Category Archives: Scholarship Friday

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Scholarship Friday: Summer Scholarship Search Tips

 

summer scholarship searchThe lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. Kids are out of school. Families take vacations. The last thing anyone wants to think about is scholarship searching. But wait! According to Monica, The Scholarship Mom, summer is “primetime” to search and apply for scholarships. And it makes perfect sense. Everyone is playing and your college-bound teen is hard at work (well maybe not that committed, but he’s putting forth some effort). A college-bound teen’s work is NEVER done!

Here are a few summer scholarship search tips to help your teen on the path to finding big scholarship bucks over the summer (and it’s not just for upcoming seniors):

Sign up on some search engines that match you to scholarships

You might as well maximize your time by letting the search engines match you with scholarships. Complete the questionnaire and you’re on your way to locating all kinds of scholarships.

Devote some time each day to checking your email for scholarship matches

Now that you’ve registered on the search sites, you’re going to get daily emails. Read them. It does you no good to let them pile up in your inbox. That’s the way you miss application deadlines.

Devote some time each day to searching

Decide how much time you can devote each day to searching (parents can help). If you’re teen gets overwhelmed, start with 20 minutes a day. If he’s motivated, reach for an hour. And don’t just look online. Research local organizations to discover scholarship opportunities.

Apply for at least one scholarship a week, more if possible

Once you’ve done your searches, start applying. Set yourself apart by submitting a killer application packet. Then wait for the money to roll in.

With a little effort, a ton of organization, and some stellar detective skills those scholarship awards should start rolling in. The first one is always the most exciting!

 

 

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Scholarship Friday: Scholarships with June Deadlines

 

scholarships with june deadlinesIt’s Friday and with a long weekend ahead, I’m sure your college-bound teen would like to do nothing better than apply for scholarships. Yes, I’m being sarcastic. But seriously, summer is quickly approaching and it’s the best time to research and apply for scholarships. Looking for some scholarships with June deadlines? Read on . . .

Why should your teen apply for scholarships?

This seems like a no-brainer to me, but many parents brush it off as a waste of time because of the number of applicants and their student’s chances of winning. It’s just like any other “winning” strategy–the more you apply, the more your chances of winning increase. Also, if you’re wise and apply to the right scholarships (locally, for instance) your chances of winning increase.

Where do they begin?

You can start on my blog. Read my series of scholarships posts to find out how to search, what tools to use, scholarships that are available, and even scholarship apps that can help.

What is the best use of their time?

Apply to the easy ones first. Zinch has a weekly 3-sentence scholarship that requires you answer a question with three sentences to win a $1000 scholarship. For a list of easy scholarships you can start with, read my post: 10 Easy Scholarships.

What can they do to jumpstart the search?

Recently, I wrote a series of posts for TeenLife.com regarding scholarships with June deadlines. This is a great place to jump right in and start applying to the ones with upcoming deadlines. Once they do that, register on some scholarship search sites to get email notifications when a scholarship becomes available that matches their search criteria.

Following are the links to the two posts for TeenLife.com:

Scholarships with June Deadlines: Part 1

Scholarships with June Deadlines: Part 2

Remember: they can’t win FREE money if they don’t put the effort into the search and follow through with the applications. It’s your job as a parents college coach to guide them and help when needed. Once those scholarship dollars start rolling in it will be worth all the time and effort. Happy Hunting!

 

 

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Scholarship Friday: CEO Sam Yagan Talks about the MatchMade Scholarship

 

Last week, I posted a blog about the scholarship offering from Match.com: the MatchMade $50,000 Scholarship. This week, I had the opportunity to interview Sam Yagan, the CEO of Match.com. I asked Sam some questions about the scholarship, who is eligible, and how the students can participate. He breaks it down simply in the interview and if you’re one of those parents who met on Match.com, you will want to listen to it. If you’re not and you know a parent who is, pass this along.

I asked him the following questions:

1. Why offer a scholarship for “match made” kids? What prompted you to do this?

2. Can you give us a little information about the scholarship contest?

3. Why did you choose videos instead of essays or other criteria such as GPA, extracurriculars?

4. How can parents help their kids with the videos?

5. How will you be judging the videos?

Social media is going to be an integral part of winning the scholarship so it’s not too early to start talking, chatting, and posting about your student’s entry. Don’t forget–the deadline to submit the video is June 30th. Get started today!

matchmade scholarship

Kids can submit their videos through MatchMade.com.

 This is a sponsored post for Match.com

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Scholarship Friday: Introducing the MatchMade Scholarship

 

matchmade scholarshipIn today’s world of college finances, student loans, and high dollar tuition, parents are searching for ways to reduce out of pocket expenses with scholarships. Many scholarships available to students are simply for high school seniors. Some are only available to current college students. And others are restricted to a small demographic of the population.

