COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
AJTL liaises and partners with relevant institutions to inspire training of aspiring leaders to create learning opportunities for aspiring leaders and managers. Below are T 10 best sites to search for scholarships opportunities.
1
Peterson’s
Peterson’s is a one-stop scholarship resource — not that we recommend this strategy — with a number of great (and free!) resources. The site boasts $10 billion in scholarship awards and has an impressive collection of articles, test prep resources and more. But it’s not just a stockpile of scholarships. It also has the tools and tips you need to start your search — and its search filters make navigation simple. Filling out a very short survey allows you to adjust the filters as you go, which gives you more control than sites that require extensive profiles to get started.
2
Unigo
Like Peterson’s, Unigo has plenty to offer beyond just scholarships, including jobs, internships, college profiles and rankings, articles and a textbook store. When it comes to scholarships, the site offers both profile-based matching as well as easy-to-browse categories.
Perhaps best of all is its user-friendly interface, which is somewhat reminiscent of a photo-sharing site. It makes finding scholarships simple. What’s more, the site values security and privacy of personal information – so, in other words, no spam!
3
Fastweb
Fastweb, a subsidiary of Monster, hosts more than 1.5 million scholarships that amount to more than $3.4 billion dollars. And it’s all so well organized! The search platform’s filters make it hard not to find exactly what you’re looking for. One minor drawback: You have to fill out a profile to get started. But the profile helps match you with scholarships most likely to suit your needs, and the sign-up process is relatively painless.
4
Cappex
Cappex has a large scholarship database and they’re not afraid to brag a bit: “We’ve Got More Than $11 Billion in Scholarships.” Registering can be annoying, but you’ll be glad you took the time to get personalized results.
Cappex sets itself apart with its “What Are My Chances” tool, which attempts to calculate the odds that you’ll get into a certain college before you apply.
5
Chegg
Over the years, Chegg has expanded from its humble beginnings as an online textbook store to become a well-rounded education resource. It acquired scholarship match service Zinch in 2011 and now hosts scholarships totaling over $1 billion. Its interface is simple and the mandatory sign-up process is well worth the time. What’s more, it has a “top scholarship picks this week” category, which highlights opportunities you may have otherwise missed. And on top of the scholarships, Chegg offers homework help, tutoring, test prep, internships and (of course) textbooks.
6
The College Board
As with all of the best resources, The College Board offers much more than an extensive list of scholarships. It also has test prep, articles and college search tools, among others. And its “scholarships, other financial aid and internships from more than 2,200 programs” totals nearly $6 billion. Added bonus: While you’re perusing the site you can prepare for the SAT!
7
Niche
Formerly known as College Prowler, Niche is one of the easiest sites to navigate. It’s neatly organized into categories that make it simple to start finding and applying for scholarships.
You can browse by categories – including, but not limited to, sports, interest area, career and major — but it can be tricky to filter outside of these preset groupings. Still, with no required sign-up and a user-friendly design, Niche is a simple and powerful resource.
8
Scholarships.com
Scholarships.com’s tagline says it all: “With more than 2.7 million scholarship and grant opportunities worth more than $19 billion, just about everyone is bound to find something.” It’s one of the largest databases and is updated daily. You can browse by category, but if you really want to navigate the extensive list of opportunities, you’ll need to make a profile. It’s one flaw: The site has ample information about alternate forms of financial aid, but it lacks some of resources other sites offer.
9
CollegeNET.com
Despite its somewhat unusual interface, Collegenet has an impressive number of scholarships. You can search by keyword or create a personalized profile to get filtered results. From there, you can create, manage and save lists that you can return to later. Scholarships are listed by their award amounts, with the highest payout listed first. While the site’s search results are often extensive, it could benefit from some more filtering or organizational tools..
10
Scholarship Monkey
Scholarship Monkey offers three search options: personalized search, search by keyword and lists of scholarships. Results from any of these searches can then be further filtered by college, but unfortunately not by any other criteria. Despite its huge index of scholarships, the site is not as easily navigable compared to some others, making it more difficult to take full advantage of its opportunities. Another reason it ranks lower on the list: spam. I’ve received numerous emails from the site, even after unsubscribing. Nonetheless, it’s a great tool with a huge database of scholarships – even if it is trickier to use than others on the list.
Explore Full Tuition Scholarships
Full-tuition scholarships are the holy grail of college scholarships– prizes that will cover the majority of your college costs for four years. These scholarship awards can cover tuition costs to all of your living expenses, depending on the terms determined by the provider. While these scholarship opportunities are more rare than others and tend to involve tougher competition, they are readily available for application.
Universities, states, and even several cities offer full-tuition scholarships based on criteria such as merit-based academic scholarships, or on SAT or ACT scores, high school GPA, community service experience, and other criteria. Local scholarships can be funded either publicly or privately and are offered to students from certain geographic areas. Many such scholarships require students to attend a specific college or one of several colleges in a state.
Additionally, several corporate scholarships and foundation scholarship awards cover a student’s full tuition from one to four years of enrollment. Corporate and foundation scholarships typically give students more freedom to attend college where they choose, including private colleges or out-of-state schools while still receiving scholarship money to cover most, if not all, of their tuition expenses. These awards tend to have strong merit or need-based requirements. A number of scholarships for minorities fall into this category as well.
While there might not be a full-tuition scholarship opportunity for everybody, it is still worth the search. You can find full-tuition scholarships and other large dollar amount scholarships when you conduct a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. And remember, even if you do not find one full-tuition scholarship that solves all your financial woes, you should still apply for scholarships! Awards of $1000 or $2000 can add up, and every dollar you receive in scholarships is a dollar you will not have to pay back in student loans.