In Search of Scholarships

May 17, 2012 Riley Product reviews

This weekend, I will be attending a high school production of Guys and Dolls in which my friend’s daughter is performing. She has taken on the role of Miss Adelaide, the little lady with the big voice (and a nasty cold, achoo!). Miss Adelaide (she stays in character, like all good actresses) is a graduating senior and eager to take on the rigors and excitement of college life, where she will focus on the performing arts.

Whenever I meet someone who is about to enter college, I get so excited for them, mainly because the word college remind me of my own college years — and that, my friends, is a fine chunk of memories.

I hope my own children will one day experience college, but of course, am wondering about how they will pay for their college. I do have college savings accounts for them, but I also believe they should earn  scholarships to cover the majority of their college education. I earned a full scholarship that covered tuition and a dorm room for four years when I earned my Bachelors degree, and I think all children should play a hand in their college expenses, whether by earning a scholarship or grant, doing work study, or saving up some of their own money. I much preferred the scholarship route to my Bachelors than the loans I took out for my teaching credential and Masters degree. Fortunately, I received one small scholarship, and was also eligible for the APLE and TEACH Grant programs so my loans aren’t as high as they could have been.

What are APLE and TEACH, you ask? Do a little research to find out (you might just find even more free money)! Websites like ScholarshipsOnline.org offer a database of all sorts of scholarships and grants, and if I’d had more wherewithal and less immediate need to get back into school for my credential, I’d have spent some time researching grants so I had no outstanding loans at this point.

As it is, I can still use the website because when the time comes for me to pursue my doctorate, I’m going to want a financial boost to help cover the spending I will undoubtedly accrue in my research of the causal link between poverty and learning disabilities. Until that time comes, though, I hope all of your current college-bound kids take the time to look up some scholarships. You’d be amazed what’s out there.

college, grants, scholarships