Are There Scholarships Out There For You?

By Danielle Wirsansky on January 15, 2019

Affording college is hard. Without a lot of money at your disposal or some great scholarships, it can be hard to attend school and make ends meet. There is not too much you can do about having a lot of money, but there is plenty that you can do to help land yourself a scholarship.

Many people can be intimidated by the prospect of scholarships. Sure you want the money and support it provides, but there seems like a whole lot of hoops to jump through, and you may wonder if there is even a point in applying at all. Why apply if you do not feel like you are going to get the scholarship in the end? And how many organizations and institutions are really just handing out money to students and supporting them? But scholarships are a lot more common than you may realize.

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According to the College Board, approximately two-thirds of all undergraduate students received some kind of scholarship or financial aid during the 2014-2015 academic year. That is 1.2 million students out of 1.8 million that received some kind of scholarship, which is a whole lot. If 1.2 million other students in the United States can do it, you certainly can as well! And if 1.2 million students won scholarships, then that means there are a whole lot of scholarships out there, just waiting for you to apply for them!

Another reason why some students to do not apply for scholarships is because they do not have the confidence to apply, or sometimes, even begin the search for a scholarship. You might tell yourself, I am not smart enough. I do not have high enough grades. I do not have the most service hours or participate in the most interesting extracurricular activities. But you do not need to!

There is more to a person than smarts or grades. And you do not have to be the best at something to deserve a scholarship. Sure, you may not be eligible for every scholarship out there. But there are definitely scholarships out there for you—you just need to find them!

So where are some places that you can look for scholarships that fit you? Read on to learn where to find scholarships that are out there for you!

Community Organizations

There are many community organizations and businesses out there that are eager to help support students seeking financial aid for college. There are national businesses, like Kohls or Coca Cola. There are national organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars or county departments of education. And each community has individual and localized organizations and businesses that look to help support students financially as well. Be sure to investigate your area’s organizations!

Photo by Gerd Altmann from Pexels

Religious Institutions

Many religious institutions, regardless of what religion it celebrates, offer scholarships for students. If you are religious or affiliated with a particular organization, check out what they might have to offer you or if they may have any leads on where to look next. If you are not religious, that is okay too! Many religious institutions give out scholarships regardless of your faith, instead focusing on celebrating the hard work of worthy students. Do not be discouraged, be sure to investigate all of your options, and keep an open mind!

Fastweb.com

Fastweb is one of the best resources to help yourself get matched to truly fitting scholarship opportunities. Their mission is to empower students to improve their lives and, as a scholarship resource, they do just that. Fastweb says, “Fastweb members are matched to relevant scholarship opportunities completely free of charge. With roughly 1.5 million scholarships worth more than $3.4 billion, there are scholarships for every student’s educational goals, activities and interests.”

CollegeScholarships.Org called Fastweb, without argument, a leading free scholarship service. They explained, “It’s not a search engine, and it’s much more than a database, it’s more akin to basic project management tool…. The service is designed to target each user’s particular interests, college and career goals, and job hopes….”

You make a basic profile on Fastweb and the more detailed you are in describing yourself and your interests, the more refined the matches the service will be able to provide you. You can favorite scholarships or hide scholarships that you feel do not match. You can even set yourself reminders through the site to help you stay on top of your application deadlines.

Remember that there is always going to be a scholarship somewhere out there that is going to be a good fit for you. Believe in yourself—that you are worthy of the scholarship. Believe in what you have done—that your actions are worthy of the scholarship. And believe in what you are doing—that through persistence and hard work, it is possible to win a scholarship out there to help support your dream of going to college.

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