There are many scholarships available to college students that simply go unclaimed. It is a shame considering that scholarships and grants are excellent resources to pay for your higher education. When it comes to scholarships, there are many options available to suit every student. Listed below are a few of the engines I use to find scholarships, but I also have a few tips:
Tip 1: Fill out your profile on each engine.
When you fill out your profile, you make it easier for scholarships to come find you.
Tip 2: Check your email (and spam).
Oftentimes the search engines will send you upcoming scholarship deadlines in your email. Also, if you win an award they will most likely email you. If you do not respond, you forfeit the money.
Tip 3: Do what your good at!!
All scholarships I do have something to do with writing an essay. I am good at essay writing. If you are good at making videos, then fill out those types of scholarships. If you are good at making music, then do those types of scholarships. Do what you are good at.
Tip 4: Small money gets big money!
It is okay to apply for the large, full ride scholarships. They tend to be highly competitive, but you can still apply. I highly recommend applying for many small scholarships rather than a few large scholarships. You have a better chance of winning five, $500 scholarships than one $2,500 scholarship.
Tip 5: Create a calendar.
Keeping track of scholarship deadlines can be tricky. It will only help you if you to keep track of the deadlines on a master calendar.
Tip 6: Save your essays
Prompts tend to repeat themselves. Save yourself some time and effort by saving and recycling your essays.
Scholarship Engines
There are many more engines than these, but these are the ones I use the most.
FAFSA
This is one of the easiest and relatively straightforward methods of paying for your education. Regardless of your socioeconomic background, filling out this form can take the edge off paying for college. It is very important you fill out this form early and ACCURATELY. You are going to need the tax return of your parent or guardian if you are a dependent. The form is available Jan 1, 2016. (If you are ever asked to pay for a FAFSA form it is a scam!!!)
Note: Thanks to the Obama administration, the 2017-18 form will be available October 1, 2016 instead of January 1, 2017. More clarification can be found here.
Scholly is a scholarship engine app available on Apple and Android phones for about a dollar. It is the only app I have ever paid. It one of the best investments I have ever made. After you fill out your profile, it will find scholarships that you are eligible to apply. This app requires minimal effort if and it is at your fingertips.
This is not a scholarship engine! There is no profile to fill out. This is a list of available scholarships and grants funded by the government. They are well organized by categories. If you are looking for a list of every possible grant and scholarship you can apply for, this website can help.
This is one of the first scholarship engines I ever used to find scholarships. The trick to using this website is to fill out your profile and organize the scholarships by deadlines. Otherwise, all the results can be overwhelming.
This search engine is fairly new. It bought another former scholarship engine called Scholarship Experts. This means they have more resources for you. It is well organized, thorough and has a vibrant layout.
Chegg bought out Zinch so it has resources to more scholarships for you. This site has a nice, straightforward layout and the scholarships are thorough.
Good luck and happy hunting!
