Scholarships.com has a virtual booth over at CollegeWeekLive today, Thursday, November 5!  Stop by to chat with our staff members.  Scholarships.com Vice President Kevin Ladd is also giving a live interview at 3 PM EST.  Come say hello, ask your financial aid questions, and see what Kevin has to say about the Paying for College Timeline!

After you’re done checking out our booth and Kevin’s presentation, be sure to apply for the CollegeWeekLive scholarship (you may have already seen this in your scholarship search results).  You have a chance to win $2,500 toward your college education just by logging into this free virtual college fair.  You’ll learn about colleges and paying for school and you may even win money to help fund your college education!

Posted: under Scholarships.

Comments (0) Nov 05 2009

Returning students have many options available to them when it comes to finding money for college. Soroptimist International is one organization that wants to help women better their job prospects. The group has local clubs across the country that fund Women’s Opportunity Awards for women who are the primary providers of their families and wish to return to school for undergraduate degrees or vocational skills training programs. If you fit that category and are someone who wants to not only better your life through additional skills but have come across financial hurdles to do so, consider applying for an award through Soroptimist International, this week’s Scholarship of the Week.

Soroptimist International is a volunteer service organization for business and professional women. Those who win their local chapters’ awards are then eligible to compete in regional and international competitions. The $2,000 award can be earmarked for not only tuition and fees, but any costs associated with returning to school, including childcare and transportation.

Prize:

$2,000

Eligibility:

Eligible women are the primary providers for their families, have financial need, and are looking for funding to pay for an undergraduate degree program or vocational skills training program. Applicants must be residents of one of Soroptimist International of the Americas’ member countries/territories: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guam, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, United States of America, or Venezuela. Applicants must not have been a previous recipient of a Soroptimist Women’s Opportunity Award, and are not a Soroptimist member, employee or immediate family of either.

Deadline:

December 31, 2009

Required Material:

An online application which will include a personal statement about why you would be a deserving recipient, and two letters of recommendation. Applicants will be asked questions about their financial need.

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

Posted: under Scholarship Applications, Scholarships.
Tags: returning students, Scholarship of the Week, undergraduate scholarships

Comments (0) Nov 02 2009

So, you’re a science nerd.  Lab coats and ambitious experiments aren’t so much elements of monster movies and Halloween costumes as they are part of your daily life and career ambitions.  Being so immersed in science, it’s only natural you’ve gotten a jump on it as a high school student, getting all you can out of each science class and science fair.  If you’re a high school senior who’s been conducting independent research this year, you should be sure to check out this week’s Scholarship of the Week, the Intel Science Talent Search.  It carries a top prize of $100,000, along with a chance to present your research at a national conference and meet leaders in your area of research.

To be eligible for this scholarship opportunity, you must have conducted an independent research project in a field of science, medicine, mathematics, or engineering.  Your research project must have been your work alone, not a group or team project.  You must complete a detailed research report describing your project and results to compete.  Semifinalists and finalists will be selected primarily based on the strength of the research report.

Prize:

• Grand prize: $100,000
• Nine other winners receive awards of $20,000 to $75,000
• 40 finalists: $7,500 and a new laptop computer
• 300 semifinalists: $1,000

Eligibility:

High school seniors (or any student attending their last year of high school) who are enrolled in a secondary institute in the United States or its territories, or are U.S. citizens currently studying abroad.

Deadline:

November 18, 2009

Required Material:

A completed research report describing your project, a contest entry form (available on the Intel Science Talent Search website), letters of recommendation from up to three teachers, an official high school transcript, and any supplemental materials required by the project.

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

Posted: under Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships.
Tags: high school student scholarships, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships, Science Scholarship

Comments (0) Oct 26 2009

During the 2008-2009 academic year, an anonymous donor gave over $100 million to 20 colleges and universities nationwide. A large portion of the donated money was earmarked for university scholarships, specifically for minorities and women. Now, schools are beginning to spend the money, and The Chronicle of Higher Education is charting where the money is going.

