Online-Degree-Scholarships Blog

There is no dearth of need based financial aid. To become eligible for the education aid, both parents and students need to be well informed. By knowing the strategies, candidates can maximize their aid eligibility manifolds. There are multiple common mistakes that parents and students can make during the process. However, if you adopt proper strategies, you can really avoid making these common mistakes and become a deserving candidate for need-based financial aid. Much of these strategies is simple financial planning. Strategies given below are those that financial aid advisors will tell you. Even when you get in touch with financial aid consultants, you should be capable of completing financial aid applications yourself.

If you want to take help from books, there are many of them to help you maximize your aid eligibility. Some of the most popular books you can read include the following.

Kalman A. Chany and Geoff Martz, The Princeton Review: Paying for College Without Going Broke, 2005. ISBN 0-37576-421-6 ($20.00). [Contains 352 pages.]

Anna Leider and Robert Leider, Don't Miss Out: The Ambitious Student's Guide to Financial Aid, 21st edition, Octameron Associates, Alexandria, Virginia, October 2004. ISBN 1-57509-096-1 ($12.00). [Contains 207 pages.]

Pat Ordovensky, USA Today - Financial Aid for College: A Quick Guide to Everything You Need to Know, With the New 1996 Forms, Peterson's Guides, Princeton, New Jersey, 1995. ISBN 1-56079-377-5 ($8.95). [Contains 154 pages.]

Only demonstrating your financial need will not get you education scholarships and grants. Given below are some important points you need to keep in mind while applying for need based financial aid programs.

Honesty is the Best Policy
Whatever strategies you develop must be based on truth. In desperation, parents and students should not indulge in unethical and illegal practices. Speaking out the truth on financial aid application may hurt a little, lying on the application may result into getting severe penalties. Whenever there is a case of fraud, the financial aid administrators send notifications to the US Department of Education.

Strategies to Follow
There are multiple strategies that you can adopt to increase your chances of receiving need based scholarships. Some of the most important ones include -

Remember to save money in parent's name rather than in the child's name. There are many saving options where your saving can be treated as a parent asset. The 529 college savings plan is a good example of that. Prepaid tuition plan and Coverdell Education Savings Account are the other saving option you can use.

Another important strategy to follow is parents can go back to advance their educational qualification along with the children. Or else, you can also have multiple children attending college at one time. The greater the number of family members in college at one time is, the bigger the chances are of receiving more education financial aid.

You may have several necessary expenses. Fulfill those necessities to reduce the amount of money available in cash. Therefore, if there is an urgent need to buy a car or a computer, buy them before you actually file the FAFSA.

Try to minimize capital gains and maximize your contributions towards the retirement fund. If you plan to pay some college education expenses, remember not to pay the amount from your retirement fund. Instead, you should use the cash money present in your bank accounts. Also reduce your educational debt. You should be well informed that a 529 college savings plan has the least possible impact on the student financial aid.

If you have credit card debts and loan balances to repay, pay them off first. Pay off your mortgage as well. Even when you file the FAFSA, you need to select the date wisely. The assets you possess and the marital status of the student will be taken into consideration as per the date of the application.

Both parents and students need to adopt these strategies so as to maximize their chances of receiving the free college money. By following these strategies and keeping these points in mind, you will be able to make well informed decision and become a deserving candidate for scholarship provided on the ground of your financial need.

Candidates who are looking for international fellowship programs have several scholarship opportunities to benefit from. Receiving a Fulbright Scholarship or being a Rhodes Scholar does prove your academic excellence. However, these are just two opportunities of the multiple scholarship programs available for international and after-graduate students. If you are recent college graduate and wish to pursue advanced study abroad, you can find a number of educational aid programs to help you support your education expenses.

Candidates who are looking for fellowship programs really need to put in some effort while applying for these scholarships. The best part of these programs is that they give you the opportunity to enter an area of study you are passionate about. Being one of the most prestigious awards, there is stiff competition to apply and win these fellowship programs. If you are really interested in applying, it is advisable to start as early as possible. You can start to plan for such programs as early as your freshman year. Early planning is the key to applying and winning these prestigious scholarship awards.

There are multiple resources students can avail themselves of. You can get in touch with the financial aid officers and counselors at your college. If you are pursuing a specific field, you should also start networking with professors and professionals in that field. The most important part of it all is to be prepared with the reasons behind pursuing a specific area of study and the explanation behind your wanting the award.

Some of the most popular awards you can benefit from to pursue an advanced degree internationally are listed below.

