Online Scholarships

Online college scholarships are the best form of online financial aid you can receive because, unlike online university loans, you do not have to pay them back. Online college grants also offer this perk, but online college scholarships are more popular and have a wider range of possibilities to apply for.

Although online universities are cheaper than traditional universities, they can still leave a gaping hole in your wallet and savings. Therefore, applying for online college scholarships is a huge financial advantage. The first place you want to look for an online university scholarship is your online university financial aid website. They will most likely have a form for you to fill out, very similar to filling out a FAFSA form, which will allow them to determine the amount of financial aid they can give you.

Benefits of Applying to Multiple Online College Scholarships

Many students think online college scholarships are just for students with severe need of financial aid. This is not the case! In fact, those students generally take out online student grants instead of scholarships. Most online scholarships are merit-based, not need-based. Therefore, taking the time out to apply for multiple scholarships is extremely beneficial. When you apply for scholarships for online colleges you are basically asking for free money, and since it’s mostly merit-based, you can get money from as many scholarships as you apply for! Here are just some of the advantages of applying to multiple online college scholarships:

  • Financial support: The money you save from receiving scholarships can go towards other collegiate expenses (like online program costs, text books, etc.) or towards other expenses like your family or your savings.
  • Recognition of your own accomplishments: We can get so bogged down with everyday stresses that it is sometimes hard to take a step back and feel good about the accomplishments we achieve. Receiving an online university scholarship allows ourselves to take recognition of the good work we have done, whether it be volunteer work, school work, awards, etc. When we get recognized for accomplishments it tends to give us confidence to pursue other goals and excel in them.
  • Make your resume stand out: Receiving an academic scholarship is something that should definitely go on your resume. To learn how to create a great resume check out the career center at gradpower.com by clicking here.

Plenty of avenues to pursue multiple online college scholarships are available; your online university is just one! Check out online databases of scholarships, such as www.college-scholarships.com, www.scholarships.com, and www.online-degrees-and-scholarships.com.

Online University Myths

If you still aren’t convinced that online college scholarships are worth the time to apply for, here are even more reasons to apply. Many people are weary of applying for an online university scholarship because of false myths they’ve heard from fellow students, parents, or siblings. We’ll break open these myths and let you know what’s true:

  1. Scholarships are only for the smartest or most athletic
    1. Most definitely not true! Countless scholarships don’t even ask for grades, and those that do have minimums of 2.5, rather than 4.0.
  2. You have to be a great essay writer
    1. Not entirely true. Many scholarship companies look at the content of your writing, not the grammar or structure of it. Whether you follow the instructions and address the essay question is often more crucial to your success than how eloquently you write it.
  3. You have to be a high school student to win a scholarship
    1. There are scholarships for individuals already in undergrad programs, individuals in high school, and scholarships for graduate students as well as scholarships for people looking to get back into their education. You definitely don’t need to be in high school to qualify.
  4. Scholarships are all heavily weighted towards minorities and those with extreme financial need
    1. There are a lot of scholarships that don’t take either of those into consideration. Like we mentioned before, scholarships are usually based on merit, which means how well you construct your application, rather than financial need.
  5. Scholarship competition is too intense
    1. Well, of course there is competition! If there wasn’t, it wouldn’t make winning the online scholarship so rewarding! Even so, tons of applicants don’t take the time to properly read or follow the rules and answer the questions fully, or even correctly. Do everything correctly and you could be one of a small percentage of applicants who even gets considered.
  6. Finding scholarships takes forever
    1. Not with many scholarship databases. Set aside time to create a profile on sites like scholarships.com and the database offers scholarships that are appropriate to your needs!