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Ah, Winter Break. A nice and necessary reprieve from the hard work of schooling, testing, and busy activities. Finals are over, you don’t have to worry about homework for a while; it’s a great time to relax and refresh. You have more free time than a typical week would allow, and you’re ready to use that time to catch up on your latest binge session of Netflix, read a book that’s been on your shelf for way too long, or have a good video game marathon with a friend. And that’s great! You’ve been working hard and deserve a break. So why, then, is the title of this particular post about scholarships and school? Why should you spend your precious winter break to hunt for scholarships?
Preparing for your financial future doesn’t sound all that relaxing. Well bear with me because it’s less taxing than you might think (and in the long run, it will be relaxing when you have less financial strain thanks to gift aid!).
You can still relax
Searching and applying for scholarships may cause you to groan or get tense, but there are ways to ease (or even eliminate) the frustration. For starters, spread out your search—you don’t have to do it all at once. In fact, doing a little each day can make it seem less of a burden. Even spending a half hour to an hour every day of your break can be extraordinarily helpful! We recommend that you make a scholarship application calendar. It’s not only to keep your deadlines organized, but also to block out a little bit of time every day to search and apply for scholarships.
Set up a time to browse scholarship-aggregate websites (like Scholarship.com for example) and search by interested majors, states, specific colleges, areas of interest, contests, and more categories to find scholarships you qualify for! Alternatively, you can look at your city’s website for local scholarships, or check out some of our scholarship lists!
Organize your time
Use your extra time well—your future self will thank you for the effort. It doesn’t have to feel like a major time-dedication if you split up the work. While you should definitely be looking for scholarships year-round, the times where you’re not too busy with other activities are ideal. Of course, you should spend your winter break unwinding. But dedicating an hour a day to scholarships isn’t bad. You definitely want to spread out the work, rather than rushing to finish up an application right before the deadline.
Some other scholarship tips
Here are some other tips to keep in mind while you hunt for scholarships.
- Again, don’t rush! Finishing your application close to the deadline is unnecessarily stressful. You might even miss the deadline in your haste!
- Apply for scholarships that you 100% qualify for. Don’t waste your time applying for ones even if you meet 4 out of the 5 requirements.
Good luck!
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Use College Raptor to discover personalized college matches, cost estimates, acceptance odds, and potential financial aid for schools around the US—for FREE!
| Lender | Rates (APR) | Eligibility | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
6.97%-15.03%* Variable
5.99%-14.00%* Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT CITIZENS |
 |
6.37% - 16.70% Variable
4.50% - 15.49% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT SALLIE MAE |
 |
4.98% - 16.70% Variable
4.07% - 15.66% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT CREDIBLE |
 |
6.07% - 11.31% Variable
4.39% - 10.39% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT LENDKEY |
|
|
6.22% - 16.08% Variable
4.09% - 15.66% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ASCENT |
 |
6.54% - 11.08% Variable
3.95% - 8.01% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ISL |
 |
5.62% - 18.26% Variable
4.11% - 15.90% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT EARNEST |
 |
4.98% - 12.79% Variable
8.42% - 13.01% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ELFI |
