Tips for Finding Scholarships

The problem with scholarships is, as my colleague always says, "no one is in charge."  Every scholarship has different criteria, a different deadline,  and a different process.  Not only is there no standardization but scholarships can be based on the wackiest  criteria as I discussed in my unclaimed scholarship money post.  Just yesterday I came across a scholarship for a high school student with a demonstrated interest in iris activity!  Yes, the flower.  Now I bet there are a few teens who think the iris is pretty but there aren't likely to be any that can demonstrate an established interest in iris activity (whatever that is).

The best approach to scholarship madness is to focus your efforts on three main scholarship sources. 

1. Your own associations, employers, and organizations have scholarships for the members and for the children of the members.  These are ideal sources for scholarships because a relatively small number of people are competing for the scholarships.
2. The colleges themselves have lots of scholarships both merit based and based on random criteria similar to the iris lovers scholarship.  Make sure you tap into these collegiate scholarships during the college application process.
3. Other local scholarships.  As you search for scholarships concentrate on local ones.  If the scholarship is only for your high school, your town, or your state there won't be nearly as much competition as there is with a national scholarship that might attract thousands of applicants.

Unclaimed Scholarship Money

We've all heard it:  There are millions of dollars of unclaimed scholarships each year.  Possibly, but the truth is these scholarships go unclaimed because nobody can claim them.  Many scholarships are too specific- only for the 4th son of a graduate of some no-name college or for a red-headed woman over 6 feet tall who plans a career in microbiology- you get the idea... often no one meets the criteria so the scholarship goes unclaimed.

My advice is to forget about it.  Don't waste time chasing fools gold.  There are many ways to find legitimate scholarship opportunities if you focus on the real main sources of scholarship money.