If you like working outdoors, or with your hands, or are planning on taking over a family business, you might be looking at vocational or trade school. Vocational schools focus on career preparation, giving you all of the skills you need to enter careers like electrician, carpentry or certain technology fields. While vocational school can often be less expensive than a four-year university education, in addition to offering shorter programs (think 1 year vs. 4), they aren’t free! Students still need to take out loans or even better, win scholarships for trade school.
How do you get scholarships for vocational school?
The first step is to pick the profession that most interests you. Most trade scholarships are very specific (offered only to welders, for example), and they will want to see proof of interest in your intended trade, and might even require some previous experience.
Another way to get scholarships for trade school is to find a mentor, someone who knows their way around the industry and might be willing to “take you under his wing”.
A mentor can give you not only useful trade information, but also information about the best programs in your area.
Scholarships for vocational school are often specific to the school, so setting your sights on a particular program (with the help of your mentor) is a great next step in your search for vocational scholarships.
Of course, there are few general vocational scholarships out there that you can take advantage of to get your trade degree. For example, Home Depot sponsors students studying construction, contracting and HVAC with $5,000 in scholarships for vocational school.
Whatever your trade, you should be able to find scholarships that can help you cover at least part of your vocational education. Read through our scholarship profiles to find more options for scholarships for trade and vocational school.