10 Tips on How to Get College Scholarships

| September 13, 2012
A crowd of college students at the 2007 Pittsb...

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College tuition seems to go up every year. Figuring out ways to pay your tuition is tough. If you haven’t pursued college scholarships you are missing out on a source of money that can substantially reduce your costs.  A scholarship is money you are given and will never have to repay.

The trouble people have is finding , applying and getting scholarships. People do not have a clue where to start or what to do next. I have listed 10 ways to get started and how to proceed.

Finding college scholarships should be done in an organized way if you plan on being successful. Here are the top 10 tips to help you get college scholarships.

1. Prior to applying to a scholarship program, make sure you thoroughly understand what the requirements for the scholarship actually are, and only apply for the scholarship if you are sure that you’re eligible.

2. When filling out the application form for the scholarship, make sure that you fill out every single blank on the form without forgetting anything. If a specific part of the form doesn’t apply to you just indicate that on the form space provided. Whenever you leave areas of the form blank, there is a good chance that your application will be discarded.

3. Make sure that you know what  the directions are when applying for each scholarship program and that you abide by them very carefully. Don’t just send a generic pack of information to each scholarship program, or send extra information that they didn’t ask for.

4. Among the most crucial things that you can do to get your application noticed is to make certain that it’s easily readable and neat. The best way to do this is to type out your application, but if that’s not possible then make certain to print neatly so that it can be easily read. If the scholarship program has quite a few applications to go through, they’ll most likely just throw away those that are hard to read.

5. When writing an essay for any scholarship program, do your best to make it as personal as possible. Avoid long, dry recitations of information. Here is where you want the scholarship reviewers to get to know you as an individual.

6. Prior to sending off any scholarship packet, make certain that you’ve made a copy in case the first one gets lost in the mail.

7. Keep track of all deadlines and make certain that your scholarship packet gets sent off well in advance so that it’s on time.

8. Prior to sending your packet have someone with good writing skills review it and make suggestions on any improvements that could be made.

9. Double check your spelling and grammar to make certain that your packet is as error free as possible.

10. Avoid all scholarship scams that ask you for money in order to qualify for a scholarship.

If you follow the tips listed above for finding and applying for college scholarships, and then regularly apply to as many as you can, most likely you’ll be able to find the money that you need to pay for your college education. Click Here

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Category: College, Family Finances

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