Scholarships
There are dozens, maybe hundreds or thousands or millions or billions of scholarship information sites and resources, all of varying degrees of usefulness - and there's not room to post them all here. Sometimes the best source of scholarships is the college or university you are interested in - so, research, research, research what they have. The most successful candidates who end up with a ton of scholarships will often say they applied for 'everything.' We can't verify they actually applied for 'everything' but we're pretty sure they spent a lot of time researching and writing to get those scholarships!!! The rule: If you want scholarships, you're probably going to need to apply for them. A few organizations award academic scholarships to students as they complete high school that can be applied toward their colleges of choice AND there are many, many colleges and universities that award scholarships to encourage applicants to attend that specific institution (some are quite substantial - ex: 4-year renewable faculty or dean's scholarships) - all without any other kind of application required. Don't let those lull you into non-action - many scholarships require a written application!! Here's a few sites to get you started:
Websites
Start Here! Office of Student Access and Completion - OSAC Hundreds to choose from - you can apply for up to 40 of them with 1 application; most are available to Oregon students going to Oregon colleges and universities but there are a few for Oregon students attending out-of-state schools. Include this site as a 'must' in your college application process.
Ford Family Foundation scholarships - 'Ford Scholars' program for high school students applying for college - for Oregon students applying to Oregon colleges and universities
College Scholarships
The College Board Scholarship Search
Scholarships for Students
Peterson's Scholarship Search
Merit Aid
Supercollege.com - also includes examples of winning scholarship letters
Scholarships.com
Fastweb
Sallie Mae Scholarship information
moolahSPOT
Adventures in Education
Questbridge - Connecting low-income students to America’s best universities - successful applicants receive a full 4-year scholarship to college
Scholarship Resources - another resource from Gen and Kelly Tanabe
US News & World Report - college scholarship contests and sweepstakes?
US News & World Report - or maybe you'd like to tweet or text your way to a scholarship!
DoSomething.org - want to make the world less sucky? You can get scholarship money for it!
Scholarship America - compare 5 top scholarship search engines
CollegeGreenLight - We connect first generation and underrepresented students to caring colleges, generous scholarships, and life-changing counselors and mentors.
ScholarshipExperts - a scholarship search engine
MyCollegeDollars
How to Win College Scholarships
Beware!! There are websites, and some mailings you might receive, that offer - for a fee - to help you find 'unclaimed' scholarship money. Don't fall for these....you should never have to pay to find legitimate scholarship information and funds. Princeton Review author, Kalman A. Chaney, says that these 'unclaimed' scholarships represent only about 5% of all scholarships available. In other words, don't waste your time or your money.
Ford Family Foundation scholarships - 'Ford Scholars' program for high school students applying for college - for Oregon students applying to Oregon colleges and universities
College Scholarships
The College Board Scholarship Search
Scholarships for Students
Peterson's Scholarship Search
Merit Aid
Supercollege.com - also includes examples of winning scholarship letters
Scholarships.com
Fastweb
Sallie Mae Scholarship information
moolahSPOT
Adventures in Education
Questbridge - Connecting low-income students to America’s best universities - successful applicants receive a full 4-year scholarship to college
Scholarship Resources - another resource from Gen and Kelly Tanabe
US News & World Report - college scholarship contests and sweepstakes?
US News & World Report - or maybe you'd like to tweet or text your way to a scholarship!
DoSomething.org - want to make the world less sucky? You can get scholarship money for it!
Scholarship America - compare 5 top scholarship search engines
CollegeGreenLight - We connect first generation and underrepresented students to caring colleges, generous scholarships, and life-changing counselors and mentors.
ScholarshipExperts - a scholarship search engine
MyCollegeDollars
How to Win College Scholarships
Beware!! There are websites, and some mailings you might receive, that offer - for a fee - to help you find 'unclaimed' scholarship money. Don't fall for these....you should never have to pay to find legitimate scholarship information and funds. Princeton Review author, Kalman A. Chaney, says that these 'unclaimed' scholarships represent only about 5% of all scholarships available. In other words, don't waste your time or your money.
Books
Although a lot of information can be found online, there are also some books that are worth using. These books can be found at Powells.com and Amazon.com or take a trip to Powell's in Portland and buy them right off the shelf! I'll try to make sure that these publications are also available for student use at SJS. (If you are not an SJS student but found this site, check your high school career/college center or ask a counselor - most high schools have some of these resources.)
The Ultimate Scholarship Book 2014 by Gen and Kelly Tanabe (both authors graduated from Harvard debt-free)
I have the 2014 edition but the book is published annually and by the time you read this, the 2015 edition will be available. The first 90 pages or so of this book are worth the price of it!! The authors walk the reader through the process of applying for scholarships followed by several hundred pages of actual scholarships. Though some readers on Amazon.com commented that the organization of scholarship information made it difficult to use (on the other hand, others commented that they loved the book!), the book provides a good place to start the search and certainly gives a good overview of the huge range of scholarships that are available. Here's the companion website to their book (also listed above under websites): Supercollege.com
Peterson's Scholarships, Grants and Prizes 2015
Peterson's is one of the standards in college admissions resources. Like the book listed above, it's a good overview of the range of scholarships and has information on how to apply. Here's a link to their companion website (also listed above under websites): Peterson's Scholarship Search
Confessions of a Scholarship Winner - The Secrets That Helped me Win $500,000 in Free Money for College - How You Can, Too!
by Kristina Ellis
A success story recently written by a young woman who invested time in research and writing to get her college money. Her story may not be your story but she provides inspiration and a lot of good tips on how to do it. Best line in the book: "...if you are in high school right now, this is your moment to choose." (p.30)
How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay - by Gen and Kelly Tanabe
Includes scholarship interview strategies and examples of essays both good and not so good.
