Get ready for summer.... when you can search for scholarships!

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More great information from the Financial Aid News site

I ran across a great article today from the Financial Aid News site. The article is called Using Your Summer Break to Search for Scholarships.

This is a great idea. The author gives three main points: 1. Set aside some time every day [for researching and applications], 2. Submit only high-quality applications [be confident about how well you have done each application], and 3. Use your community resources [and make local connections].

Find out more by checking out this article:
http://www.financialaidnews.com/headline/using-your-summer-break-to-search-for-scholarships/

The Financial Aid News has a monthly newsletter here: http://www.studentloannetwork.com/newsletter/ that is free. All you need to do is sign up.

A backlog of podcasts by Christopher S. Penn are available here:
http://www.financialaidnews.com/category/podcast/

He left the site in January (I just found out) but has done many financial aid podcasts that are very helpful.

The introduction video to the site is here:
http://www.financialaidnews.com/home/

All for now,
-Betsyanne

You can find more great scholarship links at the Nontrad site Scholarship pages
http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships.html and
http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships_page2.html

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR SCHOLARSHIP SEARCH!

FYI: The photo on this posting is from the great Microsoft clip art site, for owners of Microsoft Word software.

101 College Grants you Never Heard Of - from CollegeScholarships.org

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I love this page from CollegeScholarships.org.

For one thing, there area 101 College Grants described here. They include grants to study photography, ancient languages, music, religion, African studies, farming and lots more.

Just go here to the website:
http://www.collegescholarships.org/grants/101-grants.htm

and check out all the great links!

All for now,
-Betsyanne

My Squidoo pages - and Join Squidoo with my referral:
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmaster/referral/lizziebeth

The Online Education Database and Online School Accreditation

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I like this website, not only because it is an "org." (nonprofit) site, but because it has many good resources on it.

Definitely bookmark this site in your scholarship search. The page I went to today is one for Graduate Scholarships. It has links on it to ethnicity-based grants, specialty grants, subject grants and degree-based grants (see the left side of the website page).

The page is here:
http://oedb.org/grant/graduate-school

The Online Education Database has a new section on it now (2009) called Rankings. It tells if the college or university you are interested in is an accredited school. This is so important, especially because if you have to transfer and have gone to an un-accredited school, your credits might not transfer over to the accredited school. All that money you have spent could go to waste.

Also, it DOES matter what school you go to. Some are just better and more prestigious than others. Remember, the OED site ONLY is talking about ONLINE schools.

To find rankings on "regular" (not online schools) a good source is the U.S. News Report.
You don't have to buy the book on the site, just use the Quick Comparison area or the Search box.

Here is more information on accreditation:
http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ/
http://www.collegedegreeguide.com/articles-fr/accredited-college-university.htm
http://www.k12.wa.us/certification/colleges/reg_accred.html

Universities that are NOT accredited (list)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unaccredited_institutions_of_higher_learning

Find a school:
http://library.wichita.edu/undergrad/univweb.html

Good luck in your scholarship or grant search.

-Betsyanne

Some other sites:
The Nontraditional Student website and blog
Nontraditional students on Facebook

How to organize your scholarship search

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Okay, I'm not the best organizer ever. But when I was in school, I kept all my class notes scrupulously organized and divided.

Why? Because it saved me SO much time later on. When it was time to study for tests, I had everything together - my notes, my books, everything the teachers had given was all together. I know I saved SO much time by not having to look and look for my materials.

The same should also help scholarship and grant searchers. Here are some tips that may help you in your scholarship searches:

1. Document everything, every application, every essay. Double back up your copies and keep hard copies in a file drawer or dedicated folder.

2. Always include any correspondance, copies of emails, or letters that you send each school.

3. Copy and print out websites that you find helpful. Keep a separate folder on your desktop with all scholarship or grant information classified and organized, including web addresses and contact names.

3. Include deadlines and review these often.

Find out more about being organized:
Organize your financial aid documents (from Scholarships.com)
Sports Scholarship Pro's filing system explained
How to organize using an accordian file system
Make an application portfolio (from the Metropolitan State College of Denver)

Grants and links for Kentucky Education students

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Grants for Kentucky Education students - this posting at EHow.com looked interesting to me today. I have an initial Certification in English and Allied Arts in Teaching and am looking into going to get my Master's.

Here are some sites to help:

Grants for Kentucky Graduate Students - this article tells about Fulbright scholarships, a Master's grant offered through the American Inter-Continental University (for 10-20% of costs), and a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement grant, which "Provides funds generally not available through a university."

Environmental Education grants in Kentucky

And this looks interesting! GrantsAlert helps people from all over find grants for education and for "organizations, schools, districts, consortia and state education agencies." This definitely looks to be worth a look.