Rhodes Scholarship
If you are a resident of the United States and plan to pursue an advanced degree abroad, Rhodes Scholarhip provides you a right opportunity to fund your education. Under this prestigious educational aid scheme, 32 students are funded for studying at the Oxford University in England. American president Clinton and poet Robert Penn Warren are two famous alums. Rhodes Scholarship has the privilege of being the oldest international fellowship program.

Fulbright Programs
Whether you are a college graduate, a doctoral student, an artist, a recent college graduate or a young professional, Fulbright Scholarship awards are offered to fund your college education. These prestigious scholarships are awarded year-long projects, research projects, independent projects and teaching English among others. The United States Department of State sponsors this scholarship award.

Marshall Scholarship
The scholarship provides you a wonderful funding opportunity, if you are U.S. resident and wish to pursue an advanced degree in the United Kingdom. Under this education funding scheme, around 40 U.S. students are offered scholarships to study in the U.K. for two years.

Watson Fellowship
The fellowship program provides $25,000 to international students studying abroad. To become eligible to receive the award, you must be a senior earning your graduate from a participating college in the United States. These awards are provided to students on the ground of their genuine interests. Another criteria to benefit from the program is that the fellow can not come back to U.S. for their complete fellowship year.

German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship
Under this education funding scheme, around 50,000 students and researchers receive scholarships every year. If you are an undergraduate student or a graduate student and planning to study in Germany, you are eligible to apply for this prestigious award.

Gates Cambridge Scholarship
Set up by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the year 2000, Gates Cambridge Scholarship has become one of the most popular international grants for students. The award is offered to students outside the U.K. planning to study at the Cambridge University. Full tuition expense is covered under this international funding scheme.

Students can enhance their chances of winning scholarship awards by applying to as many scholarships as possible. But what's more important is that you research appropriately and know the eligibility criteria for these scholarship programs. In order to find and apply to financial aid programs that match your requirement, you need to think about who you are and what you do. If you are well aware of your ethnic background, affiliations, citizenship, academic background and achievements, you will be able to not slip away the scholarship award.

College Major/ Field of Interest
There are many scholarship sponsors, committees and organizations that provide financial support to students on the basis of their college major and the field of interest. So, if you are a college student, the first thing is to start with your college major or academic area. While applying for scholarships based on majors, you need to check whether the eligibility criteria fits in with your field of interest or college major. Those who are high school students need to consider what college major they want to pursue and can excel in.

There are candidates who are a double major. In this case, you want to check for scholarship possibilities under both the college majors. If you are an English major, you can not only apply for scholarship awards targeted at English major, but also listed under 'literature', literary studies' and 'humanities' among others. Some financial aid programs are based on what you aim to become in life. Depending on your career dreams (becoming a lawyer, doctor, engineer, teacher, journalist etc.), you can find and apply for awards that focus on such careers.

State of Residency/ State of Study
Knowing who you are also includes the state you live in or the state where you study. Many of the government funded education financial aid programs are targeted at in-state students. If you want to qualify for one of these awards, you need to establish your residency even when you are in your first year of your college. Candidates need to check out both their home state and the state where they are attending college. There are several private organizations that offer financial aid based on state specific criteria. These programs award students according to their academic merit and extra curricular activities.

Student Affiliations
There are numerous clubs and organizations that offer free scholarship money to their registered members. Find out what you like to do or what you are interested in. You can then join relevant clubs and organizations and become a registered member. You can qualify for many financial aid programs, depending on your hobbies and interests.

Ethnic Background
There are multiple scholarship award programs that target students on the basis of their ethnicity or cultural background. There are hundreds of scholarship programs for students of minority backgrounds. To apply for such financial aid programs, it is not mandatory to be a full blooded member of a particular ethnic background. Depending on your ethnicity, you can apply for native American students scholarships, Hispanic students scholarships, African American student scholarships etc. Candidates should, therefore, be well informed about the community group and ethnic background they belong to.

Disability
There are more scholarships types than you can think. Awards are also available for students who are suffering from disability or are physically challenged. Whether it is a learning disability or long term illness, there are financial aid programs for all physically challenged candidates. Some scholarship programs target specific disability while some of them are general awards for disabled students.

Foreign Students
Even when you are a resident of a state other than the United States, you can be eligible for several scholarship programs. Some of the scholarships are targeted at students belonging to specific countries. There are others that focus on international students. Candidates need to apply for scholarship listed under both the award categories.