Guide to College Financing Chapter: 1 2 3 4 5

Scholarships and Fellowships

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You don't have to be a child prodigy or superstar athlete to win a scholarship. More than likely, it's enough just to be you: a motivated, forward-thinking individual. Like Survivor contestants, most scholarship recipients are just regular folk who know how to work the system.

You don't have to be a child prodigy or superstar athlete to win a scholarship. More than likely, it's enough just to be you: a motivated, forward-thinking individual. Like Survivor

contestants, most scholarship recipients are just regular folk who know how to work the system.

Scholarships (for undergraduates) and fellowships (for graduate students) are financial gifts that help you pay for college. There are thousands of programs available, and each has its own eligibility requirements. Some are reserved for students with financial need, while others are based on different factors: academic record, athletic prowess, field of study, musical talent, or cultural background. Most scholarships are awarded in small amounts. Full scholarships are increasingly rare, but are sometimes given to elite athletes in high revenue-producing sports.

Finding awards and grants

Thanks to the Internet, finding scholarship opportunities is much easier than it used to be. Here are the dos and don'ts:

· Do ask your school guidance counselor for advice.

· Do look for scholarship notices at your local public library or local college's aid office.

· Do register and search opportunities on free scholarship database websites like FastWeb.com.

· Do ask your employer about tuition reimbursement and employee scholarships.

· Don't wait until the last minute. Application deadlines are usually five to six months prior to the start of the semester.

· Don't pay a fee for online scholarship matching.

Once you secure a scholarship or two, revisit your estimated costs. You can subtract the amount of your financial awards from your first-year estimate; but don't count these awards for later years unless it's highly likely that you'll continue to qualify.

Now it's time to move on to Sub-challenge Number 2: borrowing money to cover the rest of your costs.

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