Scholarship Resources
Scholarships are free money given to you by the university or an outside organization. You do not need to pay it back. There are many different types of scholarships. Some of the most common ones are: academic, athletic, minority (race, gender, etc), need based, and others.
Tips and Tricks on finding and applying for scholarships
Resources to help you find scholarship that work for you
- Never ever pay to apply for a scholarship
- If a scholarship is guaranteeing that you are a winner or that you have already won – it is a scam
- Never ever give out your social security number or any highly personal information
- Start applying early – there are some scholarships that you can start working on as early as grade 9
- If the scholarship is not a match, move on to another one. There are plenty of scholarships out there
- Apply for scholarships of all dollar amounts – scholarships of larger amounts are often harder to win as more people apply for them. Lots of small scholarships can add up.
- Don’t be afraid of scholarships that require essays
- Don’t rush a scholarship – if you don’t have time to complete it, then don’t apply for it
- Unless two essays ask the exact same question, don’t use one essay on more than one scholarship
Resources to help you find scholarship that work for you
- College Board Scholarships
- College Board is the creator of the SAT and they have put a scholarship matcher together. It asks for personal and academic information as well as awards won and any clubs you might belong to. Based on your answers it gives you a list of scholarships that fit you.
- FastWeb
- You create a profile and based on that profile it matches you with scholarships across the country. Students from any state can use the site so often there are thousands applying for the same scholarship. This is where is might be beneficial to apply for the smaller scholarships.
- Lend EDU
- A search engine for scholarships. You can filter by brand, state, major, military, trait, race, religion, school, or skill.
- Michigan Achievement Scholarship
- Scholarship based on financial need. All you have to do is complete your FAFSA to qualify.
- Scholarship based on financial need. All you have to do is complete your FAFSA to qualify.
- Peterson’s Scholarships
- This scholarship search engine starts with a key word: school you want to attend, or major, or state. Then it matches you with scholarships. You can set up more filters, but you will need a starting point for the initial search.
- Raise.me
- Website that matches you with universities you are interested in attending. Start your raise.me page as early as grade 9. You can update your grades and activities every semester and see what money the universities are willing to award you. It helps to take the guessing game out of apply to college
- Scholly
- Student Scholarship Search
- A scholarship matcher that asks for your grade level, GPA, state, gender, and ethnic heritage and then matches you with scholarships accordingly.
- Scholarships.com
- Search engine that has over 3.7 million different scholarships and grants. You will need to create an account and fill out information about yourself and then they match scholarships with you accordingly.
- Specialty places
- If you or a family member belong to: Kwanis Club, 4H, military, retired from GM/Ford/etc. or any other specialty group or club there might be a scholarship out there for you. You will need to reach out to the organization and ask.
- Others
- There are many other resources out there. Don’t be afraid to do a Google search for other options that might exist.