Consider The Unusual When It Comes To Scholarships For Online Course Programs
If you’re left handed, a little person or can knit a mean wool garment and you have plans to head to college, you might get help paying for tuition. The websites, FinAid.org and scholarships.com, offer free online college scholarship information, including details about quirky offerings such as these. From duct tape to duck calls, there are also contests that can earn students scholarship money for campus and distance learning endeavors, the online college scholarship sites show.
Many families look toward scholarships and grants as a means of helping to pay for tuition at colleges, universities and technical schools. These days, they’re relying on more of that assistance, according to the results of a Sallie Mae survey that were released in August. Families come up with most money for college from their own income and savings and behind that, on scholarships and grants, Sallie Mae’s “How Americans Pay for College,” shows. For the 2009-2010 academic year, they also had to work more and spend less, the study noted.
Undergraduate students more often than not attend four-year colleges, universities and technical schools where published tuition rates are less than $9,000, the College Board website states. Including student loans that have to be repaid, the average 2008-2009 undergraduate financial aid package was about $5,000, the website shows. Lesser known scholarships might help families find any additional money they might need for college.
Scholarships on FinAid.org and scholarships.com include those that reward unusual talents, such as the Chick and Sophie Major Memorial Scholarship Duck Calling Contest where high school seniors have 90 seconds for duck calls for hailing, feeding, comeback and mating. Others, such as the National Make it Yourself with Wool competition, recognize more traditional skills, such as knitting. Frederick and Mary F. Beckley “Left-Handed” Scholarship is for Pennsylvania’s Juniata College sophomores, juniors and seniors with academic success, financial needs and a tendency to write with their left hands, FinAid.org and scholarships.com suggest. Scholarships on the sites also include the Little People of America Scholarship for individuals with a medically diagnosed form of dwarfism and others with financial needs; and a Tall Clubs International scholarship for women 5’10” and taller and men 6’2” and taller who are younger than 21 who are entering their first year of college.
A Duck Brand Duct Tape Stuck at Prom Contest, on the other hand, is open to students ages 14 and older. Contestants, who enter as couples, sport attire and accessories made of duct tape for the prom, and web voters choose the winners based on originality, workmanship, accessories, use of color and amount of duct tape used, the contest website shows. Soliciting votes on Facebook might have helped Yancy Esquivel and Ray Banna of Arizona, who this year took the top spot from 242 entries, earning $3,000 apiece in scholarship money.
In an interview with the Arizona Republic, Banna expressed surprise by all the attention the couple received after winning: “It’s crazy,” he was quoted as saying. “My cousin says if you Google us we’re, like, everywhere.”
With free scholarship searches on FinAid.org, scholarships.com, families and students have access to billions of dollars in scholarships and other forms of financial aid. FinAid, according to its website, was established in 1994 and has received awards from the College Board, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Admissions and more. Scholarships.com, a member of the National School Providers Association and the National Association for College Admission Counseling according to its website, was launched in 1999. Families and students might also turn to free scholarship searches offered by the College Board, Sallie Mae and the US Departments of Education and Labor.
Scholarships are provided for distance learning programs, as well as certificate and degree studies on campus. Typically, they’re provided in instances where colleges, universities and technical schools are accredited by a nationally recognized agency, so pay attention to student scholarships requirements. For a list of accredited institutions and programs, families and students can visit the US Department of Education website. Here you will find information on traditional and accredited degree online programs that are sure to meet your needs.