The Betsyanne Find Scholarships and Grants Blog

Monday, July 12, 2010

Official U.S. scholarship and grant sites

Federal Aviation Administration headquarters i...

Image via Wikipedia - the Federal Aviation Administration Headquarters

You can trust the U.S.government blogs and websites that give information about scholarships and grants. Here are some of them:

Students.gov - the Student Gateway to the U.S. Government
This site has information about military service, career development, and how to plan and pay for your education. Check it out here: http://www.students.gov/. This site also has links to all kinds of other government sites.

FAFSA - the official site. Don't be lured in by sites that offer to help you (in return for payment, of course). This site is the REAL FAFSA site. http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/.

Here is a new site, the College Preparation List. Here is the Adult Student version: http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/checklist/AdultStudents.html. There is a link here on how to get your GED and also a link to find a college that matches your interests.

The Federal Aviation Administration site - - scholarships page. This page has links to Aviation and Minority scholarships, plus more. Here is the page: http://www.faa.gov/education/student_resources/scholarships_grants/.

And here is another one I have never seen until today: Disability.gov. The site is here: http://www.disability.gov/education. You can look up topics like benefits, civil rights, and education here. Under Education, I found a separate page on scholarships. Here is that page: http://www.disability.gov/education/financial_aid/scholarships.

Have another government page you would like to add to this list? Add it as a comment. Are you looking for a scholarship or grant? What works for you?

-Betsyanne

Find more scholarships at the Nontrads site - Scholarships links page one and Scholarship links page two. These are all free links and sites.

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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Squidoo and scholarship links

Image via Wikipedia - would you wear these contact lenses? Just wondering.

Ok. Back to the subject.

Here are three pretty good Squidoo scholarship link lenses.

I have been busy with Squidoo lately. I build lenses, I comment on other people's lenses, I check my numbers, I so assignments for RocketMoms, and more.

Today I searched for the term "scholarships" here for the first time, and voila! I found some good lenses written to help people looking for scholarships of all kinds.

I am sharing the best ones here with you.

#1. Scholarships for Women http://www.squidoo.com/scholarshipsforwomen. This lens includes a poll you can vote in, plus hints on how to best apply for scholarships.

#2. Top Ten College Advice, Funding and Planning Websites. http://www.squidoo.com/collegewebsites. The other title to this lens is Where to go for College Test Prep, Admissions Advice, and Financial Aid. I do like this lens.

#3. Teacher Student Loan Cancellation - http://www.squidoo.com/teacher_student_loan_cancellation. This site explains just how you can qualify for this Federal program. It also tells teachers and future teachers which schools are officially classified as Low-Income schools.

The websites here are quality ones with .edu or .org in many of the names. There are some here I want to put on the Nontrad Site as good links to explore. I think you will like these lenses too.

All for now!
-Betsyanne

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

Saturday, June 26, 2010

My Top Ten list of College Scholarship and Grant Sites

I like to talk about my favorite scholarship search sites. This is my first Top Ten list.

My Top Ten List

of Scholarship and Grant Sites

#1. The official FAFSA page at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/. This page is a must for people who want to see what loans or grants they can get via the U.S. government.

#2. The FastWeb site at http://www.fastweb.com/. This site is now celebrating its 15th anniversary. It is a free site, with many different scholarships listed. You register there and FastWeb matches you up with the scholarships that most fit your profile.

#3. The Scholarships.com site at http://www.scholarships.com/. This site has been recommended on many other websites as being a quality site with many links and resources.

#4. College Scholarships and Online Degrees and Scholarships - - these two websites are owned by the same people. If you link to them on your page, they will help you learn about how to promote your site. They also have great information and link pages on their sites, plus even more specialized websites too.

#5. The FastAid site at http://www.fastaid.com/ Their link here explains how the FAFSA works, and also give tips to international students and has 10 questions you can ask your Financial Aid Administrator.

#6. Fresch at http://www.freschinfo.com/index.php Fresch has a big database of over 450,000 awards, plus many other information pages for scholarship hunters.

#7. The Grants Site at http://www.grants.gov. This site has a huge number of grants, a special resource page, and more. From the website, "Today, Grants.gov is a central storehouse for information on over 1,000 grant programs and provides access to approximately $500 billion in annual awards."

