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Private Scholarship Resources
Looking for additional financial resources?
With tuition costs on the rise, securing additional private resources may quickly become even more important in assisting you in your funding of higher education. There are many scholarship opportunities that may be offered by businesses, community groups, schools, and religious and civic organizations in your local community or state scholarship incentives.
Remember these pointers as you begin your scholarship search process.
- The best time to begin the search is during your junior year in high school. Many scholarships repeat every year, so a student can see what is available.
- There are scholarships at every stage of your education, regardless of whether it is for the undergraduate, graduate or returning adult student.
- Contrary to popular belief, private scholarships are not only for top scholars and athletes: Identifying your cultural background, your geographic, religious and ethnic affiliations, hobbies and special capabilities such as music, theatre or debate may help to broaden your search criteria.
- Apply for as many scholarships as you can, no matter how small or large the award. Nothing says you can’t receive several scholarships, and even if some are small, it can mean less money that you need to borrow (with interest).
- Beware the scholarship scam: Avoid scholarship databases that charge customers to register or charge a processing fee, companies that claim to do all the work for the applicant, and out-of-the-blue announcements about winning a scholarship for which you haven’t applied.
- Make sure to utilize free national scholarship search sites. Many can be sorted by name, deadline, amount of award, or eligibility criteria.
- Include private corporations in your search such as Walmart, Coca-Cola, McDonalds and KFC who all offer scholarships.
Private Resources
