July 3, 2008 by Mara Strom Happy 4th of July! Tomorrow is Independence Day – and since even the most diligent scholarship searcher out there is probably enjoying a little patriotic partying, FAF is taking a break from our regular Scholarship Thursday format. Instead of three scholarships with impending deadlines, this week we’ve got four 4th of July-themed scholarships. If it’s got the words liberty, freedom, or proud-to-be-an-American in it, we’re all over it. You may have to wait ’til next year to apply for some of these, but keep them in your back pocket – or your Yankee Doodle Dandy cap! 1. True Patriot Scholarship: $25,000 Yes, you read that right: $25,000. That’s a lot of credit hours, books and cafeteria meals right there! To win this ma...

June 26, 2008 by Mara Strom After last week’s one-shot, social networking scholarship opportunity (you still have a few days left to win it!), our normal three-for-Thursday format is back. Hopefully you’ll find some free money for college from one of these scholarships, all of which have either June 30th or July 1st deadlines. Not a lot of time left, so get to it! 1. Focus on Your Possibilities Scholarship Program: $5,000 If you’re an adult with ADHD, you know how challenging it is to pursue higher education – especially outside of the traditional frameworks. Now there’s help to fund your college costs with one of Eli Lilly and Company’s 21 $5,000 educational scholarships given out every year. Awards are based on merit and go to those who have demonstrat...

June 5, 2008 by Mara Strom Each Thursday, The Financial Aid Finder offers you a list of outstanding scholarship opportunities with looming deadlines. If you’re looking for free money to help pay for your college education, then you might enjoy one of our archived articles about writing scholarship essays, the four qualities scholarship committees look for, and free college scholarship search engines. This Thursday we’ve got three exciting scholarship opportunities with June deadlines. If you won all three, you’d be able to put an extra $8,000 into your college fund kitty. With June deadlines, you don’t have much time — so get to it! 1) The Developmental Fund for Black Students in Science and Technology Scholarship This renewable scholarship provides up to ...

May 29, 2008 by Mara Strom After a rather long spring break, the Financial Aid Finder is back with our Scholarship Thursday update. This week, we’ve got three hot scholarship opportunities with deadlines of this weekend. You don’t have much time, so get to it! 1) Coca-Cola Two Year College Scholars Remember our article on Monday about the growing need for financial aid among community college students? Well, here’s the perfect way to nip that need in the bud: Coca Cola is awarding 350 one-time $1,000 scholarships to students attending a two-year college. Applicants must demonstrate leadership and excellence through their academic record, as well as their involvement in community service and/or employment. To apply, you can be a high school senior or an already matriculate...

Taxes Are Due… And So Are Some Scholarships Applications April 14, 2008 With the IRS filing deadline looming, you may not even realize that the week of April 15th is also a popular deadline for many scholarships. Hopefully you’ll be getting some money back from the government’s stimulus package (unless, of course, your parents still claim you as a dependent) – but even still, applying for scholarships is a better long-term strategy to pay for your educational future. You don’t have much time for these three scholarships with deadlines later this week, so check them out now! 1. Sallie Mae Fund American Dream Scholarship The United Negro College Fund has teamed up with the Sallie Mae Fund to offer scholarships to African American students from low-income families. Scholarships rang...

The ATIA Foundation is offering scholarships for college. The ATIA Foundation annually funds scholarships valued at over $20,000 – and they’re not just for young people! All people interested in travel and tourism careers are encouraged to apply – Download the Application! (PDF) More information is available on their ATIA scholarship webpage. Scholarship Application Deadline is April 15. ...

An expert from Kaplan was featured on the Today show discussing various ways to prepare for college costs. He highlighted some issues that we have discussed in previous “news” articles on FinancialAidFinder. This is a very tumultuous time for financial aid as budget cuts have reduced federal aid by $41 billion dollars while the cost of tuition continues to rise. We have compiled some of the important tips and issues that we have discussed over the past couple of months that are pertinent to the issues that the Today show highlighted. Start a College Savings Account for Your Child ASAP: If you have just had a baby or plan to have one very soon here are a few thoughts you might want to consider. Even if your child is older these ideas should help you plan for your childR...

February 13, 2006 Many gay students in the past have tried to downplay their sexual orientation when trying to earn scholarships or grants. Today the number of scholarships for gay students are on the rise. Organizations such as the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association offers various student awards and scholarships for aspiring gay and lesbian journalists. With some dedicated research gay students can find a plethora of scholarship opportunities. Many private donors to organizations that offer the scholarship cite the lack of help and support they had when they were going through the process. It is always a good idea to be specific as possible when applying for scholarships and grants. Embracing and capitalizing on what makes you different will open up a whole new range of ...

January 19, 2006 If you’ve searched the mainstream college scholarships and come up with nothing, don’t lose hope. There are plenty of alternative or just plain weird scholarships out there. For instance, there’s the Zolp Scholarship. To be eligible for this scholarship you need to be 1.) Catholic 2.) Attending the Loyola University in Chicago and 3.) Have a last name of Zolp. Okay, this scholarship is a little more specific than most but someone out there fits the criteria and it could be you! Look at all the many diverse attributes that you may have in your background or evaluate the special talents you may have. There is a way to find these scholarships. One important tip to remember if you use are doing a search with Google is remember to be as detailed as possibl...

You may already be overwhelmed by undergraduate school loans to the point that you don’t even want to think about graduate school but finding aid for graduate school can be done! How much financial aid will largely depend on what field you are going into. For instance, there are more assistantships and fellowships available to students who are pursuing a post secondary degree in math, engineering and the sciences. There tends to be more Federal and private grants and scholarships offered in these fields as well. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be aid available in other forms for all other fields of academic pursuit. The Assitantship or Fellowship Route: An assistantship is usually offered by academic departments and is basically a swap of teaching for tuition and/or...