Best Information and Scholarship websites

The Nursing Scholarship Program is a selective program of the U.S. Government that helps alleviate the critical shortage of nurses currently experienced by certain types of health care facilities by helping needy students complete their nurse training. In exchange for the scholarship, upon graduation, the newly minted nurses work at these facilities for at least 2 years.

This year:

• the program is adapting to the increasing demand for nurse practitioners by reserving up to half of the award funds for students pursuing a master’s level nurse practitioner degree; and
• NSP participants must serve at an eligible health care facility located in a primary care or mental health Health Professional Shortage Area also known as a Critical Shortage Facility (CSF).

Nursing Scholars fulfilling their service commitment receive a competitive salary and benefits package, which they negotiate directly with the employing facility.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid website provides explanations of the Federal Pell Grants and important information regarding the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), how financial aid is calculated, and important information regarding how to complete the FAFSA.

The U.S. Department of Labor provides a scholarship search tool that allows you to search by award type, state of residence, level of study, and special categories such as race, disabilities, etc.

The Institute for College Access and Success provides important information on student loan debt, higher education data and research. You may download free reports. Their website allows you to view student loan debt by state and for colleges and universities within the state. Parents and students should find it interesting that the student loan debt for students attending public colleges and universities are oftentimes as high, if not higher, than the amount of debt students accumulate who are attending private colleges and universities.

Fastweb is one of the longest standing websites providing scholarship and financial aid information, jobs, and internship opportunities. The website claims to maintain a database of over 1.5 million scholarships totaling over $3.4 billion. This website is definitely for the student or parent willing to go through thousands of scholarships and links to scholarship websites. Plan to invest a lot of time and energy and to complete lots of scholarship applications to maximize use of this website.

The Scholarships.com website provides access to a broad range of scholarships by categories such as grade level, state, type, sports, and leadership. The website also provides valuable information in regard to scholarship application strategies and highlights scholarships with forthcoming deadline dates.

The National Center for Education Statistics “College Navigator” website allows students to research comprehensive information on all U.S. Colleges and Universities such as: number of students, costs, type of financial aid, racial and gender makeup of the student body, types of programs, admission rates, admissions criteria, SAT and ACT scores, campus crime statistics, retention rates, and graduation rates by race.

This website allows students to research and compare multiple colleges in such areas as size, racial makeup of student population, graduation rates, acceptance rates, median SAT and ACT scores, cost, and location.