How to Find More Scholarship Money for Free

Don't ignore local scholarships available for students. And don't leave it to others, like your guidance counselor, to inform you. For whatever reason, they may fail to get you the word. Some of those scholarships may not be large individually, but you can pyramid them. A full-on, organized effort will win every time.

When I did an interview a few years back with Matthew Lesko, author of "Free Money to Pay Your Bills" and numerous other books providing information on government money available to regular citizens, we discussed scholarship money.

He brought up the issue of unclaimed scholarships and gave some examples. I responded by telling him about a local nonprofit service organization that awards ten $500 merit- and need-based scholarships a year to college-bound students in four neighboring counties. One year, five or six years back, there were no recipients in our county. I called and asked why. No one applied, I was told. In fact, if anyone in our county who met the requirements had applied, they would have been a shoe-in for the scholarship.

Lesko laughed and said he should get the background on that story so he could use it.

And now it has happened again this year.

A press release announced scholarship recipients and our county got only one. I called and, sure enough, the only reason was because no one in our county applied except the one student who did get one of the 10 scholarships. We talked briefly about publicizing the scholarship's availability, because they had done what they could...sent out press releases to everyone, provided application information to the schools, and whatever else they could think of.

The lesson is simple. Ask around, find out about the scholarships offered by local service organizations. Don't just rely on guidance counselors.

Here are some tips to help you in your search:

** Apply for everything you can. Keep applying until you've achieved your financial goal.

** By all means, check with your guidance counselor for leads, especially on local scholarships. But don't stop there. You might check the college you plan on attending. See what they offer at their website. Or meet with the college financial advisor. Without getting boring, try to engage their interest by emphasizing your thorough approach to the search.

** In your search, consider affiliations through yourself or your parents (union, service organization, bank), as well as your hobbies, religion, and ethnic background and see where this might lead you.

** What about your job? Are you working at a job at a fast food restaurant, chain store, or chain supermarket that offers scholarship money to employees?** Tell friends, relatives, everybody that you are seeking scholarship money. A relative who's an ex-GI might know of a grant through the Veterans of Foreign Wars or even an essay contest on patriotism that can produce a small savings bond for your college fund, as well as a useful notation on your application. someone else might tell you how a local service organization sponsors an annual scholarship you can try for that doesn't require membership.

** Don't forget, with local scholarships the competition, for obvious reasons, is much smaller than for a nationally-known scholarship.

** Don't overlook small scholarships, local or not. Better to have a bag full of $500, even $50 or $100, scholarships than no big money, full-ride scholarships at all.

** Don't be over reliant on internet searches or scholarship books if only because that's what everyone else is checking.

** Keep your antennae out for the truly offbeat sources of scholarship money, because, due to their offbeat nature, they can slide in under your radar. They might show up in the local paper, on a bulletin board at the bank, or anywhere else. When I was studying broadcasting at a local community college, there was a contest open to students that offered free tuition for one semester of a class of your choice to the winner of a radio drama script-writing contest. It was available to the public, not just current students. I doubt if it got much, if any, promotion off-campus.