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Scholarships

Undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships are forms of aid that help students pay for their education. Unlike student loans, scholarships and fellowships do not have to be repaid. Hundreds of thousands of scholarships and fellowships from several thousand sponsors are awarded each year.

Generally, scholarships and fellowships are reserved for students with special qualifications, such as academic, athletic or artistic talent. Awards are also available for students who are interested in particular fields of study, who are members of underrepresented groups, who live in certain areas of the country or who demonstrate financial need.

It is important to ask the school's financial aid office about its outside scholarship policy, since this can affect how much you benefit from winning a scholarship if you are receiving need-based student aid.

The most reliable information about the number and amount of scholarships can be found in the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), a statistically representative survey of undergraduate and graduate students conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) at the US Department of Education.

There are several free scholarship databases available online. Here are just a few:

 

NCAA Official Site
Education Planner
UPromise
College Board