Looking for scholarship money can be time consuming, but the time you spend can translate into money for college! Here are some strategies for finding scholarships.

If the prospect of paying for your college education is freaking you out, you're not alone! The thought of paying off consolidated student loans for years can feel pretty overwhelming, as is the process of filling out complicated financial aid forms. Free money is not going to fall from the sky to pay for your college education? Or is it?

No, don't stand with a bucket on your front porch waiting for the money to fall. But what you should do is spend some time looking for and applying to as many scholarships as you can. Scholarships are the easiest way to help students afford their education. There's billions of dollars out there from people who want to help students like you make their way through college. All you have to do is find those billions of dollars-- or at least your fair share of it.

So, how do you go about searching for scholarships? More than anything else, the trick is persistence. Devote some serious hours to the task of finding and applying for as many scholarships as you can. Resist the urge to be lazy. You'll get lots of rejections, and you'll just have to suck it up and keep trying. In the end, if you wind up with a few thousand dollars or more for college than what you started with, it will be worth it.

As you search for scholarships, here are some good places to look:

• The Internet. Scholarship websites have made it much easier to find money than it used to be. Register for multiple free scholarship databases such as Scholarship.com, FastWeb.com, and CollegeBoard.com's scholarship search. Be persistent and check back with these websites often. One word of caution: don't limit your scholarship search to just the Internet. Yes, this is a great resource, but there are other ways to find money as well.
• High school guidance counselors and college advisors. Don't forget that there are people out there who are paid to help students navigate the system. A simple question like, "Can you tell me some good places to find out about scholarships?" can really help. If they know a little bit about you, they might be able to recommend particular scholarships.
• Organizations that help students like you. Many organizations set aside money to give to certain kinds of students. There are scholarships for African Americans, women, members of religious groups, first generation college students, returning college students, nursing students, single parents, athletes, musicians, aspiring nurses, and all kinds of people.
• Local organizations. Businesses and other organizations give out scholarship money because it's good publicity. Find out what businesses in your community award scholarships. Your high school guidance counselor can help you with this task.
• Alumni scholarships. Many colleges and universities have scholarships for children and grandchildren of former students.
• Weird scholarships. There are some pretty odd scholarships out there. Don't rule them out! Here's a list of some unusual college scholarships.
• Your parents' employers or organizations. Some employers have scholarships specifically for children of employees, and some clubs and organizations offer scholarships to children of members.
• Your academic department or college. Most college departments and colleges have a list of scholarships that are only offered to students at your school. Once you are in college, ask a professor or academic advisors what scholarships are available and how to qualify.
• Academic associations. Almost all areas of study have an academic association for professors in that field. For example, there's the National Communication Association for communication professors. These groups frequently offer scholarships. Do an Internet search for the group that represents your major and find out what scholarships are available.

Use your imagination and think of organizations you might look to for financial assistance. And don't give up. There's plenty of money out there that has to go to someone. It may as well be you.

See also: Student loan glossary

Here's the follow-up discussion on this article:

View all related messages

Post to this discussion

For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Naomi Rockler-Gladen's College Financial Aid topic, please visit the Discussions page.