If you, your parents, grandparents or spouse belong to any of the professional, academic or social associations out there, you might be eligible for a variety of specialized scholarships for college.

All kinds of associations offer financial aid to their members, from nursing organizations to the AARP.

You or your parents may already be benefiting from membership to these organizations, for jobs, hobbies or other reasons. Many people don’t realize that a hidden benefit is scholarship money for college.

Just about every association tries to offer scholarships to either its members or children of its members.

Many labor unions have created scholarship programs for the children of their members. In fact, most of the major unions offer some sort of financial assistance to families that demonstrate need, or for students who meet particular grade or SAT requirements. The best approach for these scholarships is to ask you parent or spouse (or whoever is the union member) to contact the union representative first to find out about basic eligibility.

Some of the largest membership organizations granting money for college are fraternities and sororities. Many individual school chapters have endowments to assist brothers or sisters with financial need in paying for college, while others have programs that reward community service efforts, high G.P.A’s or outstanding contributions to the Greek community. To find out if you qualify for fraternity or sorority scholarships, contact both your chapter administrator and national representative for more information.

Veterans and children of veterans will also find many opportunities for scholarships to pay for college.

These funds are generally granted by veteran’s associations, foundations, or non-profit organizations.

These are just some of the organizations that offer scholarships for association membership. We have profiled some of these scholarships, and encourage you to read on to find out if you are eligible. You can also check back to this page as more will continuously be added.

Scholarships for Veterans (and Active Duty) >>>