Dollars for Scholars

NOTE: Parts of this article can apply to laid off workers 

      Every year thousands of college students are funded through scholarships, grants and other aid from private sources.  Though a scholarship search takes an enormous amount of time and effort, it’s worthwhile since this type of financing is the best-there is no obligation for repayment as with loans.  Give yourself as much time as possible and use every reference sources available to you:  

1. Ask your family and friends.  They may be able to tell you about employers, community groups, unions, local businesses, alumni organizations, and churches that offer scholarships. 

2. Check with high school guidance counselors, your state department of education, the federal Department of Education (Inspector General’s office: 1-800-MISUSED).  Request a free booklet titled The Student Guide from the Federal Student Aid Information Center (1-800-4-FED-AID).  Updated each year, the guide lists available students loans and other funds from the federal government.  Check college financial aid offices or other educational agencies such as educational opportunity centers or higher education information centers, often part of the local library system.  Be sure to ask about National Merit scholarships.

         Note: When contacting your state agency, ask about the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program (for students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement) or about the Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarship Program (for students interested in pursuing a teaching career and willing to make a commitment to teach two years for each year of scholarship assistance received).  When contacting the Federal Student Aid Information Center ( P.O. Box 84 , Washington , DC 20044 ), get information on the Pell Grant program and the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG). Undergraduates with exceptional need may qualify for both (Pell Grant recipients are given priority for (SEOG), which could add up to around $6,500 a year.

3. Contact your community organizations and civic groups such as the chamber of commerce, the American Legion, the YMCA, 4-H Clubs, Kiwanis, Jaycees, and the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.

4. Check with private organizations such as veterans, women’s and minority groups; religious organizations; and the fraternity or sorority of which you were a member. These fraternal organizations often have scholarship funds for “legacies,” children of former members.

5. Investigate organizations connected with the student’s field of interest  such as the American Medical Association or the American Bar Association.

6. Enlist the aid of a reference librarian to help search out the obscure scholarships for which few apply because few know about them. Some were established years ago for specific careers. In Boston a fund has been established to assist all children of taxi drivers. Throughout the country, funds have been established to assist students majoring in specific fields, for athletes, for sons and daughters of club or union members, or for those from certain geographic areas or states. Other little-known scholarships are available for lineal descendants of Confederate soldiers or signers of the Declaration of Independence, for students with surnames of Gatlin or Gatling, for Yale-bound students with the surnames of Defores or Leavenworth . If drama is your chosen field of study and you will be attending a college in San Diego County , you may qualify for the Laurel and Hardy Sons of the Desert Scholarship Fund.

7. Computerized scholarship searches are available for a fee. Scholarship information can be accumulated without cost, but the task is very labor intensive. Be sure to note the deadlines (May 1 for a Pell Grant, with no extension) and requirements for each scholarship. Requests for additional information should be clear, concise, and neat.

    One very good, very reasonably priced scholarship search service is College Resource Materials of San Antonio, Texas (1-800-545-8616 or 512-614-5919). Owner Cynthia Ruiz Mckee developed her business out of a need to find tuition money for her son, who ultimately went to Yale on full scholarship. A generic package with forms, calendars, sample letter applications, and an overall list of available scholarships can be purchased for $29.95. For $99.95 you can get a more comprehensive package tailored to the student’s specific area of study. Students also get tips on          how to fill out forms and applications, receive updates on new scholarships as they become available, and can continue to confer with the service until their education is completed.

    According to Mckee, older students have almost as much opportunity for scholarship assistance as those out of high school. Also, students from middle-income families can qualify nearly as often as those with low income.

    Ideally, advises Mckee, begin your search as early as seventh grade. The money is out there waiting to be found. For example, one determined Washington, D.C., high school senior applied for fifty to fifty-five scholarships and got seven totaling $29,000, more than enough to pay her first year’s tuition at Princeton (around $22,000 for 1991-1992). Another young lady from Pennsylvania had to come up with only $433.50 toward her first year at Lafayette College as a resident student (total          cost:$20,375 for the year 1991-1992) thanks to almost $20,000          in scholarship grants.

    Students who have not achieved high academic records should not be discouraged from searching out scholarships and grants. Many are awarded for a particular talent, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or even place of residence. Dollars for          scholars: Barron’s Complete College Financing Guide, by Marguerite Dennis (Barron’s, 1989), is an excellent sourcebook.

FREE THINKERS

    If your prospective college student meets the entrance requirements to Cooper Union in Manhattan , you won’t have to worry about tuition- Cooper Union is tuition free. It is also among the most selective institutions in the country.

    Berea College and Alice Lloyd College ( both in Kentucky ) charge minimal fees for Kentucky residents. Tuition and fees are only $177 at Berea and $270 at Alice Lloyd. Also, students must work at least fifteen hours a week, starting with jobs such as raking leaves or running the power plant. Upperclassmen get the more cushy jobs of working for the school newspaper or assisting in the academic departments. Contact the admissions office of each school for more information on entrance requirements.  

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