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3 Tips to Ensure Fair Treatment of Scholarships
Tweet Share on Facebook December 30, 2010 Comment (1)This might surprise you, but not all colleges treat your hard-won scholarship dollars the same way. Some colleges will reduce the amount of need-based grant aid, loans, and/or work-study if you get a scholarship.
Think this is unfair? Me too. Read on to learn how to ensure your scholarships actually help you pay for college.
First, it's important to understand all the factors that play a role in your financial aid package and how your scholarships may affect it. Financial aid packages may consist of some combination of need-based grants, college/institutional financial aid, and student self-help (through work-study and loans). Sometimes, the financial aid awarded—along with your expected family contribution (EFC) and federal and state financial aid—is not enough to cover the cost of attendance. This is called your "unmet need."
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3 Steps Adults Returning to College Must Take
Tweet Share on Facebook December 23, 2010 Comment (3)For students going straight to college after high school, the path toward getting in and paying for school is well defined: take your tests, write your essays, fill out your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and apply for scholarships. But for students who have spent some time away from the world of postsecondary education and want to return, the scholarship and financial aid process can look daunting.
Fortunately, there are some steps to find scholarship opportunities and financial assistance if you're taking a nontraditional route, whether you're coming back from a year of traveling or considering a midlife career change:
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Skip These 6 Scholarship Essay Errors
Tweet Share on Facebook December 16, 2010 Comment (4)We've all heard the news reports: Tuition is skyrocketing and students are leaving college with tens of thousands of dollars in loan debt. Just the thought can be enough to make any high school grad consider flipping burgers for a living instead of earning a degree.
But don't give up hope. There are plenty of generous people out there, funding numerous scholarships, and all you have to do is apply. Before you even think about opening up a Word doc, though, consider these mistakes that could get your essay—and your free money hopes—trashed.
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4 Do's and 1 Don't for Finding Scholarships
Tweet Share on Facebook December 8, 2010 Comment (7)When people hear that I work for Scholarship America, invariably the first question they ask is, "How can (I, my son/daughter/niece/nephew/grandchild/neighbor's kid) get a scholarship?"
As it turns out, this question is more relevant than ever. Today, the average student is graduating with more than $20,000 of loan debt, and it's pretty tough to start your adult life that deep in the hole. Fortunately, there may be around $3 billion in private scholarship aid available each year for students who know where to look. Scholarship search engines like fastweb.com, collegeboard.com, and scholarships.com are a great start. Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Fastweb, stresses that you should "complete all of the optional questions in the scholarship search profile for about twice as many [scholarship] matches."
