Posts Tagged ‘college scholarships’

3 Reasons Why You Should Use Your Summer to Search for College Scholarships

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Whether attending the most affordable college is in your future or not, you can make life so much easier on yourself if you start finding and apply for scholarships during the summer! My College Guide has three reasons why you should stop procrastinating and start filling out those college scholarship applications.

Don't wait until the last minute to search for great college scholarships!

Don't wait until the last minute to search for great college scholarships!

College Scholarship Search

There’s a lot of scholarships out there. Sure, you may qualify for academic merit scholarships later, but why take the chance? Don’t wait until the last minute to search for scholarships and and apply! Get ahead of the game now to make it easier on you later.

Exhaust Your Search – There are many, many, MANY college scholarship websites. Besides the usual scholarship websites, there are plenty of other places where you can find college scholarships! By starting your search now over the summer, you can use all the resources at your disposal. When other students are going to wait until their senior year of high school and rush through websites and applications, you can use your time wisely now and search for free money for college.

More Time for Searching – As your high school years go by, you’ll have more and more to do! Start searching for college scholarships early in your high school career when it’s easier to fit in. Right now? You don’t have to fill out college applications, write your personal statement, or visit colleges (although you could). You won’t need to join the club of panicked Seniors who waste their time applying for everything under the sun (even when it doesn’t fit). Instead, you can take your time applying to scholarships now to make Senior year that much easier!

Improve Your Chances of Winning – Not only will you become better at applying for scholarships, but you will increase your odds at snagging one! Applying to scholarships may not be the most fun way to spend your summer, but racking up the free money to pay for college certainly is! You’ll become better at figuring out what an application is asking of you and proficient at deciding whether or not it’s something that fits. Waiting until the last minute? It’s never a good idea.

Make Any College The Most Affordable College

Scholarships add up. It only makes sense to use your summer wisely now. Start thinking “college” now so that in the not too distance future, the college you choose will be the most affordable college!

Image Courtesy of Flickr, Kalexanderson.

Who We Are: Information you can trust. For 20 years My College Guide has produced an annual magazine chock full of free college info for high-achieving high school sophomores. Check out our participating colleges. Subscribe to our blog via RSS or email and stay on top of everything college!

5 Great College Scholarships for the Writer in You

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

Do you have a love for the written word? We get it. What we also know is that there are many great college scholarships out there that are perfect for those with a knack for writing. We’ve rounded up a few we think you’ll love!

When saving isn't enough...great college scholarships for writers!

When saving isn't enough...great college scholarships for writers!

Great Essay Scholarships

If writing is your thing, then applying for scholarships may actually be fun! While there are loads of unusual college scholarships out there, for the most part, the majority of scholarships still involve an essay. Here’s 5 college scholarships that might be your way of making any school the most affordable college!

The Ronald Reagan Essay Contest — Any Minnesota students out there? Whether you attend a public or private high school or are a homeschooled student, this essay is for you! Each year, you will have a different question to answer in no more than 1200 words. Yes, that is double-spaced. The first place winner snags $5,000 bucks. There are 3 places and 3  runner-up awards.

The American Justice Essay Scholarship – Sharpen those writing skills! Washington state seniors have a chance to win from $1,000 – $3,000 dollars for college. Students with an interest in the civil justice system will enjoy this one! Simply answer the essay question that deals with the American justice system in 1,500 words or less for a chance to win!

FRA Americanism Essay Contest – Each summer, the FRA releases a new theme. Anyone from grades 7-12 can enter! There are three awards available for each grade and, yes, this does include those who are homeschooled. First place is a $5,000 savings bond.

The Fountainhead Essay Contest – Ready for a challenge? Grab a copy of the Ayn Rand novel that fits your grade level. Select an essay question to answer—there’s three to choose from. You’ll be competing with other contestants from around the world so make sure you’ve proofread. A lot. Netting first prize would make you $10,000 richer!

The Good News

Don’t think it ends here. We’ve got all sorts of tips to help you turn in a scholarship application that shines! Wouldn’t you like free money for college? Winning the right college scholarship can make any school the most affordable college.

Image Courtesy of Flickr, enggul.

Who We Are: Information you can trust. For 20 years My College Guide has produced an annual magazine chock full of free college info for high-achieving high school sophomores. Check out our participating colleges. Subscribe to our blog via RSS or email and stay on top of everything college!

