You can find scholarships by using scholarship databases, meeting with your guidance counselor or college advisor, reviewing college-specific awards, and talking with your family and friends. With over 1.7 million scholarships and $46 billion dollars up for grabs, identifying awards you qualify for can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Here are some tips for how to find scholarships, plus a review of how they work and how you can speed up the application process.
How Do Scholarships Work?
Scholarships are financial awards given to students to help them pay for their education, usually at a college, university, trade school, or vocational school. There are several different types of scholarship applications available, including merit-based, need-based, demographic-specific, regional, field-specific, or ones based on other criteria. There are even awards for being a natural redhead!
Students should look for and apply to scholarships where they meet the eligibility requirements by the deadline. If the student wins, they’ll be notified and win the amount advertised that can then be put towards their education. Unlike student loans, scholarships don’t have to be paid back.
Scholarships can be offered by schools, nonprofits, communities, states, businesses, and more.
What Do Scholarship Applications Include?
Scholarship requirements vary from award to award. Understanding what to look for can help you identify the awards that match you and speed up your searching and application processes.
When reviewing scholarship programs, make sure to review:
- Eligibility criteria. Every scholarship sponsor has their own criteria for selecting winning applicants. Many awards are based on merit, financial need, or athletic accomplishments, but there are others for things like mastery of odd skills, passion projects, and personal aspects, such as having naturally red hair.
- Length. Some scholarships are one-time, while others are renewable. Others might be for a single semester or for an entire academic year.
- How the money is awarded. If you are the winner of a scholarship, you could receive the money directly in your name or the money may be transferred to the school you are attending.
- How the money can be used. If you’re the winner of a scholarship and the money isn’t submitted directly to your college, you’ll need to know how the money can be used. Some common options include towards tuition only, towards tuition and school-related expenses only, and for whatever you’d like.
- Deadlines. Every award has a different deadline. Note these so you can be sure to get your application in on time.
- Requested materials. Some scholarships could ask for an essay, transcripts, evidence of demonstrated need, and more in order to apply. Others will simply ask for your contact information.
There are no limits on how many scholarships you can apply to or the amount of money you can win through scholarships. However, you might be limited on how you can use the scholarships. For example, if tuition is $40,000 and the scholarship sponsor awards you $45,000 to be put towards tuition only, you might not have access to that extra $5,000.
How to Find Scholarships
There are nearly 2 million college scholarships out there available to students. Each one has different eligibility criteria, deadlines, and award amounts. How can you possibly sift through them all and complete college applications and your schoolwork? Here are some ways you can find scholarships today:
1. Use Scholarship Databases
One of the easiest ways to find and also track scholarships is through online databases. These tools will collect information from you when you sign up, and use that data to uncover the scholarships you actually qualify for.
These databases will also notify you if new awards become available, so you don’t constantly have to start new searches. College Raptor offers a free Scholarship Search tool right here.
2. Meet With Your Guidance Counselor or College Advisor
Your high school guidance counselor or college advisor has helped countless students before you, so they know what you’re dealing with when it comes to the cost of college. They likely know of local and school-based awards that you might qualify for. Schedule a meeting with them to discuss these awards, advice for applying, and other tips that can come in handy.
Additionally, some high schools host award ceremonies as part of their graduation ceremonial events. The number of scholarships varies depending on the school, but some often give out generous awards of a couple thousand dollars. The donors for these scholarships are typically local organizations or memorial funds that the community has contributed. Each scholarship will have varying application qualifications. The best way to be aware of these scholarships and determine the process for consideration is to speak with your high school guidance counselor or college adviser.
3. Review College-Specific Scholarships
Colleges often have dedicated, school-specific scholarship pages, but application requirements will often vary from school to school. Sometimes an application and acceptance to the school is all that is needed to be considered for a scholarship. These will show up on your award letter. Others require separate applications as they’re offered through different organizations.
4. Talk to Family, Friends, and Bosses
Some employers have scholarships and grants available for their employees and their employees’ children. If you currently work, there may also be awards through your workplace. Speak with your parents and your boss to see if any of these opportunities are available to you.
Talking with family, friends, and your family’s professional contacts might also help you discover some local, lesser-known scholarships that don’t have information available online. Working with a financial advisor can pay off, too.
5. Check with Local Organizations
Several small and large businesses, non-profits, and even individuals offer scholarships to help students in their community pursue their higher education dreams. Local scholarships tend to have less competition, so they can be easier to win.
To find these, go through your local newspaper, make inquiries at the local chamber of commerce, and ask your teacher, academic counselor, family, and friends.
