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How Do I Find Scholarships for Me?


As you start to plan for college and more importantly, how to pay for college, it may have dawned on you that scholarships are a necessary part of most payment plans for higher education. Scholarships provide a lot of benefits to students and most importantly, they provide no-strings-attached funding to students who are in need of financial assistance to pay for college.

Scholarships can be an incredibly valuable tool when paying for college and some students are even able to finance their entire college education by using scholarships. However, they can also be a confusing and overwhelming topic. There are thousands of scholarships out there and many people have a hard time organizing their scholarship efforts and finding the right opportunities for them.

The best strategy for applying for scholarships is to narrow your search to scholarships that you are likely to win. Otherwise, you are simply taking a gamble on a scholarship that probably has thousands of applicants. When you find the ability to locate scholarships that are specific to you and available to a lesser pool of applicants, you will have a greater chance of making a meaningful impact on the amount that you will have to pay for your schooling.

Your High School
One of the best places to find scholarships is at your high school. High schools often do whatever they can to help their students get access to funding for their college education. This includes offering a variety of scholarships from the community and advertising other scholarship opportunities that are relevant to their student body. These can usually be accessed in the counselor's office of your high school or on your school's website.

Your College
Like high schools, colleges also strive to make scholarship resources available to their students and incoming students. For everything from national scholarships to locally-sponsored scholarships, colleges do a great job of making these funding opportunities accessible to their students. Colleges will typically have all of their scholarship opportunities available online for easy access. Even if you are still in high school, you can look at awards on local colleges' websites because you will most likely find some that you are eligible for as well.

Employers
Employers are another source of possible scholarships. Especially those that want to grow their presence in the community. Oftentimes, employers will create scholarships for young employees who are entering the same industry. This can also help them grow their workforce and create a lasting impression on the community. In addition, look at your parents' employers. These often offer scholarships for the children of their employees.

Unions
Union scholarships operate much in the same way as employers. Unions often do this to connect with students and grow the union, as well as grow the field and make sure that students in that industry have all of the resources that they will need to succeed and fund their education without having to enter massive debt. Investigate if your parents are members of a union and if their unions offer scholarships for the children of members.

Online
One of the most powerful tools that you have if you are looking for scholarships to help fund your college education is online search. The internet is a large place, and it allows students to easily and instantly find thousands of scholarship opportunities. However, you should make sure that you are finding opportunities that are relevant to you. We designed Verified Scholarships to help match you to the best awards and weed out scholarships that are fake or misleading.