Private Student Loans vs. Federal Student Loans

Saturday, April 16th, 2011

It would be great if scholarships and grants could cover all of your tuition, but many students—especially adult learners—need to get either private student loans or federal student loans. Why? Well because there’s often a gap between the amount you can get from scholarship programs and the amount you actually need to make going back to school financially feasible.

Adult learners have financial aid options!

RambergMediaImages / Keith Ramsey

That’s where student loans can help. In fact, depending on the type of private student loan or federal student loan you get, you may be able to apply the funds toward your college textbooks or even living expenses!

Which is better—private student loans or federal student loans?

It’s best to try your luck at getting a federal student loan first. There are three types—Perkins Loans, Stafford Loans and PLUS Loans.

Perkins Loans are low fixed-rate loans awarded based on financial need, and can cover up to $5,500 in undergraduate tuition each year. If you need more aid, you can also take out Stafford Loans.

There are two types of Stafford Loans; subsidized, which are based on financial need, and unsubsidized, which are available to any student.

Both types offer a low, fixed rate and don’t have to be repaid until you graduate from college! The main difference between them is that unsubsidized loans accrue interest while you’re attending school—subsidized loans don’t.

Both Stafford programs have borrowing limits, but if you qualify, you can combine them to obtain a bigger loan package. Currently, as an independent learner (i.e. a student over 24 who can’t be claimed by anyone else on their taxes), you can take out a maximum of $57,500, with no more than $23,000 of that coming from subsidized loans.

The only other caveat? You have to be enrolled at least half time to qualify, so if you plan on taking just one class at a time, this isn’t the federal student loan program for you.

There’s one other type of loan to consider. If you’re under 24, single and have no dependents, your parents can take out a federal PLUS loan for your education—assuming you can talk them into it!

When should you look at private student loans?

Sometimes you simply can’t get what you need from federal student loan programs. If you’re still in the red after receiving your federal student loan package, a private student loan could be a big help!

Also, if you’re planning to attend a college that isn’t an accredited Title IV school, you won’t be eligible for federal programs. In that case, a private student loan can make all the difference in the world!

While private student loans can have higher interest rates than federal loans, they do allow you to finance up to 100 percent of the cost to go to college—including living expenses! That can make a private loan a very attractive option!

Whatever your situation, a combination of private student loans and federal student loans can help make your college dreams a reality. If you need help sorting through your options, ask the financial aid staff at your school for assistance!

Who We Are: Information you can trust. For more than 20 years, My College Guide has provided information to help students find the best college degree and career for them. Get information on private student loans, federal student loans and other financial aid programs to get you on the road to the right career for you!

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The Best of The Best: My College Guide’s 6 Most Popular Posts of 2010

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

What a year it’s been! My College Guide has gathered up all your favorite posts from the last year for easy bookmarking. But first, My College Guide is going to go all sappy on you for a minute and thank you for liking us on Facebook, for following us on Twitter, and for subscribing to our RSS or email list. It’s been fun! Now, without further ado, take a peek at the past year’s treasures and your favorite college related posts!

These pet friendly colleges let you bring your favorite pet to campus!

Adam Foster | Codefor

You Can Take Them With You: Pet Friendly Colleges and Universities –Go beyond a tiny little fish tank! Cats, dogs, and a few other unusual animals can be found in these pet friendly dorm rooms. Would you like to room with a rooster?

Colleges for Low Income Students: Free Tuition, No Loans, and Full Rides – Are you considered a low-income student? These colleges have your needs in mind. No loans packages or full rides for qualifying students mean you can graduate from college debt-free!

51 Four Year Colleges and Universities with Online Bachelor’s Degrees – Looking for a way to brighten your future but don’t have time to attend at a college campus? Many four year colleges and universities now offer online bachelor’s degrees! Check out our large list to get started.

Super List of College Scholarship Websites – Looking for college scholarships? My College Guide made your search so much easier: we’ve got a great list of college scholarship websites. It’s always a good idea to use more than one scholarship website – it helps boost your chances of finding that hidden gem!

Factors of College Admission or How to Get Into Your Dream School – Your GPA and standardized test scores are important, but they are only a part of the college admission puzzle! Make sure you don’t focus so much on your SAT’s or ACT’s that you neglect these other important factors of college admission!

How to Apply to College without Paying a Fee – If you don’t like the idea of dropping $40 here and $60 here in college admission fees (especially if your chance for admission is a toss-up), you might want to take a look at this article! My College Guide has tips to help you get those hefty application fees waived!

