about their eligibility requirements: the official handbook outlining these criteria is its own 14-page book chapter. Not to worry! I’ve outlined all the eligibility criteria for Florida Bright Futures Scholarships (general and specific, for each scholarship, with every single exception or special circumstance) in a way that’s a bit easier to get through.
I’ve also included information about when to expect notification about your eligibility. Once you’re considered eligible, you’re one (big) step closer to winning a Bright Futures Scholarship. After you’ve processed all this information, I’ll get to the good stuff—how to increase your chances of winning your own Bright Futures award.
Did you know that your extracurricular activities can earn you money for college?
In particular, there are a lot of scholarships available to students who have chosen to spend their free time helping out others in their communities through volunteer work.
Read on for the most complete lists of volunteer scholarships available. We've divided the scholarships by type so you can tell easily if you qualify.
Scholarships are awesome resources if you’re checking out different ways to pay for college. It’s free money after all—what’s not to love?
As it turns out, most scholarship programs have application processes that aren’t exactly lovable. Students generally have to submit a lot of information about themselves: transcripts, GPAs, test scores, resumes, community service activities, and so on. There might even be a few essays and grade requirements thrown in as well. You don’t want to complain—because, again, free money—but these applications sure are tedious when you’re working on college apps, high school courses, and financial aid applications all at the same time.
The following easy scholarships have application processes that are a bit more manageable. Some ask you to write short essays, while others don’t require any essays at all! The awards might not be as large as some other scholarships out there, but when the application process is so easy, you really don’t have much to lose. I'll start off with some words of warning before getting into the good stuff: essay and no-essay scholarships that are so easy to apply for, you might end up applying to all of them!
The Gates Scholarship is a program with a huge impact. Launched in 2017, the program's mission is to give opportunities to outstanding minority students to reach their highest potential.
In this guide, I'll go through all the details of the scholarship and the application protocols. After that, I'll give you expert tips and strategies for putting together the strongest Gates Scholarship application possible. Read on to learn more!
Note: The Gates Scholarship was established in 2017 as a replacement for the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, which reached its goal of 20,000 scholars in 2016.
You probably didn't know that Walmart offers a couple of scholarship opportunities for employees and their dependents. These scholarships are meant to cover college or vocational school expenses for those with financial need.
In this guide, I'll start by talking about eligibility requirements and the application process. If you're already familiar with this information, skip to the second half of this post—this is where I'll give tips and strategies for increasing your chances of winning a Walmart scholarship.
Paying for college can be challenging for many students. College is expensive and the financial aid process isn’t always transparent or easy to navigate.
Fortunately, if you’re willing to spend some time looking, there are many different resources out there that can help you figure out how to pay for college. If you’re a first generation college students, there are many first generation scholarship opportunities that you can apply for.
In this article, we’ll explain what first generation college student scholarships are and give a list of scholarships for first generation college students that you can apply for.
When universities go through admissions applications, they take many factors into consideration, like your grades, your extracurriculars, and even your personality!
But many college applicants don’t realize that some universities also consider you--and your family’s--ability to pay tuition as well. The hard truth is that some universities use an applicant’s ability to pay tuition without financial aid as a factor in the admissions process. This became the subject of a 2015 article from Time Magazine, which explains that many universities consider how students can contribute to their institution financially when they make admissions decisions.
This sounds like scary news. But don’t worry! Many schools are addressing the issue by transitioning to need-blind admissions policies, which remove economic status as an admissions criteria.
In this guide, we’ll give you a complete list of need-blind colleges in the United States and answer all of your burning questions, including:
So let’s get started!
To be considered for federal financial aid, you must complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Most states, colleges, and universities also use the FAFSA to award other types of institutional financial aid, including state- and college-sponsored financial aid, such as grants, educational loans, and work-study programs.
If you don’t get your FAFSA submitted by the deadline, you might be missing out on free money. Don’t do that. Make sure you know all the applicable federal, state, and college deadlines. Get that money!
In this article, we'll discuss when you should submit the FAFSA and how to ensure you don't miss any important deadlines. We'll also explain the financial aid process after you submit your FAFSA.
Aside from grants and loans, private scholarships are some of the best ways to help fund your college education. There are thousands of scholarships out there for high school seniors, all with different eligibility requirements, deadlines, and award amounts, so it's definitely worth your time to do some research.
Senior year is prime crunch time when it comes to your college scholarship search. If you’re just starting the search process and need a little help getting off on the right foot, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve compiled a list of some of the best college scholarships for high school seniors based on availability and award amounts. These scholarships are generally flexible (so you’ll be able to use them at any accredited college you attend), and they also don’t have any geographical restrictions (so you’re eligible to apply no matter where you live in the US).
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