What do you think of when you think of scholarships?
Now, what do you think of when you think of unusual scholarship?
If you're anything like me when you think of scholarships, then you would imagine a student who is extremely smart, has an exceptional GPA, or possibly is athletically gifted. Academic and athletic scholarships are what most of us think of when we hear the word 'scholarship'.
But what about unusual scholarships?
Does anything immediately come to mind? Most of us have never heard of the Sophie Major Memorial Duck Calling Contest that gives away $1500 to a high school senior who is good at calling ducks. The fact is there are hundreds and hundreds of what you or I might call an unusual scholarship. If you do an internet search you may find these listed as easy, weird, wacky, simple or left handed scholarships. There's literally thousands of these unique scholarship opportunities out there.
Okay, so what? Why should you care?
Well, many of these off the wall type scholarships are incredibly easy to get. There are also a good number of them that go unclaimed each year simply because people aren't aware of them so they never apply. This can be a big mistake when you consider that anyone of these scholarships can pay you anywhere from $1,500 to $15,000, or more, for college. If you're really smart you don't just find one of these, you find and apply to as many as you possibly can. The more you apply to, the better your chances of getting some.
So far this all sounds pretty good I imagine. I mean, who wouldn't want easy money to help pay for college?
Well, here's the tough part. Where do you find these scholarships? It's interesting, I was reading on the federal financial aid website about scholarships and grants and right there they recommend that if you want to get scholarships for college that you should apply for as many as you can, it just makes sense, the more you apply to, the better your chances of winning some.
So back to the problem of finding these scholarships. Well, you can actually find a lot if you just start searching online. This is the approach I took a few years ago when I decided to go back to school to finish my degree. Fortunately I found some really great websites that had done all the boring research for me and had compiled lists and lists of these scholarships. Then it was pretty easy, I just went through the lists and found the ones that I felt I would be able to get.
Now, once you get to this part, don't sell yourself short. Create a list of potential scholarships that you would like to apply for, but don't eliminate scholarships from your list too quickly just because you aren't sure if you would get it. Remember, you want to apply for as many as you can, even if you're not sure you would win one. You never know.
Unusual scholarships is only one way of getting money for college. Although it is a very effective way and I certainly recommend that it be part of everyone's overall strategy for getting scholarships and grants. We are also seeing more and more of these wacky type of scholarships popping up. President Obama has publicly encourages American's to go back to college and further their education. With this national level of attention to our education, many federal, state, private and religious organizations are stepping up to the plate and offering real solutions to help pay for college.
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