So far, over 3,700 students at 15 schools have benefited from the money in some way, ranging from $100 book grants to scholarship awards of $5,000 per year or more. Students are also receiving indirect benefits of the donated money, as schools are using some of the discretionary funds to close gaps in their budgets left by reduced state spending and endowment losses, as well as to build up student resources and better support faculty research.

Primarily, though, the money is going towards scholarships. In addition to the funds already awarded, several of the schools plan to unveil scholarship programs in 2010, or to expand scholarship opportunities already offered through funding from the anonymous donor. Need-based and merit-based academic scholarships are being expanded or created and will reach out to students ranging from urban students attending Purdue University to military spouses at the University of Maryland University College.

A number of the colleges are looking for ways to jumpstart permanent endowed scholarship funds with the anonymous donations. Michigan State University and the University of Hawaii at Hilo are both starting matching-grant funds to encourage more donations for endowed scholarships on their campuses. California State University at Northridge is hoping to ultimately support 50 students a year through a freshman honors scholarship program begun with the donated money.

These generous donations from an anonymous source are changing students’ lives nationwide and making paying for school easier. Universities are hoping that news of the donations and the continued good they’re doing will spur others to give generously to scholarship programs. In the meantime, though, many individuals and organizations are already offering sizeable amounts of scholarship money to a wide range of deserving students. Conduct a free scholarship search to see some of these opportunities that may benefit you.

Posted: under College News, Scholarships.
Tags: academic scholarships, college news, college scholarships, institutional aid, Scholarships

Comments (0) Oct 19 2009

For those of you who know you want to be educators and have a strong opinion on unions, the National Institute for Labor Relations Research has an award that you could be eligible for, whether you’re an undergraduate or pursuing an advanced degree. The institute’s $1,000 Applegate/Jackson/Parks Future Teacher Scholarship and this week’s Scholarship of the Week is available to any undergraduate or graduate pursuing a degree in education at any school in the United States. The award is named after three Michigan public school teachers who were fired for their refusal to pay union dues.

Much of the weight for this prize will be placed on the no more than 500-word essay you come up with demonstrating an interest in and knowledge of the Right to Work principle as it applies to educators. As with many career-specific scholarship opportunities, applicants must also show the potential to successfully complete a college-level program in education, as the award will be helping you become a future teacher, after all.

Prize:

$1,000

Eligibility:

Undergraduate and graduate pursuing a degree in education at a college in the United States. Officers, directors, and employees of the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, the National Right to Work Committee, Members of the Selection Review Committee, and their families are not eligible.

Deadline:

Applications will be accepted now through Dec. 31. Requests for applications will be sent via regular mail until December 15 and cannot be requested after that date.

Required Material:

An online application, which includes an essay, and current transcript. The scholarship will be paid to the institution of higher learning which the recipient plans to attend, and the recipient will be required to provide a copy of his/her transcript from that institution at the end of the academic year.

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

Posted: under Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships.
Tags: Scholarship of the Week, Scholarship Search, teachers

Comments (0) Oct 19 2009

Yesterday, the big “oh, look, a distraction from my homework!” news was a boy in Colorado who had apparently climbed into a homemade hot air balloon and floated away.  This, of course, raised questions. The immediate question was, “is this for real?” especially after he was found hiding in his house, safely on solid ground, a few hours later.  Immediately on the heels of this first query was a second, “who builds a giant balloon in their backyard, anyway?”

While no one has had much luck answering the first one yet, maybe you’re the type of student who knows the answer to the second question.  For some people, there’s a certain allure to creating and executing plans for original creations.  While your experiments and blueprints may not have resulted in a shiny balloon capable of capturing and holding national attention for hours, your inventions can still gain you recognition, and even cash, by way of scholarship awards.  So if the saga of “balloon boy” yesterday inspired you to build your own airborne contraption, you may want to see if you can win some scholarship money by doing so.

There are numerous scholarships available for more inventive students, whether they’re interested in engineering, design, business and entrepreneurship, or just making cool things as a hobby.  Students engaging in other out-of-the-ordinary pursuits in addition to inventing may take an interest in any number of unusual college scholarships, ranging from awards for speaking fluent Klingon to awards for exceptional duck-calling.