#8. The College Board Pay for College Page at http://www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/index.html. This page answers many questions - - such as How Financial Aid Works, and Top Questions for the Aid Office. It is a free site too.

#9. The Mapping Your Future Resource Page at http://mappingyourfuture.org/paying/scholarshipresources.htm. This page contains 16 links to great scholarship resources. They already have FastWeb listed too.

#10. Last I list my two resource pages on the Nontraditional Student website, which feature more scholarship and grant links too. These pages are here:
The Scholarship Links Page One at http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships.html, and The Scholarship Links Page Two at http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships_page2.html. You will also see advice here on how best to fund your education.

I hope you find this list useful. Please let me know what scholarship and grant sites you like too - and your successes if you use this list. Good luck!

All for now,
-Betsyanne

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Monday, June 14, 2010

Some more great scholarship links June 2010

Have some time? Search for a scholarship.

Here are some more sites that you might like. They have articles, videos, and more scholarship sites to add to your scholarship site list and folder.

I hope you do have a filing area now, and a folder. You can find out more about organizing your scholarship search here:
Get Organized about your Scholarship Search

Here are the new sites you can look at. Let me know if this help you.
#1: The EHow Featured Scholarship Search Articles. http://www.ehow.com/find-scholarships/. This site has many articles and also videos to help you in your scholarship search. Some are: How to find Musical Scholarships, Finding Scholarships for Blacks, and how to find Drama Scholarships.

#2: The IEFA Site - http://www.iefa.org/. this abbreviation stands for the International Financial Aid and College Scholarship Search page. They help US students and international students find aid for studying abroad.

And here is another great site. It is the College Board site. This page, http://www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/scholarships-and-aid/8936.html tells about how to develop a strategy for finding money for school.

More articles you may like:

More links for your scholarship arsenal
Real stories about real people - and how they got their scholarships
and
How an advisor can help you find money for school

Good luck in your scholarship search!

-Betsyanne

The Nontraditional Student website and blog

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Thursday, June 3, 2010

Add these new links to your scholarship search arsenal!

Image via Wikipedia

More Great Scholarship Link Pages

I found even more scholarship links today, some in surprising places! I have not tested these links or have much information on them, but they are new and different. I think they would be definitely worth a look.

Here is a short list:

#1: The Scholarship Link List from DormBuys.com. This link list includes the United Negro College Fund site and IEFA.org, which stands for International Education Financial Aid. Here is that link:
http://www.dormbuys.com/scholarships

#2: Here is the College at Brockport's list. It includes some other new sites, such as Adventures in Education, Club Scholarship, and the International Scholarships Database. Let me know which ones you try out and like. The site is here:
http://www.brockport.edu/scholarships/links/search.html

#3: The Scholarship America site - this is a .org site, which is usually a good sign (a nonprofit site). Some new links here include the College Goal Sunday site, AidScholar, Edvisors, and Students.gov.

I like these new resources!

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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Monday, May 17, 2010

A great page at the FinAid site - what are the odds of winning different kinds of scholarships?

Here is a link you will like.

It's from the FinAid site. This page answers some questions. For instance, it explains that the odds of winning a scholarship depends on how competitive they are. The most competitive awards have about a 1 in 400 chance. But (on the hopeful side) the less competitive ones have a 1 in 10 chance of you winning it.

The FinAid site goes on to explain why some scholarships are offered, and what you need in order to qualify for them. You can sign up on this page to see if you match with the scholarships they have listed. This is a totally free service.

Also, this page (at the bottom) also has links to these pages:

Searching for Scholarships

Getting Organized

Advance Preparation

Essays

Letters of Recommendation

Interviews

Here is the main page of the FinAid site. It's one of my very favorite scholarship search sites.
http://www.finaid.org/

-Betsyanne

You can find other scholarship links at the Nontrad site here:
http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships.html

and here:
http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships_page2.html

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Finding Scholarships only YOUR school offers - how an advisor can help

How an advisor can help you find money for school
Students who are enrolling in a college, trade school, or other school should always make an appointment with a career counselor, advisor, or guidance person at the school. These people do not charge a fee, and can help you schedule your classes, get registered, and also tell you about scholarships or special programs at your school that you might not know about.