Here’s a unique scholarship opportunity for a specific demographic-children or step-children of Match.com matches. According to Match.com, more than one million babies have been made by Match.com connections. To celebrate these connections, they are introducing the MatchMade Scholarship.

What do I “love” about the MatchMade scholarship?

  • It’s eligible to a large demographic and age group (13-20).
  • It’s a yearly scholarship which means your kids can reapply each year from 13-20.
  • It’s a large award-$50,000 to the Grand Prize Winner and $5000 to the parents for a MatchMade getaway.
  • It’s not an essay.
  • It’s a video.
  • The 10 finalists are picked by Match.com, then the public decides by using video sharing.

What are the details and how can your child enter?

  • Those who enter must be between the ages of 13-20.
  • They must be born to parents who met or re-married through Match.com.
  • They must submit a 1-2 minute video telling about their parents love story.

What are the important dates to remember?

  • The scholarship contest began May 5th and goes through June 30th; kids can submit their videos through MatchMade.com.
  • In July, Match.com picks the finalists.
  • On August 18th, the finalists are announced and begin sharing their videos to the public.
  • On September 1st, the video with the highest number of video shares takes home the grand prize.

The finalists will be picked by choosing the videos that are the most creative and heartfelt, telling their parents love story. Each story is unique and each family has its own social network to begin sharing the video once it’s made using the #MatchMade hashtag.

Need some inspiration, watch this video: What Happens When You Ask Kids about Life and Love?

Did you meet through Match.com? Do you know parents who did and have eligible children? Spread the word to your social networks and start the buzz about the #MatchMade Scholarship. Visit MatchMade.com to enter and find out more about the scholarship.

____________________

This is a sponsored post for Match.com

 

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Scholarship Friday: Show Your College Love Scholarship

 

show your college love scholarshipSo many college scholarships require long essays and detailed applications. When I find one that doesn’t, I like to share it with my readers. The Show Your College Love Contest is sponsored by Popp and Associates, an educational consulting company providing guidance and direction to parents and students.

The 2014 Show Your College Love Scholarship Contest is for high school seniors (Class of 2014) and current college students attending a 4-year college in the United States now or beginning in the summer 2014, fall 2014, spring 2015, or fall 2015 semesters.  Students are invited to submit photos and/or videos along with a brief text explanation of why they chose the college they plan to attend or what they love about their current college experience in no more than 250 words. What could be simpler?

Contest submissions will be accepted until midnight EDT May 9, 2014 and can be completed online.

Entries will be judged for originality of content, creativity of presentation, and the quality of the personal statement writing (including spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.). The winner will be selected by the Popp & Associates staff. Decisions of the Popp & Associates judging committee are final.

The winner will receive a college scholarship in the amount of $500, and a charitable donation in the amount of $250 will be given to the winner’s high school, college or charity of choice.

 

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Scholarship Friday: The Best Scholarship Podcasts

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college scholarshipsEach week, Celest Horton, of How to Pay for College HQ, interviews experts in the field of college admissions, college prep, financial aid and scholarships. Her goal is to help parents pay for college without going into debt.

This week, I’ve chosen to highlight some her best scholarship podcasts. If you aren’t subscribed to her podcasts you should do so immediately. Perhaps these few will wet your appetite and make you want to listen to more.

 Scholarship Gold Consulting

There was so much information to cover, there were two podcasts. Her guest, Elizabeth Hartley, has been building her credentials and experience for the last 20 years by pursuing and receiving full scholarships, judging for scholarship competitions, coaching students who win prestigious full scholarships all across the country and guiding hundreds of students through the college search, admission and financial aid process. She is also the founder of Scholarship Gold Consulting where her clients have secured millions of dollars in scholarship funding and admissions into their most desired schools. Head over to her website and sign up for her free monthly newsletter, it’s so filled with helpful information.

The C Student’s Guide to Scholarships

Can you imagine being told by your High School Guidance Counselor that you will never make it to college and to just give up and look into vocational schools? That is what happened to Felecia Hatcher, but she didn’t let it stop her.

Author and Founder of Scholarships.Org

Gyan returned to college in her 40s and received a BA in Psychology and a Masters in Professional Coaching. As an educator and a nontraditional, disabled, first-generation student, she is uniquely qualified to write a series of books that provide detailed listings of scholarships and advice on how to find genuine scholarship opportunities online. She shares her knowledge with parents and students on her website, in her books, and through coaching calls on Skype.