Aspiring inventors who are looking for college aid will definitely want to check out the Collegiate Inventors Competition.  This annual scholarship offers awards of up to $25,000 for doing what you do anyway: creating and developing a new and workable idea, process, or technology.  Students more interested in building elaborate designs from shiny material, on the other hand, may find themselves drawn to the Duck Brand Duct Tape “Stuckat Prom” Contest.  This well-known annual scholarship gives one lucky couple $3,000 college scholarships for designing and wearing duct tape prom attire.  If you don’t just want to build, but want to also produce, market, and distribute your brilliant inventions, you may be a candidate for one of several entrepreneurship and business scholarships awarded each year by various foundations.  There may even be local scholarships for young entrepreneurs in your area.

These aren’t the only scholarship opportunities available to creative and enterprising students.  To see more award opportunities like the ones mentioned above, conduct a free scholarship search on Scholarships.com.

Posted: under Scholarships.
Tags: business scholarship, design scholarship, engineering, local scholarships, Scholarship Search, Scholarships

Comments (0) Oct 16 2009

While most scholarship application deadlines occur between January and March, a number of large scholarship awards for high school seniors have deadlines that fall much earlier in the academic year. To make sure you’re not missing out on major sources of college funding, be sure to start your scholarship search when you start your college applications, if not sooner. If you haven’t gotten around to applying for scholarships yet, check out these awards with approaching deadlines for motivation. You may want to mark them on your calendar and clear some space in your schedule to apply.

Horatio Alger National Scholarship Program
Deadline: October 30
Dollar amount: $20,000
Who qualifies: High school seniors who plan to enter college next fall and to pursue a bachelor’s degree. Students must be U.S. citizens with grade point averages of 2.0 or higher and critical financial need (typically, a family adjusted gross income under $50,000).

Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation
Deadline: October 31
Dollar amount: $20,000
Who qualifies: Current high school seniors planning to enter college in the fall. Must have a minimum high school GPA of 3.0.

VFW Voice of Democracy
Deadline: November 1
Dollar amount: $30,000
Who qualifies: Any high school student in grades 9-12 who composes a taped response of 3-5 minutes to the question, “Does America Still Have Heroes?” Entries should be submitted through your high school or the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post.

Intel Science Talent Search
Deadline: November 18
Dollar amount: $100,000
Who qualifies: High school seniors who have individually completed a research project in science, math, medicine, or engineering. More information on qualifying projects is available on the contest website.

AXA Achievement Scholarship
Deadline: December 15
Dollar amount: $25,000
Who qualifies: High school seniors who plan to enroll as undergraduate students at a two-year or four-year university. Winners will be chosen based on outstanding achievements in school, work, or their community.

These are only a few of the scholarships for high school students in our database, and only a few of the awards with upcoming deadlines.  For more information about these and other scholarship opportunities, conduct a free college scholarship search.  If you qualify based on the information you provided, you will see a link to the award in your search results.

Posted: under High School, Scholarship Applications, Scholarships.
Tags: high school student scholarships, Scholarship Applications, scholarship information, Scholarship Search, Scholarships

Comments (0) Oct 14 2009

Are you an aspiring politician, skilled speech-writer, or an excellent orator?  Perhaps you just want to learn more about the United States Constitution and share what you’ve learned.  If you’re passionate about government or public speaking, or if you’re looking to improve your knowledge of each while potentially winning scholarships, this week’s Scholarship of the Week is worth checking out.

The American Legion National Oratorical Contest is an annual scholarship for high school students.  It’s divided into local, state, and national speech competitions, with scholarship opportunities existing at the state and national levels, and potentially the local level, as well.  The top scholarship prize is $18,000 and the contest is open to students in grades 9-12.  The goal of the contest is to develop a deeper knowledge and appreciation of the Constitution of the United States on the part of high school students.

Prize:

State/department winners will receive $1,500 and go on to compete in the national finals.