For instance, your school might have a work-study program that pays you for certain jobs while you are going to school. Your advisor will have the forms for you to fill out to apply for these positions.

You can also apply for special scholarships that may be offered at your school due to a grant or alumni donation. The list of these special scholarships and who qualifies for them should be available to your advisor too.

Good luck finding some in-school programs and money for your school year. It all helps!

-Betsyanne

More pages to check for scholarships:
The Nontrad Scholarship pages - Page One and Page Two
The Official FAFSA pages
The FastWeb Scholarship search site
The Fresch Scholarship search pages

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Sunday, May 9, 2010

New discoveries on the FastWeb site

FastWeb - It is not just a search site

Fastweb (located at http://www.fastweb.com) is a free Scholarship Search site. I went there today to look for articles and found several sections I want to share here.

#1. Fastweb has a Forum that has discussions about choosing a college, testing, graduate school, careers, and a lot more. That link is here:
http://www.fastweb.com/discussions

#2. They also have a Financial Aid Advice section where Mark Kantrowitz answers questions with videos about financial aid. The video posted below is just one in a series of 12. It is called Scholarships 101.

#3. Mark Kantrowitz also has a section where he answers questions people ask him on the site. It is called "Ask Kantro." Here is the link to those questions and answers:
Recently Popular Ask Kantro Articles.

I know I will be back to explore these sections and videos, and I hope you like them too.

All for now,
-Betsyanne

Find out more:
Why FastWeb is a great site - by Star Reviews
The Top Five Scholarship Links
Which (Scholarship) Search Sites are the Best?

My sister sites: The Nontraditional site and blog, Follow @scholarsgrants on Twitter!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Some of the best scholarship links including the official FAFSA site

A few good Scholarship and Grant sites

Of course, my favorite site, the Nontrad pages, has two pages of links on it. Here are those links:

http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships.html and

http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships_page2.html

And below are two more great sites. I have these also listed as links to the right of the blog, along with others you may want to check out. Just scroll down and check out the links to the right here at the blog site.

The Financial Aid News - this also has a podcast, that you can download and listen to however you like. I like to listen to my podcasts using a small MP3 player. I just put the shows on there and hook the player to earphones. Here is that link: http://www.financialaidnews.com/

The Official FAFSA Site - always check here first. That way you can get an idea of what money is available to you. The FAFSA site also tells you about some grants that are available, as well as what loan offers you can get for school. The link: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

You may run into other sites that SAY they are official and offer services for pay. You do not need to pay to get your FAFSA information. This entire site is free.

The Fastweb site - this is a primo scholarship search site and is also absolutely FREE. It is a quality site that matches you with scholarships you may qualify for. They also email you with offers and deadlines. That site is here: http://www.fastweb.com/

Which sites do YOU like? Let me know by commenting below this posting.

-Betsyanne

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Sunday, May 2, 2010

Find what you want on Twitter by using the Search Box function

Current Scholarship Tweets on Twitter,
and How to Check Them Out

Do you ever go to the Twitter site just to see what people are talking about? Here is how you can look at what is going on with any subject you want to talk about.

#1. Go to the Twitter site. (http://www.twitter.com).

#2. Search using the Twitter search box for any subject you want to find out about. A good example (because we are on the Find Scholarships and Grants site) is Scholarships or Scholarships for college (or whatever kind of scholarship you are looking for).

#3. Type your chosen word or words into the box. I searched for "Scholarships" (minus the quote marks.)

#4. Check out what comes up on your Twitter screen.

Then just click on the link of each posting to see what comes up on the Twitter Tweets you like. Make sure to see if the article has sources to it. Made-up articles just aren't good ones. They are only fillers that advertise scammy sites.

But you will find some gems in among these if you look hard enough. If you use a more specified search, such as "Kentucky higher education Scholarships" or "Medical scholarships in New Jersey", or "scholarships to ivy league schools", your search will probably net you more useful Twitters.

If you are on Twitter already, you may choose to follow people with the best postings right after your search.