Jason Lum of Scholarship Edge

Jason’s background and track record are impressive. Jason graduated from America’s most competitive programs at Harvard, Berkeley, and Washington University in St. Louis. Jason also received rigorous training in leadership and coaching from MIT and Columbia University. He’s also an expert in college advising, having graduated with honors from UCLA’s program in training professional independent college counselors.

Jason won over $250,000 in scholarships, winning virtually every major national award available to college students in the USA. He graduated debt-free.

Monica Matthews-The Scholarship Mom

Monica Mathews is the proud mother of three sons and has earned the title of Scholarship Mom when she helped her oldest earn $100,000 in scholarships. Her second son is a Freshman this year and has currently been awarded $27,000 and will continue the application process while in college. She has written a simple, but easy to apply and understand booklet for parents and students: How to Win College Scholarships.

 

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Scholarship Friday: How to Find Scholarships Online

 

scholarships onlineThe full title of this book is Get a College Degree Without Drowning In Debt: How to Find Scholarships Online. This is NOT your average scholarship book. While many scholarship books list the names and details of the scholarships, this book takes a different approach by providing you with the search sites and ranking them. With so many scholarship search engines available this will save your college-bound teen valuable time and energy.

What makes How to Find Scholarships Online unique is:

  • The internal links that send you directly to the search sites.
  • The scholarship search engine ratings.
  • The extensive list of scholarship search engines.
  • The step-by-step guide on how to begin your search.
  • The list of online resources related to scholarships: blogs, podcasts and videos.
  • Demographic search links (i.e. military scholarships, minority scholarships, etc.)

Authors Gyan Devi and Myrriah Lavin explain their detailed reasoning behind spending time on scholarships with facts and figures, ending with this statement:

. . .  spending 450 hours applying for and winning scholarships takes substantially less time to pay off your student debt than the 2,940 hours at a part-time undergraduate job, or the 1,470 hours working full time after graduation. The choice is yours. Wouldn’t you rather work for 450 hours at a job where you set your own schedule and the better you are at your job, the more you’re paid?

Scholarship research and writing is a part-time job that pays you handsomely and allows you to work from home, in your jammies, on your own schedule. But, more importantly, it gives you financial freedom upon graduation to live debt-free and make decisions about your life that aren’t driven by monthly student loan payments for the next 20 years!

In a world of so much information and very little time to assimilate it, Gyan does all the leg work for you. She has followed these steps herself to pay for her own education and has proven her technique personally. The great thing about an ebook is that it provides you with an online copy, allowing you to go directly to the links provided.

Interested? If you are (and you should be) today is your lucky day! Gyan is providing my readers with a coupon code good until May 31st to download the book for FREE. That’s right: FREE. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain! Just follow the link below:

Get a College Degree Without Drowning in Debt: How to Find Scholarships Online

USE COUPON CODE: SL92E at checkout

 

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Scholarship Friday: Top 10 Scholarship Posts

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top 10Today I’m sharing my top 10 posts about specific scholarships, the scholarship application process, and scholarship tips. If you haven’t looked at them before, this is a good time to check them out. Sit down with a cup of coffee and be prepared to be informed!

1. Scholarships for special groups

This is a recap of some previous posts about college scholarships for special groups. If your college-bound teen fits into any of these groups these posts should help you find scholarships.

Read more . . .

2. Minority scholarships

Your cultural heritage, your sex, and your sexual orientation could end up paying for your college education. There are scholarships and grants that are reserved for specific minority groups. You don’t need to be a first generation immigrant to qualify for these scholarships; you just have to prove that you are indeed a member of the minority to qualify for the awards.

Read more . . .

3. How to apply for scholarships

There are many scholarship opportunities that anyone can apply for. Some are merit based, meaning you need to meet particular standards, some are based on financial need, and there are many for having a certain background. They can be awards of a few hundred dollars or can cover all of your tuition costs, but whatever the amount, they will decrease the price of your education. How do you apply for scholarships?

Read more . . .

4. Go local

Consider going local. Unearth local scholarships in your own community. The applicant pools for these scholarships are smaller and your chances of winning them increases. You will be surprised at the local scholarships that are often overlooked and no scholarship money is dispersed.

Check out these resources and add them to your scholarship search criteria:

Read more . . .

5. Merit Aid

Financial aid is always on the minds of parents and students, especially when they begin to research college costs and their financial aid statistics. The terms can be a bit confusing and today I want to discuss merit aid and answer a few questions about what it is, how do you find it, and how do you apply for it.

Read more . . .

6. What are the odds?

Most students hope for some sort of scholarship for college. Few are able to pay for the entire four years. Parents dream of getting that letter in the mail that says, “Congratulations, you have won a full ride for four years.” It happens, but it’s not the norm. The students who receive scholarships work hard and spend time searching and applying.

