Where to Look for Scholarships/How to Pay for College

 If you are in college, you should be applying to scholarships. Even if you are one of the very (lucky and) rare students who has a full ride, scholarships are a great way to get some money into savings or pay for your living expenses. Even if the money goes to your school, most colleges have stipend refund programs that give you leftover money back into a personal account.

I'll spare you all the bitter details, but after a few years at a private art college and unsafe spending choices, I am having to pay out of pocket for the next 2.5 years of school to finish my Bachelor of Science degree in Web Development. I am excited to see where it will take me, but I know that I will need the help of grants and scholarships to make it happen. Over the past few months, I have been collecting resources and websites that are both legitimate and frequently update their scholarships. There are some that overlap, but each website has its own set of scholarships.

All scholarships are different, with some paying directly to you and some paying directly into your institution. Some are hard work, and some are literally just entering your name, but these are the best sites that I have found to help pay for school.

• MoohlahSpot.com
• ScholarshipPoints.com
• ScholarshipExperts.com
• CollegeProwler.com
• CollegeAnswer.com (A Sallie Mae Site)
• FastWeb.com
• CareerInfoNet.org
• Ed.gov (State Grants)
• CampusDiscovery.com
• Scholarshipedia.org
• StudentRate.com (Also includes lots of links for student discounts)
• StudentAid.Ed.Gov (National)
• BigFuture.Collegeboard.org (The College Board)
• GOOGLE! You will always have the best chances of winning if you apply for a scholarship that is major/interest-specific. This has to do with your career, ethnicity, religion, state, and beyond! Most of the specialty scholarships are not listed on these sites, but have private websites of their own. The only way you will find them is by searching! 

The best way I have found to organize these is a giant calendar. I bought a giant wall calendar at Walmart for about $8 and I use red and black pens to write the name of the scholarship and the details, on or around the day that the scholarship is due. I try to make sure to apply to the scholarships before they're due, but at least I know when my cut off days are.

I have been fairly lucky with scholarships and grants, winning a $1,000 single-entry one in high school and then another through my current college for "leadership".

If you have any questions regarding scholarships or need help, please feel free to let me know. Good luck!

P.S. Have you ever won a scholarship?