All for now,
-Betsyanne

P.S. Find more quality tweets:
Betsyanne on Twitter
Nontraditional Students on Twitter
Scholarships and Grants on Twitter

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Get organized - and keep track of your scholarship and grant applications

Today I got some great organizational advice from three different sites.

#1: How to Organize the Scholarship Process - this is from the Scholarships4School site. Some of the methods mentioned here include keeping your original data (like recommendations and test scores) separate from the rest of your paperwork. Also, notes of any telephone conversations should also be kept on file in the same place you are keeping everything.

(from me) I used to use a Teacher File Folder that had a handy lock and carrying handle. These can be gotten at Wal-Mart for a good price. These are easy to use, and have a bar that supports a regular handing file folder. If you are not using a file cabinet, these kind of holders are very useful.

#2. The College Answer Guy site has some other suggestions for your scholarship or grant search. He suggests both a wall and pocket calendar to help you keep track of deadlines. He also agrees with the file folder approach, and suggests you label everything carefully.

#3. Finally, The College Data site suggests that you make a check-off list for each scholarship requirement. Also, a list of your accomplishments and a list of people who can write recommendation letters can help you answer these kinds of questions on your application. Also, they suggest having a good headshot photo in case it is needed.

You can find out more by clicking on the links - above or below here.

The College Data site
https://www.collegedata.com/

The College Answer Guy
http://www.collegeanswerguy.com/

Scholarship Help
http://www.scholarshiphelp.org/

Good luck on your scholarship or grant applications!

-Betsyanne

Find great scholarships and grants links here:
http://www.nontradstudents.com/scholarships.html

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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Harvard University's Scholarship links

Link of the Day:
Harvard University's Outside Award Link Page

This page also has links to Harvard's Financial Aid Tools and a Contact Us link.

And here is their Financial Aid (main) page.
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k51861&pageid=icb.page227820

Why Harvard? It's a great school!
If you can get into Harvard, you can make great freinds, and learn from the best of teachers.

This photo is from Alcinoe at Morguefile.

Page URL:	http://mrg.bz/Ixs23v
Image URL:	http://mrg.bz/lBhMut

-Betsyanne

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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

New Online Scholarship and Grant information at .org sites!

The neat thing about .org sites are that they are public service sites. They do not charge for their services.

I found several today while searching for scholarship information, so I want to share them with you here.

#1 Scholarship Help - this site has a 2005 copyright, and has some useful information, but some of it is dated, and at least one link is also . But they have an interesting Internet Guide page: http://www.scholarshiphelp.org/helpful_links.htm. This has some sites I am not familiar with.

#2 School Scholarships - this school seems to only offer links to online schools, but offered some articles and a link to the next site, Grants.gov. http://schoolscholarships.org/

#3 Grants.gov - this site helps people apply for Federal grants. It has a nice search page here: http://grants.gov/applicants/find_grant_opportunities.jsp

#4 Apply Texas: this is a Texas admission page for every Texas Public University, "plus some private and two-year schools." What a great idea - and you can find out what is offered as far as scholarships with your application here: https://www.applytexas.org/adappc/gen/c_start.WBX

Another site I liked was the sdfoundation links page here (from the San Diego Foundation): http://www.sdfoundation.org/scholarships/websites.shtml.

All for now,
Betsyanne

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Thursday, April 8, 2010

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

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.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

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

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

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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The Online Education Database and Online School Accreditation

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

Monday, April 5, 2010

How to organize your scholarship search

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)

Friday, April 2, 2010

Grants and links for Kentucky Education students

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

Thursday, April 1, 2010

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

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.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

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

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

Monday, March 29, 2010

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

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

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Y Not/Stuff Economics - a new scholarship information source

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.

Friday, March 26, 2010

What do I REALLY want to do?

You've all probably heard the saying - it's not a mistake when you learn from it.
Or how about this one: be yourself - do what YOU want to do.

I have been wondering. What do I really WANT to do with the rest of my life? And is going back to school part of my plan?

These are really good questions, I think. People who get scholarships to college or trade school can sometimes change their minds about what they want to do with their education later. It's okay to do this - especially since happiness day to day can mean so much in a career.