6. Think Outside The Box
What are you passionate about? Whatever your passion, there will almost certainly be a scholarship in that field. You may not think of leveraging your video gaming skills to get a college scholarship, especially if you’re not entering a video game related field, but there are in fact several scholarship opportunities related to this hobby. You can find scholarships for just about anything you are passionate about, whether it’s sewing, coding, farming, knitting, or zombies.
It’s not just hobbies either. Is there something that makes you unique? You might just find an award for that, too! Think outside the box when looking for designated scholarships and you’ll be surprised at what you’ll find.
Tips for Applying to Scholarships
Once you have a list of schools you’d like to apply to, here are some tips for increasing your chances of winning.
Complete the FAFSA
Some scholarships and grants require the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in order to apply. For example, many college-specific scholarships that are for students with demonstrated financial need will require the FAFSA. Some awards may also require your Student Aid Index in order to apply. Other awards, such as Florida’s Bright Futures, require a state-sponsored financial aid form.
Complete the FAFSA and any state-sponsored financial aid forms as soon as they become available to get it out of the way and increase your chances of receiving aid.
Start Early
It’s all too easy to let time slip away from you. You think you’ll start your scholarship tomorrow or next week but things happen and your search keeps getting postponed. Before you know it, you’ve missed the window to apply to a few opportunities that you were well-qualified for. The best way to stay on top of your scholarship search is by starting early.
Many scholarships will have due dates between October and March, so starting in August or even earlier can give you a head start, ensuring you don’t miss those early-deadline-awards. There are even scholarships that require letters of recommendation. If you start too late, you might not have time to ask for those letters (or give your teacher enough time to write them).
Get Organized
With so many awards, it can be difficult to tell which ones you’ve applied to or stay ahead of all the various deadlines. Getting organized can help you track your applications. Create a spreadsheet with each award, the relevant link to apply, deadlines, and required materials. Organize them by deadline so you can quickly see the awards that are coming due first. You can then work your way down this list, marking them off as “submitted” once you’ve sent in your application.
Getting organized now can also save you time during the application process. Most applications require you to submit much of the same information—your transcripts, SAT/ACT scores, name, SAI, and contact details of your high school. You could end up wasting a whole lot of time looking through documents for the relevant details while filling in every application. Instead, create a document with these details that you can easily pull from..
Create A Consistent Schedule
Once you’ve shortlisted the scholarships you want to apply for, don’t try and send them all out at once. While some are a quick form, others will require a lengthy essay. The last thing you want to do is realize you have three scholarships that require essays due tomorrow.
Commit to submitting at least a few applications every week. Using the organized list you created, you should be able to spread out the awards that require essays or other supplemental materials. You can find a healthy balance of quick and difficult scholarship applications, so you don’t get burned out or overwhelmed while also getting them in before their due dates.
Don’t Ignore Those Small Scholarships
In an attempt to win the maximum amount, most students typically pursue a big scholarship and ignore the smaller rewards. This increases the competition for the larger rewards and decreases the competition for the lower amounts. Instead of the either-or approach, why not apply to both?
There are no limits to the number of scholarships you can apply for or earn. The more scholarships you apply for the higher your chances of winning. Winning multiple small rewards serves the same purpose as one large scholarship.
What Scholarships Should You Apply For?
You should only apply to scholarships you actually qualify for. Don’t waste your time applying to scholarships you have little to no chance of winning. But aside from that – should you apply to every award that fits that criteria?
The answer is most likely yes, you should. Even if the award amount is small, this money will add up. And if you win several small awards, you have a good chunk of money you can put towards your education.
Scholarships can be a fantastic way to pay for college. Unlike loans, they don’t have to be paid back. With nearly 2 million awards out there and college costs on the horizon, it’s time to get searching.
Using College Raptor’s Scholarship Search tool can help you cut down on the time it takes to find scholarships you qualify for. It’s completely free and takes only a few minutes to use – try it out here!
| Lender | Rates (APR) | Eligibility | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
5.34%-15.96%* Variable
3.99%-15.61%* Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT CITIZENS |
 |
4.92% - 15.08% Variable
3.99% - 15.49% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT SALLIE MAE |
 |
4.50% - 17.99% Variable
3.49% - 17.99% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT CREDIBLE |
 |
6.00% - 13.75% Variable
3.99% - 13.75% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT LENDKEY |
 |
5.50% - 14.56% Variable
3.69% - 14.41% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ASCENT |
|
|
3.70% - 8.75% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ISL |
 |
4.99% - 16.85% Variable
3.47% - 16.49% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT EARNEST |
 |
5.00% - 14.22% Variable
3.69% - 14.22% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ELFI |
