Lesson: Performing Scholarship Research. With Internet searches yielding thousands, if not millions of results, it would take thousands of hours to go through a fraction of all available scholarships, and perhaps just as much time to determine which scholarships you have a high probability of being awarded. Consequently, you must develop a scholarship research and application strategy consistent with the amount of time and resources you have to devote to researching and applying for scholarships.

Create a Scholarship Table: If you did not complete the ‘Lesson – Get Organized for Scholarships, in which you received instructions for creating a ‘Scholarship Table:’

Review the following steps for developing a workable and manageable scholarship research and application strategy (Show Me the Money, pp. 175-216):

  • Determine your primary method of research, i.e., Internet or printed material
  • Review the available grants and scholarships on your state finance commission website by performing an Internet search on “(your state, e.g., South Carolina) + student finance commission”
  • Identify and tally the state grants and scholarships for which you qualify (indicate the name of the program and amount on the following line
  • Identify the scholarship criteria that best reflects your focus, i.e., GPA, ACT/SAT scores, class rank, race, gender, community service, leadership, foster care, military, college major, vocational or trade program, and for each of your clubs and extracurricular activities (see reference tables included in this activity)
  • Begin locally by identifying scholarships that have been awarded at your high school, in your community, and local by faith- and community-based organizations, fraternities/sororities, local businesses, and the clubs and activities in which you participate
  • Develop a list of trusted scholarship and financial aid sources, such as your high school counselor, the financial aid administrator at the colleges to which you are planning to apply, families where students have won scholarships, or organizations that have successfully provided assistance to students in your community
  • Develop a list of credible scholarship programs for which you personally know students who have successfully applied for and received scholarships
  • Identify need-based grants and merit-based scholarships offered by each of the institutions on your college list
  • Visit your school’s media center or local public library, and ask a librarian to guide you through some of the local scholarship resources and listings of some of your local community and civic organizations offering scholarships
  • Use different Internet search engines and scholarship websites (see reference tables on the following pages)
  • Focus your scholarship research on those scholarships best suited to your achievement level and personality. For example, some students would do well applying for scholarships requiring an interview, while other students would experience difficulty interviewing.
  • Identify scholarships that may not be offered by your institutions, such as institutional scholarships, but which may be associated with your institution such as the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society scholarships (http://www.ptk.org/scholarships/associatedegreescholarships.aspx), or which may be offered for certain types of institutions, such as the NRCS 1890 National Scholars Program (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/contact/sep/?cid=stelprdb1044309) offered to students attending 18 HBCUs.
  • Identify the key phrases to guide your initial scholarship research. For example, using different Internet Search Engines to research the phrases, “First-Generation Scholarships,” “Minority Scholarships,” and “Leadership Scholarships” yielded vast differences in results differences in results, from a few thousand to several million.
  • Search for scholarship deadlines. For example, “scholarships with december deadlines,” “accounting scholarships with december deadlines,” “first generation scholarships with december deadlines,=” etc.
  • Go to high school and college websites to research scholarships posted by counselors and financial aid offices. Begin with high schools or colleges similar to yours, such as public high schools, community colleges, HBCUs, etc., as they are more likely to post scholarships for students from similar demographic backgrounds. Expand your search to the websites of top high schools and selective colleges, such as those posted on the U.S. News and World Reports “Best U.S. High Schools,” and “Best Colleges.”

The most direct pathway to fully funding your college costs is matching to the right college—one to which you qualify for generous need-based grants and awards or merit-based scholarships. Any remaining unmet costs can be supplemented by small local scholarships. At many colleges, large private scholarships that you receive will lead to the college reducing the amount of their grants and scholarships.

Search Engine First-Generation Scholarship Minority Scholarships Leadership Scholarships
www.aol.com6,860,00028,800,00071,400,000
www.ask.com44 pages48 pages46 pages
www.bing.com2,010,000 results5,560,000 results22,700,000 results
www.dogpile.com84 pages79 pages100 pages
www.duckduckgo.comUnknown. Results shown on scrollable page.Unknown. Results shown on scrollable page in alphabetical order.Unknown. Results shown on scrollable page.
www.entireweb.com788,0003,290,00038,400,000
www.google.com3,220,000 results8,020,000 results18,900,000 results
www.lycos.com2,060,000 results15,200,000 results62,500,000 results
www.search.com1,390,020 results2,100,020 results3,770,020 results
www.yahoo.com11,500,000 results15,700,000 results62,500,000 results
www.yandex.com24 pagesOver 100 pagesOver 100 pages
www.yippy.com37,000 results15,400,00062,400,000

 

The following table provides a partial listing of scholarship websites (as scholarship websites regularly open, close, and are absorbed by other websites) that may assist with your scholarship research.