But how do you really know what you want? Some lucky people just automatically know what they want to do, and have known since childhood. Others just don't. I was one that didn't know. I knew what I was GOOD at, but sometimes following what you are just GOOD at doesn't work out.

And I know personally that sometimes you can want to do more than one thing. For instance, I enjoy writing, AND art, plus I like to work with websites. And I always wanted to be a teacher and see what it was like. I took teaching and also English and art. Later, I taught in a Kentucky high school. I was faced with students that were way below class level in reading, and some with undiagnosed disabilities of many kinds. I didn't have much help, and it was really hard for a first-time teacher like me.

So now do I want to be a Special Ed teacher instead? I don't think so. I have already seen what that could be like. And now I have a choice - do I go for my Master's and have even more student loan payments, then find out I don't like it?

This can be a quandry for others, too, I just know it.

So what to do? I guess researching what you like to do could help me and others.

Here are some interesting sites that can help you (and me!) decide.

Talk it up - work it out - your future
The Edison Mental Fitness test - would you have made his team?
Career test (free) from Fun Education (watch out for ads)
Free Career Tests Everyone Should Take - from the Accredited Online Colleges site
More free career tests (includes Canada, and the UK)
The Dalai Lama's list of important things to do

-Betsyanne
My business pages
My Squidoo lenses

Monday, March 22, 2010

Why Fastweb is a great site - by starREVIEWS

I have recommended FastWeb as a scholarship search site for years.

There is a great review by starREVIEWS 2010 about the site. Here is the link:
http://www.starreviews.com/fastweb.aspx

Some of the things that starREVIEWS like about FastWeb are:
1. You can opt out of advertising by clicking on a link while you are signing up,
2. Even though advertising appears on the site, it still only takes about 15 minutes to sign up.
3. The site is free to use
4. You get a personalized profile and a place to store it when you come back to use it again, and
5. Support on the site was fast (email, one day, and phone just 2 minutes.)

Although ideally it would be great if starREVIEWS only reviewed scholarships, (it looks a bit commercial) I was glad to find this review today.

Find out more:
Go to the FastWeb site
The starREVIEWS site
starREVIEWS reviews four other scholarship sites too

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Berea College - better than a scholarship!

Berea College - Uniqueness with a Difference

Have you heard about Berea College? It's a unique place where promising low-income students can work to attend. No tuition is charged. It is located in Kentucky's Bluegrass region, south of Lexington, Kentucky.

Their website: http://www.berea.edu/

Learn more about what Berea College is all about:
See a YouTube video about Berea College

Grow your potential, not your debt:
http://www.berea.edu/prospectivestudents/financialaid/

Find out more:
Berea on Facebook
A New York Times article:
With no Frills or Tuition, a College draws Notice

Photo by kfjmiller@morguefile.com, karen@kfjmiller.co.uk,

Page URL:

http://mrg.bz/2BuXix

Friday, March 5, 2010

Five Twitter Postings for March 5th

FIVE TWITTER POSTINGS
for March 5th, 2010

Twitter is a lot of fun, and can help you find information you need, too.

Here are some recent Twitter postings I have found that I liked. I have re-tweeted them (thus the RT before the quotation). I twit at @ScholarsGrants about scholarships and grants, motivation, quotations, college, and more.

As those of you know who are already on Twitter, the site is a great place to find neat sayings, websites, and blogs. It is also a great place to meet people who have your same hobbies, jobs, thoughts, etc.

I hope you enjoy these twitters.

RT @SirkRialb Try not to become a man of success but rather a man of value -Albert Einstein

RT @2cor9 RT @dahara: More powerful than the will to win is the courage to begin. ~ Unknown

When a mouse laughs at the cat, there is always a hole nearby - Nigerian Proverb @debbie_wood

RT @Noetical “The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat.”~Jules Renard #QUOTE #CatQuotes

I just read part of this Squidoo lens of the Day: lovely! The Daffodil Principle: http://www.squidoo.com/daffodil

To subscribe to my Tweets on Twitter as ScholarsGrants, just go to Twitter.com, sign up, and then follow @ScholarsGrants. See you on Twitter!

