School Me Saturday 11/26/22-scholarships

Let’s talk money, shall we?

I have always said after finishing my masters that I would be interested in a PhD IF I didn’t have to pay out of pocket for it.

Yay! You got into your first pick college. Or second, it’s all to be celebrated.

Now, I am sure you have done the sensible thing and gone to a community college to get the pesky general ed classes out of the way.

No?

That’s okay.

There are still little known scholarships to obtain.

Did you know that Mashalls, before they were owned by TJ Maxx, used to be owned by a pharmaceutical company? Definitely. Do I remember which one? No. But they gave me a $4,000 scholarship to start my college journey with.

The first tip is to ask your employer about scholarships they offer. And follow up that question with when is the application period open? Don’t ask how much, that is gauche. Any scholarships are a gift.

If you are a teenager looking toward college, ask your parents if the company they work for has a scholarship program for dependents of employees. They might, but not advertise it.

You can google scholarships and there are many clearing house type of companies who can help you tap into scholarships. These tend to the younger crowd, high schoolers, first time college students, minorities, perceived minorities (such as men going into nursing), military. You get the idea.

It isn’t a bad thing to join one of these sites. Be prepared for a LOT of email queries. In fact, use an alternate email and check it often. An example of these sites is Scholarship Owl. I’ve not gotten any scholarship money out of them, but I recognize that I am not their target audience. Someone, presumably, is getting the scholarships, it is just not me.

You can also search scholarship on Pinterest. There are many other sites that are not Scholarship Owl.

If, like me, you are a nurse looking to go back to school, apply at the state level Board of Nursing. Can’t hurt.

Or apply to the professional organization scholarship that you belong to. I did, and I am anticipating $2,000 at the end of the semester.

And the last tip, which should be near the beginning, is ask the college that you will be attending if there are any scholarships that you qualify for. They want students, and some make it easier for them to attend. The university I am attending now has a scholarship that, if I agree to teach on a collegiate level at an accredited school for 4 years, I will get 85% of the tuition cost paid for. This is the best deal that I have found. There are many, many, many accredited nursing schools. And they are desperate for instructors. There is a nursing instructor shortage, which is compounding the nurse shortage. Can’t graduate nurses if there is no one to teach them.

Apply early, apply often for scholarships. You never know when your number will come up and you are the new recipient of money for college.