Website

Web Address

Big Future

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/grants-scholarships

College Grants Database

www.collegegrant.net

CollegeNet.com

www.collegenet.com

College Scholarships.org

www.collegescholarships.org

Cappex.com

www.cappex.com/index.jsp

Chegg

http://www.chegg.com/scholarships

College Xpress

www.collegexpress.com

Edudaris Educational Network

www.edudaris.com

Fastweb.com

www.fastweb.com

Scholarship America

www.scholarshipamerica.org

Scholarship Money

http://www.scholarshipmonkey.com/

Scholarships360

http://www.scholarships360.org/

Scholarship Experts

www.scholarshipexperts.com/

Scholarships.com

www.scholarships.com

Scholarships for Women

www.scholarshipsforwomen.net

 

The following table provides a partial listing of clubs and organizations offering scholarships to its members.

Club/Organization

Scholarship Website

American Sign Language Honor Society

http://www.aslhonorsociety.org/

Cum Laude Society

http://cumlaudesociety.org/

Delta alpha Pi Honor Society for Students with Disabilities

http://deltaalphapihonorsociety.org/

Delta Epsilon Phi National German Honor Society

http://www.aatg.org/DEP

Delta Mu Delta International Honor Society in Business

http://deltamudelta.org/

Eta Sigma Gamma

http://etasigmagamma.org/

Future Business Leaders of America

http://www.fbla-pbl.org/

Golden Key International Honour Society

http://www.goldenkey.org/

International Thespian Society

http://schooltheatre.org/ITS

Japanese National Honor Society

http://www.aatj.org/jnhs

Junior Achievement

https://www.juniorachievement.org/web/ja-usa/home

Junior Chamber International

http://www.jci.cc/guests/

Kappa Mu Epsilon National Math Honor Society

http://www.kappamuepsilon.org/pages/about.php

Key Club

http://www.keyclub.org/contestsawards.aspx

Mu Alpha Theta National High School Math Honor Society

http://www.mualphatheta.org/

Mu Eta Sigma National Homeschool Math Honor Society

http://www.mathhonorsociety.com/index.html

International Distinguished Scholars

http://idshonorsociety.org/

National Art Honor Society

http://www.arteducators.org/community/nahs/About

National Beta Club

http://www.betaclub.org/

National Business Honor Society

http://nbea.org/newsite/about/NBHS.html

National Chinese Honor Society

http://classk12.org/english-version.html

National Elementary Honor Society

http://www.nehs.org/

National English Honor Society

http://www.nehs.us/nehs/

National Forensic League

http://www.nationalforensicleague.org/

National Honor Society

http://www.nhs.us/scholarshipsandawards/nhsscholarshipprogram.aspx

National Honor Society for Dance Arts

http://www.ndeo.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=893257&module_id=53094

National Honorary Junior Beta Club

http://www.betaclub.org/

National Italian Honor Society

http://www.aati-online.org/

National Junior Honor Society

https://www.njhs.us/

National Society of Collegiate Scholars

http://www.nscs.org/

National Society of High School Scholars

http://www.nshss.org/

Pi Delta Phi, the National French Honor Society

http://www.augie.edu/related/pideltaphi/index.html

Quill and Scroll

http://quillandscroll.org/

Rho Kappa Social Studies Honor Society

http://rhokappa.socialstudies.org/home

Science National Honor Society

http://www.sciencenhs.org/

Tri-M Music Honor Society

http://musiced.nafme.org/tri-m-music-honor-society/

United States JCI Senate

http://www.usjcisenate.org/

United States Senate Youth Program

http://www.hearstfdn.org/ussyp/

Veterans National Honor Society

http://salute.colostate.edu/

Who’s Who Among Students

http://www.whoswhoamongstudents.com/

World Scholar International Honor Society

http://www.worldscholar.org/international-honor-society/honor-society-becomeamember.php

Tri-M Music Honor Society

http://musiced.nafme.org/tri-m-music-honor-society/

United States JCI Senate

http://www.usjcisenate.org/