-Betsyanne

You can also follow me on Twitter at @betsyanne and @nontrads. See you there!

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Why fill out a FAFSA? Here are tips.

Filling out your FAFSA form

The FAFSA is the free application for Federal student aid. It not only gives you the estimated amount that you will receive when you fill it out, it also sends your application to the school of your choice and also applies you to other scholarships and grants that you qualify for.

Some sites just pretend to be the "real" FAFSA site, and will do your application for you or help you for a price. Never use those if you can help it. The REAL FAFSA site is totally free.

Here is the link to go there:
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

Tips to help!
Save your form often: Fill out this form and save it often, so you don't lose any of your information. At the end of the application, you will receive your very own password and PIN number. Keep this information totally private. You will find out what awards and loans you qualify for in a few days or a week after that usually. (Read the page at the end to find out how long you will be waiting.)

Print out the ending page with your personal information on it and keep it in a safe place, marking on your calendar when to check back.

See what YOU qualify for by filling out this form for yourself. And good luck!

Have what you need out when you fill out the FAFSA: (watch this video):

More information:
Scholarships, page one on the Nontrads site
Start Here: How to fill out the FAFSA form (official)
FAFSA Tips and Common Misstakes to Avoid When Applying for Student Aid (from the NASFAA.org site)
The Five-Minute FAFSA (above)

I hope this is helpful to you!

Betsyanne

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Join Squidoo!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Top Five Scholarship Links and Leads

Have you already tried to get scholarships and never did? OR maybe you have not started to do work towards getting scholarships.

I think one major reason people don't try to get grants or scholarships is that they don't think it will do any good to try; that others may have more qualifications, or that it will be just a waste of time. But don't give up. There are plenty of people who HAVE gotten scholarships and grants from some sites.

Lately, I have noticed a lot of sites that put themselves out there as being "official" sites or actually offer scholarships themselves. I think this might be a good way to get traffic to your site, but you never actually KNOW that some of the sites are legitimate. I think sticking to the tried and true sites doesn't hurt, and is probably the wise course to take.

Below I have listed my Top 5 links and sites for you to try. They are also listed at the Scholarship Pages at my other site, The Nontraditional Student website. I have more links and sites listed there too, and you can check those pages here: Scholarships Page One, and Scholarships Page Two.

Here are my Top Five sites:

#1: The Official FAFSA site - register here if you are serious about going back to school and already have your GED. http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ Filling out the application automatically puts you in competition for many grants and scholarships across the country. Plus, it is a totally free site. Filling out the form does NOT mean you have to go back to school. It only give you options. An affiliated page here is Student Aid on the Web.

#2. Fastweb Scholarship Search pages. http://www.fastweb.com/ This site has a LOT of scholarships listed. You register at the site and they find what scholarships match your profile. Here is their description from the site: "There's a reason Fastweb is recommended by more than 16,000 high schools across the country. Last year, one out of three college-bound high school seniors used Fastweb to find money for school. You won't find more scholarships anywhere else." The site authors also say that this site is the "largest private sector scholarship database in the world."

#3. Fastaid (Fastap) Scholarship Free Search. http://www.fastaid.com/ This site is also really good. Check out the comments that people who have used their site have given. Their link here explains how the FAFSA works, and also give tips to international students and has 10 questions you can ask your Financial Aid Administrator.

#4. The Fresch Aid Pages - http://www.freschinfo.com/index.php (From the site) "FreSch! has a database of over 5,000 organizations and foundations that offer scholarships, representing approximately 450,000 awards." You can search this site for free without registering. This link tells about how this site was started, and how it grew. On the Fresch site, they also have pages on different kinds of loans, Success Stories, Tips on finding Scholarships, and tips on filling out scholarship applications, too.

#5. There are several sites that are tied for fifth place, so I will list them all here. Here they are: Career One Stop Scholarship Search, the Dr. Torres Database, Fed Money.org, College Net, and the Broke Scholar pages.

Please leave a comment and list YOUR favorite Scholarship and Grant search spots.

-Betsyanne

The Nontraditional Student Scholarship Pages
Join Scholarships and Grants on Twitter

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