College For Free? These Scholarships Can Help Make That A Reality

• Author: Michael Bordonada
• Posted: 2024-03-24

College is one of the most exciting experiences of your academic career. A degree can open the door to hundreds of career opportunities and life changing benefits. However, the thrill of that acceptance letter can quickly turn into worry as you discover the financial obligations associated with a higher education. While student loans can be an option to help you afford this financial hurdle, they can also mean large amount of debt. No one wants to start off a new chapter of their life with crippling debt. However, there is some help available to those those that want to lighten the financial load. Scholarships are a great way to get financial assistance for college.

The great thing is there are thousands of scholarships available to college students and they could easily help you pay for your college education. Interestingly, there are several misconceptions surrounding scholarships. For instance, many believe that recipients of scholarships experience extreme financial situations. However, this is not the case. Many students that receive financial assistance come from middle class families.

Another common misconception is that scholarships are only awarded to overachievers that have hundreds of hours of volunteer work and belongs to a number of extracurricular groups and activities. Fortunately, most scholarships do not take this into consideration when choosing recipients.

Whether you are looking for help paying for tuition, housing, or other living expenses, there is a scholarship for you. All you need to do is find it and apply. Fortunately for you, we have combed through the thousands of available scholarships. The following scholarships offer different amounts of assistance. Once you have decided to apply for a certain scholarship, make sure you read the fine print. Inform yourself on all application and eligibility requirements. Nothing is worse than wasting your time creating a lengthy application essay to realize that you were not a qualified candidate to begin with. From writing essays or creating art to random sweepstakes or giveaways, browse these amazing scholarship opportunities. College can change your life, but it does not have to empty your wallet.

Washington Week

This unique opportunity offers a $10,000 scholarship. Open to American high school juniors and seniors, the two chosen recipients will travel to Washington D.C. for a unique government experience through the United States Senate Youth Program.

No Essay Necessary

Niche.com does a monthly drawing for high school and college students. If you see college in your future, this is a great opportunity to win a large chunk of financial assistance by just entering the website's random drawing.

Calling all athletes!

If you play high school sports and plan on attending a four-year college or university, this is a great opportunity for you. CaptainU offers a quarterly scholarship of $2,000 to help student athletes build their future. Visit their website for more information on this unique opportunity.

Creative Opportunity

High school seniors have a unique opportunity to create a blog about a topic of their choosing. A scholarship of $2,500 is given to the blog creator that displays an understanding of the digital age of America. You can apply to this scholarship throughout the year. However, winners are announced in March.

Put That Trivia Expertise To Work

Do your friends call you a know-it-all? Are you the reigning trivia champion among your friends? If so, the Festivus Scholarship is a perfect match for you. Open to those students that are continuing their education after a long hiatus, this opportunity consists of common knowledge quizzes. Each eligible applicant participates in different rounds of quizzes. The winner receives $250 towards their higher education.

Attention Resume Aficionados

This interesting scholarship opportunity involves creating a resume. But, there is one minor point. Participants of this scholarship contest must create a fictional resume based on a made up persona. The chosen resume will receive $1000 to put towards their education. The best part of this scholarship, there are no picky eligibility requirements, such as GPA.

Wanna Work At The CIA?

If you are looking for something that offers something much richer than just monetary compensation, the CIA Undergraduate Scholarship Program is something you should check out. Sponsored by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, high school and college students can enter. The chosen few will spend their summer working with the CIA in Washington D.C. Don't forget, the gig comes with a full salary and benefits.

These unique opportunities are just the tip of the iceberg. There are literally thousands of scholarships waiting to be discovered. So, what are you waiting for? College isn't going to pay for itself, or is it?