If it becomes impossible to afford college, what reliable ways are there to acquiring a scholarship?

Answer 1

Your biggest stumbling block might be the assumption that scholarships would be your only financing option. With that mindset, many people would *already* have found it impossible to afford college. When college costs rise while Higher Ed funding declines, most people will need to make some compromises in order to finance their education. This could mean delaying your enrollment, working a few more hours than planned, assuming some debt, or attending a lower-cost school. The students who find college "impossible" to afford are usually the ones who refuse to make these sacrifices. Over the years, I've worked with a lot of students and I've witnessed both sacrifice and hard-headedness -- invariably, the students who succeed most often are the ones who make the big sacrifices *now* so that they can live the good life later on.

To answer your question, though, there will probably always be private donors willing to support higher education. While no legitmate scholarship is guaranteed, you can increased your odds by applying for as many as you can (more than you think you need) and excelling academically *and* outside of school. Make connections, perform community service, travel, join a club -- anything to set yourself apart from the other applicants.

As far as institutional scholarships (money offered by your school), academics are usually key. Here, too, is where you might need to make sacrifices. In most cases, you can't expect to obtain a huge scholarship offer from your "reach" school. Conversely, your "safety" school, which would probably love to have you, might offer you the moon. If you turn your nose up at the safety, you might never know what it feels like to graduate debt-free... In this sense, your inability to afford college would be sort of self-inflicted...

Military student aid (e.g. the GI Bill) continues to be an option for most Americans. This lucrative funding, coupled with the fact that students on active military duty now automatically qualify as "independent" on the FAFSA (and therefure usually receive more Pell, SEO, and state funding) means that most military students easily attend college for free.

Student loans aren't going anywhere -- they're always an option. If, for some reason, government funding for high education was taken away, there would likely be greater competition among private loan lenders resulting in better approval rates, interest rates, and borrower benefits.

Answer 2

Apply for a lot of scholarships. The megascholarships that pay your whole way are hard to find and very competitive, but if you can string together enough $1 and $2,000 grants, you can cover a good portion of college.

Also, if there is financial hardship, but a good academic and extera-curricular and community service career, consider contacting your local legislators for some advice, direction and references for hard to find scholarships.

Answer 3

if you do well in school and stay involved in sports and the community your chances are greater of getting a scholarship you apply for. towards the end of the year your town should have a large list of scholarships that are open and you can get that at your counsoling office. you can go online and find other national and state ones to apply for. just keep your ears open and check online.

Answer 4

Check out some organizations like Rotary International or some other companies offer many scholarships you can apply. You can also consider taking out federal loans and such.

Answer 5

Search some government base agencies for financial assistance or scholarships. like UCAS, Fullbright, or British council. You can find detailed information about all these agencies at www.admissionglobal.com

Answer 6

Check out www.fastweb.com, sign up for an account and they'll e-mail you with new scholarship info almost everyday. Thousands of dollars are offered every week. Definitely check it out!

Answer 7

fill out the FAFSA at www.fafsa.ed.gov and apply for grants and loans. In some states, depending on your chosen career path, student loans may be forgiven if you work in your state for a specific amount of time. I live in KY and that's how it works here for certain lenders! Hope this helps!

Answer 8

if u cant afford college try the job corps i'm going there this year they give you free housing and the give you like $400 a moth it goes up the longer your there but you should check it out the have schools in every state im going to go to the one in sacremento

Answer 9

Getting excellent grades.

Answer 10

Being intelligent, a community leader, and involvement in your community will get you a scholarship.

If not, well... get a student loan.