National prizes are as follows:

• 1st place - $18,000
• 2nd place - $16,000
• 3rd place - $14,000

Eligibility:

Currently enrolled high school students, grades 9-12, who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.  Contestants must either live or attend school in the state where they enter the competition.  Students can only compete in one state.

Deadline:

Varies.  Local contests occur during fall/winter, with state-level competitions concluding before March 8, 2010.  The national finals will take place April 9-11, 2010.

Required Material:

To be eligible for department and national finals, students must enter through their local American Legion.  Dates, locations, and contact information for local contests can be accessed through the American Legion website.  The contest will have two parts: a Prepared Oration and an Assigned Topic Discourse.  The Prepared Oration must be on some aspect of the Constitution of the United States with emphasis on the duties and obligations of a citizen to our government.  The same oration must be used in both the department and national contests.  The possible topics for the Assigned Topic discourse are available on the American Legion website.

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

Posted: under Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships.
Tags: high school student scholarships, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarship Search, Scholarships

Comments (0) Oct 12 2009

Colorado’s CollegeInvest agency, an organization in charge of state loan forgiveness and scholarship programs, is facing criticism and increased scrutiny from the state’s legislature after an audit revealed conflicts of interest and a surprisingly low number of scholarship awards being made by the board.  The state legislature will now require the agency to report to them monthly to ensure proper oversight of the state’s scholarship and student loan funds.

The audit found that the CollegeInvest Early Achievers Scholarship, a fund that awards high-achieving high school students with college financial aid, had only given out a tiny fraction of the awards it was expected to since it was established in 2005.  Students opt into the scholarship program as 7th, 8th or 9th graders and pledge to take pre-college coursework in high school and maintain a GPA of 2.5 or better.  The Colorado legislature estimated that the scholarship fund would award about $3.8 million in scholarships per year, but awarded only $91,000 this year.  A volunteerism scholarship program and a student loan forgiveness programs managed by CollegeInvest also fell significantly short of goals and projections.

Meanwhile, the fund incurred over $12 million in administrative expenses beyond salaries and benefits for its employees.  Reports on the audit note that the program has spent $10 on administrative costs for every $1 in scholarships awarded.  The audit also found conflicts of interest with the board awarding funding to other organizations they were connected to and giving out large payments to financial advisors.

CollegeInvest officials say that the program is off to a slow start and that potential conflicts of interest were disclosed and didn’t affect board decisions.  For now, the state legislature has just asked for increased oversight of the program.  But for Colorado students who were expecting to benefit from academic scholarships, community service scholarships, or loan forgiveness programs for which money is in place but funds aren’t being awarded in large amounts, any change in these programs cannot come soon enough.

Posted: under College News, Financial Aid, Scholarships, Student Loans.
Tags: college news, Financial Aid, loan repayment, Scholarships, state news, Student Loans

Comments (0) Sep 30 2009

Many college scholarships focus on high school seniors, but there are scholarship opportunities for younger students as well.  This week’s Scholarship of the Week is one such opportunity, the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program.  These scholarships are awarded to students in grades 5-12 who have served their communities in a significant way in the last 12 months.

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards were created in 1995 through a partnership between Prudential Financial and the National Association of Secondary School Principals.  These community service scholarships give young people who show an early commitment to helping others a chance at national recognition, as well as up to $6,000 to pay for school and an additional $5,000 to benefit the charity organization of their choice.

Prize:

Five high school and five middle school National Honorees will receive $5,000 scholarship awards and an additional $5,000 donation to a charity of their choice.

102 State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards and will go on to compete in the national contest and participate in an awards ceremony in Washington, DC.

Eligibility:

Students in grades 5-12 who are legal residents of any US State or the District of Columbia who have engaged in a volunteer activity in the last 12 months.  Applications must be certified by a school principal or the local head of one of several officially designated certifying organizations listed on the contest website.

Posted: under Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships.
Tags: community service scholarships, high school student scholarships, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarship Search, Scholarships

Comments (0) Sep 28 2009