Who We Are: Information you can trust. For 20 years My College Guide has produced an annual magazine chock full of free college info for high-achieving high school sophomores. Check out our participating colleges. If you’re a student, enter for a chance to win an Apple iPad or iPhone or cash!

5 Amazing College Scholarships that End in January

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

It’s winter break – how are you using your time? My College Guide hopes that you take advantage of a little time off and look for free money for college! We’ve got a short and sweet list of January ending college scholarships so you can pick and choose a few that apply to you.

Applying for college scholarships just makes sense.

hitthatswitch

If you are really motivated, we would also suggest you browse our list of college scholarship websites so you can find more ways to pay for college. Now – what are you waiting for, again? There’s no time like the present to dig in and get started! From unusual college scholarships to the major-specific, we list it.

Anne Frank Outstanding Scholarship Award – Have that college acceptance in hand? This giant $10,000 college scholarship goes to the most community-minded among you. Answer the essay about social injustice and combine it with letters of recommendation and whatever supporting materials you have. Don’t let this one pass you by!

4th Annual Create-A-Greeting Card $10,000 Scholarship Contest – Put your artwork, photos, and general creativity to use as you try to snag this big $10,000 scholarship prize! For business or corporate celebrations, this college scholarship not only gives away a big prize, but you get a chance to see your work put into print.

Dell Scholars Program – Not an A+ student? Not a problem! The Dell Scholars Program awards $20,000 scholarships to students who demonstrate academic potential and have a financial need. With this scholarship, it isn’t just about the numbers. They want to know about your personal struggles and how you have overcome them.

Jim McKay Memorial Scholarship – Love TV? Are you considering entering the television industry? If you plan on completing a four year bachelor’s  degree, majoring in Communications, and concentrating on any part of the television industry – you’ve just met your college scholarship match! A $10,000 college scholarship will be awarded to the gifted future video programmer.

Sam Walton Community Scholarship — If community service is your middle name, you may want to look into applying for this $3,000 scholarship available from retail giant Wal-mart! You will need a minimum 2.5 GPA and show that you have financial need. Remember the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Aid? It’ll come in handy with this one!

Who We Are: Information you can trust. For 20 years My College Guide has produced an annual magazine chock full of free college info for high-achieving high school sophomores. Check out our participating colleges. If you’re a student, enter for a chance to win an Apple iPad or iPhone or cash!

Find Free Money For College or Scholarship Resources You May Not Know About

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

You are most likely familiar with college scholarship search sites – but there’s many other resources available that you may not have realized. My College Guide has a list of sources to turn to when you need to find free money for college. As with many parts of the college process, it’s a good idea to get started before the very last minute (trust us, Senior year in high school can be hectic enough as it is!).

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JKönig / jennifer könig

High School Guidance Counselor – Your high school guidance counselor may be one of several important resources that you may have overlooked! The fact is, many (if not most) high school guidance counselors have  listings of state and local scholarships. These tend to be less competitive and can help you on your way to finding free money to pay for college! Meet with your counselor to see if s/he has one so you can get started searching!

Scholarship Search Sites – The world wide web is home to thousands upon thousands of scholarships and there is no easier way to find them than by logging in to a scholarship search site! Know how to tell a scholarship scam from the real deal and you will soon realize that there are scholarships for any student, from the skateboarder to the ballet dancer. Plug in your ethnicity, your intended major, your hobbies, interests, and talents, and see what scholarship listings you can find and apply, apply, apply.

Google, Yahoo, Bing – Put these search engines to work! Combine your hobbies or intended major into a search engine and see what sort of scholarships you can find. For example, type in phrases like “Hispanic college scholarship” or “unusual scholarships” or “photography scholarship 2010” and you might be surprised at what pops up. It can at least direct you to the scholarship database that contains the prize (since there are a lot of them out there!).

The FAFSA – You may be tired of hearing it and you may think that you don’t even need to bother filling out one more form because your parents’ make too much money, however, you just never know what completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid will get you. Besides that, many colleges and universities use the numbers from the FAFSA to match you up with their own institution-specific scholarships and filling out the FAFSA is normally a requirement in order to get the aid.

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callumscott2 / Callum Scott

Books and Magazine – A visit to the library may just be in order. There are giant books at your local library that are just chock full of scholarship goodness. You might even come across the occasional magazine with scholarship info inside. While you can probably find most of them on the internet, it’s a nice break from

College Website – Know where you would like to go? While you should apply to more than one college, take a look at your prospective schools website. There is usually a dedicated page of scholarships for  students. If you can’t find it, give your adviser a call and ask if a list of scholarships can be sent your way — though some colleges and universities do include this (or even a link to it) in their information packet.