Read more . . .

7. Ask an expert

My commitment has always been to provide parents with the best information available to help with the college process. I recently listened to two podcasts on How to Pay for College HQ about scholarships. The guest was Elizabeth Hartley, owner of Scholarship Gold Consulting. I thought the information was so valuable, I wanted to share some of the excerpts with you. Make a point to listen to both complete interviews (you won’t regret it and you will save money paying for college) via the podcasts.

Read more . . .

8. 10 Scholarship summer prep tips

For students, summer vacation usually means sun, beaches, and fun.  For parents of the college-bound, however, summer means one step closer to college tuition bills and students loans.  There are a number of things students can do to get a jump-start in the college scholarship process during the summer, while at the same time saving time for fun in the sun.

Read more . . .

9. 10 Easy Scholarships

What could be easier than winning a scholarship and you didn’t even have to write an essay and/or fill out a long application? There isn’t. The rewards may not be as big as those long, involved essay scholarships, but 10 $1000 scholarships add up to $10,000. That’s not chump change! Most of them just take a few minutes to enter:

Read more . . .

10. Should your college-bound student apply for scholarships?

There is great discussion among parents about whether or not scholarship applications are worth it. I happen to be one who believes they are. My daughter attended an expensive private university based on the scholarships she won from outside sources and from the university itself. Those scholarships allowed her to attend a school that was financially out of reach. Hence, I’m a firm believer in the value of scholarships.

Read more . . .

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Scholarship Friday: 5 Scholarship Apps

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scholarship appsIn today’s world of smartphones and tablets, parents and students are doing more on more with mobile applications. Recognizing the need to access easy information, app creators are designing scholarship apps to help with the scholarship search and application process.

Scholarship Advisor – FREE

Finding the right scholarships can be overwhelming. This exclusive Scholarship Search (powered by StudentAdvisor.com) is a mobile app designed to make it easier to find money for college. Browse their hand-picked lists on topics including academic, athletic, health care, military and more. Discover unique, relevant scholarships you never knew existed. You can easily search, find and even apply for millions of dollars in scholarships right from your device. Easily add important dates to your calendar – never miss a scholarship deadline again!

Scholarships.com – FREE

Whether you’re just starting your financial aid search or have already enrolled at your dream school, Scholarships.com can help you wherever you are in your academic journey. Search their database of 2.7 million local, state and national college scholarships and grants worth over $1.9 billion. And since college is expensive enough, all of Scholarships.com’s tools are free for you to use.

Scholly – .99

Scholly is an easy way to find scholarships for high school seniors, current undergraduates, and graduate students. Designed to ease the scholarship search process, Scholly’s adaptive matching engine promises to deliver smarter, targeted lists of scholarships. Scholly seeks to fix the current outdated process that requires students to fill out long, tiresome forms and then fail to deliver relevant results.

Scholly gives students a curated list of scholarships. We don’t waste student’s time with random scholarships that they do not qualify for nor do we give them a list of things that are not even scholarships like loans, internships, and advertisements. Deadlines are updated as soon as they are available and scholarships that no longer exist will be removed from our database. Scholly’s goal is to make the scholarship search process as simple as possible.

This app receives high ratings in the app store.

SAIL Scholarships – .99

(Also available on GooglePlay)

This app was created by college graduates to help students find scholarships. Their goal was to dramatically decrease the amount of debt students have after graduation by creating this app to help students search for scholarships. A quick glance at the app says that it’s easy to use and sort awards. It hasn’t been rated yet by iTunes or GooglePlay and I’m not sure how extensive their database is. It’s up to you whether you want to risk the .99.

RecruitU – FREE

If you are searching for athletic scholarships, this is app can help. Whether you’re a boy or girl, RecruitU is designed by experienced college coaching experts to direct your search to your ideal college sports programs. With our comprehensive U.S. college database, RecruitU will match you (or your child) with the perfect college based on your academic (GPA and Standardized test scores) and athletic skills (level of play). Once RecruitU generates your best college matches, you can immediately send an email to the coaching staffs at these schools with your athletic and academic profile (including a link to your game video). The app also connects you to their online recruiting sports network.

Do you know of any other apps available? Leave a comment below to share with our readers.

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Scholarship Friday: ScholarshipExperts.com Scholarships

 

scholarshipexpertsEach year, ScholarshipExperts.com funds several unique scholarship programs for high school students, college students, grad students and non-traditional adult learners. To make it easy, they have listed their scholarships and the application links on for each of them.

 

 

Here’s a list of available scholarships: