Scholarships
A scholarship is a financial award for an individual student scholar, for the purpose of furthering their education. Scholarships are awarded based on a range of criteria. The criteria for awarding a scholarship typically reflect the values and purposes of the donor. For instance, scholarships may be awarded based on financial need, acedemic acheivement, athletic acheivement, ethnicity, by the individual institution or even by companies to children of their employees.Below is a general list of the types of college scholarships commonly available.
Acedemic or Merit-based scholarships are based on the students previous and current school performance. With merit-based scholarships the recipient may be determined by the student's academic, artistic or other abilities. These type of scholarships may also take into consideration the students involvement in school or community-based organizations and groups. An example might include participation with the school newspaper, student government or community civic organizations. In general, the largest scholarships are almost always merit-based. Occasionally the actual monetary value of a scholarship may be negligible, but rather the scholarship is meant to motivate the student and promote the study of the subject.
In the U.S. and other countries athletes who perform well in various athletic endeavors are offered athletic scholarships. These scholarships usually do not take acedemics into consideration, but some do have minimum grade-point requirements.
Need-based scholarships are awarded in cases which the student and family’s financial situation is a primary factor in determining the recipient. Usually such a scholarship will cover all or part of the tuition and may even cover living-costs. Very often, however even need-based private scholarships require the awardees to be distinguished students.
Ethnicity-based scholarships require the student to initially qualify by race, religion, or national origin. After filtering the applicants based one of these criteria, additional factors are taken into consideration to determine the final recipients. Examples of ethnicity-based financial aid and scholarships are NAACP scholarships, Jewish Federation Academic Scholarship Program, Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the American Indian Scholarship Fund.
Institutional-based scholarships awarded by a specific college or university (institution) to a student planning to attend that institution. These scholarships are determined by the admissions office at the time of acceptance to the college or university. Often the amount awarded remains the same for all four years and requires the student to maintain an agreed upon GPA.
General Scholarships are scholarships that don’t fall into any specific category. These type of scholarships can be awarded based on all types of criteria. Examples include scholarships for left-handed people, foster children, one half of a twin set, pageant contestants, Veterans of Foreign Wars, active military, and physically and mentally challenged individuals. The list is endless and there is collage scholarship money out there to be had. It only takes tenacity in doing those college scholarship searches and then getting that application turned in on time.
** Get Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device. Get books and newspapers at a huge discount!