All for now,
-Betsyanne

Explore more:


Try the Nontrad Scholarships page for more scholarship and grant links. http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships.html

The Fulbright Program helps students study abroad

Some students may only have to pay back part of their loans under the new Bill

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More about the new Education Reform bill

I am really glad there are going to be new, better loans for students. I am guessing we will find out more soon. To me, the changes sound good. Mary Bevevino, PhD, a writer for the news site Examiner.com, explains that this new Direct Loan program includes some benefits for public service workers, such as teachers, law enforcement, and the military. Here is a quote from her article:


"The direct loan program provides a bonus for those college students majoring in public service careers such as teaching or nursing, as well as law enforcement and the military services.  If they pay their monthly payments regularly during the first 10 years after graduating, the rest of their 25-year loan will be forgiven (Erie Times-News, April 1, 2010, 6B)."

Other students will recieve money off of their student loans as well. Find out more at her article here:
 Financial Aid for College Students - Good News for Students Interested in Public Service Careers.
And thanks for @FafsaHelp on Twitter for a link to this really good article.


More articles:
(Yahoo) New law helps students pay for college
The Modesto Bee: law helps students
The bill only a first step - students need more (FastWeb)


-Betsyanne

 

Some good scholarship links: http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships.html
and http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships_page2.html.

This one looks interesting - a Project Mom full-ride scholarship

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The Project Mom scholarship is available for Moms AND Dads.

To apply, go to the Project Mom website at elearners.com and click on the Apply for Scholarship Now button.  You will tell about yourselves, and then fill out a short essay.

The site also tells you what schools offer what scholarships in your field. When you click on Terms and Conditions, you OK somebody from whatever school offers your degree to call you, which you may or may not want to do.

If you win the Project Mom scholarship, you can go to school tuition free. Hey, I just finished my scholarship essay. And I just found out that I could have waited to complete it and sent it in later. Oh well! For YOU to do this, just scroll down on the form and hit the button below the Submit button.

Good luck! You have until April 27th to go for this scholarship.

-Betsyanne

I want to be a grant writer - and I found some great online deals!

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Online Adventures - looking for a Grant Writing Class

I wonder how many other people out there wish they were grant writers. Anyone who has worked for or with a nonprofit wishes they could wave a magic wand and get more money for "their" group, I know.

Today I was thinking (again!) that if I were a grant writer, I could do this. I could apply for money from everywhere - - fill out the forms exactly right, write great introductory letters, and more. But unfortunately, I know exactly NOTHING about grant writing. Well, almost nothing.

But I have seen courses advertised locally. In fact, Western has several in an online catalog called the WKCTC site, which stands for Western Kentucky Community and Technical College. They have classes there at the college, but I am thinking more about taking an online class this time.

It has been a long time since I looked at this site. I am glad I came today, because there are a lot of new courses listed today.

Ed To Go: these classes are online classes I found two years ago. They are listed as part of WKCTC's online classes. Many courses are offered here, and the tuition is reasonable. I saw tuition of 1500.00 at another WKU site for a class in Grant Writing. I found one here for only $95.00. It is called Become a Grant Writing Consultant.

Of course, I may not be able to transfer this course credit over for a degree - but I may not WANT a degree, only the knowledge of how to write grants.

You may be looking for another skill or class. Check here at the site for lots more course offerings.

Here are some courses offered by a NEW group affiliated with WKU Community College calls the Jer Group. They are located at Paducah. They offer Creative Writing (sounds fun), How to find Legitimate Home Employment, Entrepreneurship, E-books, Career and Job Objectives, and lots more.

Just for a price example, the How to Find Legitimate Home Employment class costs only $59.00 plus the cost of the e-book, which is $9.95. That is still a GREAT deal.

I am going to be looking at both sites now to see all the courses that are offered. I think this is a great deal, and so much more affordable for me right now than going back to school as a "regular" student.

Here is another site I found today Hit by a Bus: Writing a Budget that Tells a Story Long after You've Gone. (This is a recorded teleclass about being a grant writer - on sale too) Hmmmm.... This class costs $77.00. Not bad! But it is a private class, not at the community college. The teacher, Johna Rogers, sounds very good.

Food for thought! I will definitely be going back to the websites above and seeing all the classes offered.


-Betsyanne

Learn more:
What is a Community College?
West Kentucky Community College (Paducah) (Ed2Go)
Bowling Green Community College
Bowling Green Technical College (Bowling Green, KY)
Apply for FAFSA money for community college
Find a local community college - by state
Different kinds of writing courses - how to find free ones

Y Not/Stuff Economics - a new scholarship information source

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More Scholarship Link Information

Y Not/Stuff Economics uses the new Terapad free web page system. It is a new source for scholarship link information.

I found this site today. It is an eclectic site, featuring "Economics, Baseball, Computers, and Other Stuff". I have never run across it before. On the surface, it didn't seem like it had a lot of information. Then I clicked on some category sections at the left hand side. Bingo!

The site had some scholarships just for African-Americans. Here is the link:
African-American Scholarships

There are also scholarships listed for Veterans, New Yorkers, Minorities, Nurses, and more. Check this out - I am sure to go back here for more information too.