Archive for April, 2008

School Scholarships

Saturday, April 5th, 2008

School scholarships have always been very popular in the student’s circles. You can find a vast number of school scholarships offered by a large number of companies, social organizations as well as public organizations. Don’t give up easily, when you fail to get selected in a particular category as you will still find many categories where you can be considered eligible. Many school scholarships will not take your GPA into consideration while awarding you one. Very often your involvement in community or service organizations would be considered instead. Many school scholarships are granted on your artistic skills too. There are scholarships awarded especially to girls.

A general high school scholarship would include students from 9th-12th grade. There is no age limit on it. But you need to be a US citizen or a legal resident to qualify for it. You are free to choose any college or university which will have accreditation in the US. You would normally have to submit an essay which would then be evaluated by a chosen committee. Your past academic as well as athletic performance would also help your cause in bagging a school scholarship.

Brush up on your writing skills before you apply for a school scholarship as what you write makes a lot of difference in qualifying for a school scholarship. Make a complete list of school scholarships which appeal to you. This can be done by using the internet. You will have to use a personalized search to get the best results as you need to tally the school scholarships with your achievements. Thus a personalized search will only come up with the list of names of school scholarships where you have a chance of bagging it. When you are online, avoid filling any survey forms, they are not necessary to gain information on school scholarships and will only waste your time.

Even if you are a student of a home school, vocational school or a technical school, you can still apply for scholarships as there are many school scholarships which are awarded for these types of subjects. This is done especially to encourage students to take such subjects as these are non-traditional courses and the number of students who apply for them is less compared to the popular courses.

School scholarships might not always take care of all your educational expenses but they will still help you in reducing your yearly expenses on education. This in turn helps you to avoid taking a loan or spending your valuable bank savings.

Pell Grant

Saturday, April 5th, 2008

The Pell Grant was originally known as Basic Educational Opportunity Grant program and is named after US Senator Claiborne Pell. It is considered as the largest federal grant program offered for financial needs in the field of education. You can apply for the Pell Grant by submitting a FAFSA form, which will then be studied by the US Department of Education in detail. When you are granted the Pell Grant, then you will be paid directly or the college you are interested in will be credited with the grant amount. The Pell Grant is given only if you are interested in an eligible school which is listed in the grant. The advantage of a Pell Grant is that you don’t need to earn any academic grade point average to be eligible for it. Also unlike a loan it needn’t be paid back.

You will need to be a citizen of the United States of America to receive the Pell Grant. Even eligible non-citizens can apply for it. You will need to check the list on the internet. You will also need to have a high school diploma; GED or display the ability to gain from the program you will be offered. You should be pursuing your first undergraduate degree to be eligible for this grant. Incarcerated students are not considered for the Pell Grant. Also if you have defaulted on a title IV loan or owe a refund on a title IV grant, then you will not be considered for this grant. Lastly males who have not registered with the Selective Service will also not be considered eligible for the Pell Grant.

The Pell Grant can be very handy to anyone who has a low income and are under graduates or are post baccalaureate students (in certain cases). The grant amount will depend on various factors. They would include the contribution made by the student’s family, the cost of attendance, the duration of the academic year which will be attended by the student and finally the student’s enrollment category – full-time or part-time.

The maximum amount which is awarded to a student under the Pell Grant is $4,731. But this amount is valid only from the period between July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009. This maximum amount can change from one academic year to another academic year. The funds under the Pell Grant should be distributed to the students at least once per term (semester, trimester, or quarter). In case the schools do not use semesters, trimesters, or quarters then they must distribute the funds at least twice per academic year.