How to Apply to College: You’ve Got Options

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

All your college searching and visiting has led up to this moment: applying to college. You know there are reasons to apply to more than one college, and you know how many colleges you should apply to: but did you know that when it comes time to actually submit your application that there are decisions to make about that, too?

Pull up a chair and get comfortable -- decide your college application plan of attack!

Thomas Hawk / Thomas Hawk

Instant College Admission – Instead of filling out and sending in your college application and waiting for a response, colleges like the University of South Florida Polytechnic, and Pine Manor College offer on-the-spot admission. Bring your application and all other required paperwork, like your letter of recommendation, transcript, SAT or ACT test scores, etc., to a local event designed to let you apply to a college and receive an answer right then and there. You’ll basically have a college interview, your application will be reviewed, and you’ll find out either way. You’ll still receive an official letter from the college in the mail but you won’t have the stomach-wrenching weeks spent wondering “did I or didn’t I?”.

One-Stop College Sites – Many states have decided to help students with the college process in a big way, by developing free college information specifically about public and private schools in the state and offering financial aid and admission applications. Not only that, but some of these sites also provide access to state-sponsored scholarships, free SAT test prep classes, career information, and other goodies. Indiana, Maine, and Kentucky are just a few states that have set up one-stop college websites.

Fast Apps — Sometimes referred to as Snap Apps, you don’t choose this application option, this type chooses you! A small amount of schools send out partially completed applications to students who fit their admission requirements profile. They waive the application fee and keep it really simple: there isn’t even an essay to complete. Once you sign and send it in: you’re in, if you want to be. Tulane University, Marquette University, and Mount Saint Mary’s University are a few of the colleges who have used fast apps in the past.

How will  you choose to apply to college?

Ollie T. / Oliver Tupman

Online – Head to your favorite colleges’ website and with a minimal amount of searching you should see the option for you to apply right now this very minute! Online college applications are quick to fill out (messy handwriting is no longer an issue) and really cuts down on paper-waste. In fact, many colleges are encouraging students to bypass traditional mailed college applications in favor of the more Earth-friendly online application – and as a bonus are willing to let you apply for free. While you are online, you might as well try to find and apply for a few college scholarships, too.

Mail – The traditional (and slowest) way to send in a college application, sending an application through the mail takes a bit more time than the other avenues. You’ll have to wait for them to receive your application and respond to you. If time isn’t a factor and you can handle the wait, it’s still an option — though you might save yourself a few bucks (and a few trees) by trying the online option above, instead.

Had Enough Yet? The Big List Part 4: Colleges and Universities Who Twitter

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Don't Forget to Follow My College Guide on Twitter!Private universities or public colleges, trade schools or community colleges – we are all about education We love to bring you the latest news about everything higher ed – from college blogs to Facebook Groups, we’re on it!  We know that your college-bound life just wouldn’t be complete without Part 4 of our Big Twitter List: 50 More Colleges and Universities who Twitter!

Colleges and universities are tweeting about the things you care about: campus events, the college admissions process, student issues, college scholarships, even new classes and majors.  Sure, some are more willing to engage directly with you than others – but what a great way to stay up on all the current happenings at your favorite colleges and universities!   There’s a lot to choose from – so make it easy!  Follow My College Guide’s List of Colleges Who Twitter.

Did we miss your favorite college or university? Two years or four – we love them all! Feel free to add your colleges of choice to the comments section for inclusion in our next Big List edition!

Alfred State College Loyola University Chicago
Arizona State University Michigan State University
Augsburg College Middlebury College
Aurora University Milwaukee School of Engineering
Baylor University Ohio State
Bowling Green State University Oklahoma State University – Oklahoma City
Bryant University Ottawa University
Butler County Community College Remington College
Cal State San Bernardino Rhode Island School of Design
Colby College Saint Michael’s College
College of DuPage School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Coppin State University Southern Polytechnic State University
Dekalb Technical College Stony Brook University
Delaware College of Art and Design State University of New York
Emmanuel College State University of New York Cobleskill
Empire Beauty School Tacoma Community College
Essex County College Texas Tech University
Evergreen State College Trocaire College
George Washington University Tufts University
Harrington College of Design Unity College
Indiana Tech University of Delaware
Indiana University Purdue University University of Denver
Judson College University of Notre Dame
Kansas State University Western Governors University
Lake Superior College Duluth Western Illinois University