Finding Scholarships

How and Where to Find Scholarships

If you’re trying to find scholarships for college or funding for any level of higher education, you should be prepared to do a lot of research in three main areas: locally, via the Internet, and using a library or bookstore. Many people don’t realize that even though the Internet is really easy to use and contains a wealth of information, their college scholarship search should extend beyond it. Why? Well for starters, not all scholarships, particularly those that are smaller and might be available locally, can be found on the Internet. Also, if they can be found on the Internet, they may not be found in some of the most popular scholarship search engines. Not only that, since they are smaller, they could be easier to win since many choose to ignore small scholarships in favor of larger amounts. This means you could be competing against fewer students.

Where else can you find scholarships? Your search should also include research in your library or bookstore for search strategies and even winning strategies based on your situation. Trying to find some of this information via the Internet can be overwhelming. However a book or directory can help you focus on target areas that may be helpful to you such as finding and winning minority scholarships, looking for graduate school funding, and exploring resources for non-traditional students.

Of course you should definitely use the Internet to help you. But you should be focused about what you need to find. If you’re not, you could spend hours wandering through hundreds of Internet sites that may or may not help with your scholarship quest. If you need help with the Internet, consider 10 Steps for Using the Internet in Your Scholarship Search.

To get started on finding scholarships, you should start with The Scholarship Toolbox on this site and move on from there.

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