There are lots of scholarships out there
Before you start your search for scholarships, you should take a look at the various types of scholarships to ensure you're looking for the one that's right for you.
1. Merit awards
These awards are based primarily on skills and abilities. They are not based on financial need in any way. They may be based on such things as:
- Academic performance;
- Athletic abilities;
- Artistic abilities;
- Community involvement;
- Leadership experience;
- And much more.
The value of merit awards ranges from being very small to very large, and most large scholarships are merit-based.
2. Financial Need-based
scholarships, also known as bursaries.
These are based primarily on your financial situation. Applicants
may be required to have distinguished students and be attending a
certain institute or faculty, or from a certain geographical
area.
3. Sociologically-based
scholarships
These scholarships are given to students of a certain ethnicity,
race, origin, or religion. Additional merit factors may be taken
into account once applicants are filtered according to
sociological factors.
4. Institutional
awards
Some awards are granted by a certain college or university for
students planning to attend the institute. These are used to
attract good students to a specific school, and are therefore
also based on merit factors. These scholarships may be
entrance scholarships, awarded once when
enrollment begins, or they may be up for renewal
on conditions of maintaining a certain GPA average.
5. General awards
This category includes awards given out by companies to encourage
employees to pursue further education, awards granted by
institutes and community organizations to members, etc. They are
often based on merits as well. They may have certain conditions
attached- for example, you may have to be working for the
employer for a certain period of time, or be enrolled in a
certain program at a specific institute.
Now that you know what types of scholarships there are out there, you know what to look for! Good luck!
