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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. 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:

• What is need-blind admission?
• How do need-blind policies affect tuition costs?
• What should you look for in a need-blind school?

So let's get started!

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.

Do you have the brains and passion to become an engineer but worry about the cost of the education? You're not alone. Fortunately, you can offset some of these costs by applying for scholarships that can help you pay for college.

The following list of scholarships will show you that you have nothing to fear. Students of all backgrounds will find that there's an engineering scholarship out there that can help make their education more affordable.

In this article, we'll cover many of the prominent engineering scholarships, as well as others that you might not have heard of before. Read on to see what engineering scholarships you might be eligible for!

If you're hoping to be far from home for college but are worried about the cost of an out-of-state school, you might run into some issues in the application process. How do you find out-of-state schools that still offer relatively cheap tuition?

In this article, I've compiled a list of schools that offer the lowest tuition rates and highest rates of institutional aid to out-of-state students. Keep reading to learn what these schools are!

College in the US is expensive—too expensive, in fact, for the average student to be able to afford on their own. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 87% of first-year students at four-year colleges were receiving financial aid in 2019-2020. Financial aid is good in all its forms, right? If it helps college students afford their education, what could be the problem?

Unfortunately, not all financial aid is created equal—and not all schools can afford to give out "good" student aid. Here, I'll briefly talk about the types of financial aid available (the "good" kinds and the "bad" kinds) before introducing the colleges with the best financial aid programs in the country.

People are always saying that art doesn’t pay. Fortunately, they aren’t always right! Prospective art students will be happy to know that there are a multitude of art scholarships out there that will help pay for their education.

We have all the details on the best art scholarships below, so read on to see which scholarships are the best fit for you!

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 on applying for scholarship awards? You could win money for college, sure, but you'll also get experience with the scholarship application process before submitting even more applications during your senior year.

We'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. And be sure to read to the end for tips and strategies on getting the most scholarship money possible!

One of the most important questions you'll have to ask yourself during the college selection process is whether or not your top-choice school is affordable for your family.

Affordability has a huge impact on college decisions. Some students will luck out and be offered a nice scholarship by their school that will make things affordable; others will win independent scholarships. Usually, though, both of these options for financing your education are based on merit, and there is a lot of competition.

But did you know that some schools are committed to making sure all admitted students can afford to attend, regardless of whether they are scholarship recipients? Read on to see a list of colleges that meet full need, or provide for 100% of their students' demonstrated financial need.

It's never too early to start saving up money for your college education. Even if you are only in your first or second year of high school, there are plenty of opportunities to start bringing in money that will pay for your tuition, books, fees, and living expenses a couple of years down the line.

You might be surprised to learn that there are actually hundreds of scholarships available to underclassmen. If you're just starting your hunt, use this list of the best scholarships for high school freshmen and sophomores to 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.

You've worked hard all throughout high school and are an academic and extracurricular superstar. You're looking forward to the challenges that college will bring. But are you ready for the challenge of paying for college?

There are a lot of ways students come up with the money to fund their higher educations. Did you know, though, that it can be as easy as getting one award? In this article, we give you a list of 79 colleges that offer at least one full-ride scholarship to cover all of your tuition costs.

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.

If you need a basic intro to what the Pell Grant is, check out our overview guide.

Students are automatically considered for the Pell Grant when they submit their Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. For 2023, the deadline for submitting a FAFSA (and thus being considered for a Pell Grant) is June 30th. You can learn more about Pell Grant submission here. In this post, we'll cover the following:

• How to figure out whether you're eligible for federal student aid
• What the Pell Grant income limits are
• How to figure out whether you're eligible for the Pell Grant specifically
• Pell Grant award maximums
• What you can do to increase your chances of getting the Pell Grant

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!

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.

To help you find scholarships—and free money!—for college, we'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).

It’s no secret that college is expensive. That’s especially true for people who want a degree but have family, financial, or other obligations that make going to school difficult. 

That’s why Walmart has created the Walmart Live Better U program. Designed by the Walmart Corporation, Live Better U offers 100% free GED, trade school, and college degree programs to all Walmart employees. 

If you work at Walmart, are considering working at Walmart, or are just curious about ways to attend college without breaking the bank, this article is for you! In this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about the Live Better U Walmart program, including:

• What the Live Better U program is
• How Live Better U differs from a traditional scholarship program
• What the Live Better U requirements for eligibility are
• How to sign up for Live Better U
• An overview of Live Better U reviews, and
• How to decide if you should use Live Better U

Are you ready to learn more? Then let’s jump in!