Scholarships 101 Part 2: Community Organization and Corporate Scholarships

There are a lot of scholarships available for college, but without knowing where to look it can become overwhelming! In Part 2 of Scholarships 101, I share my best tips for searching for scholarships that come from private donors, community organizations, and corporations.

Before You Get Started

College applications take a lot of time and energy… personal statements, supplemental essays, curating an activities list, and completing the general application! And, as mentioned in Part 1 of this series, the majority of scholarship money comes from individual colleges in the form of merit aid so a well-done college application should be your first priority. However, once completed, you can shift your focus to other scholarship opportunities.

The Basics

Community and corporate scholarships will typically be similar to the college application, requiring an application, an essay, and one or more letters of recommendation.

Because seniors have already been working on their college applications, they should have many of these requirements ready to go. However, scholarship essays will likely have new prompts and consume the most time. It’s easy to run into burnout quickly, so it's important to prioritize which scholarships are worth your effort.

Where to Look

Typically your best chance at winning scholarship money comes from your community - local organizations, businesses where you or your parents work, credit unions, and private donors supporting your high school or school district.

Local Organizations:

• Lions Club

• Elks Club

• Chamber of Commerce

• Rotary Club

Resources for Local Scholarships:

• High School College Counselor

• College Software that your school uses like Naviance or Scoir

My Top 10 Scholarship Search Tools:

Just remember, you should never pay for access to scholarships!

• https://www.fastweb.com/

• https://www.goingmerry.com/ 

• https://www.salliemae.com/college-planning/tools/scholarship-search/

• https://www.appily.com/scholarships

• http://free-4u.com/

• https://www.internationalscholarships.com/search

• https://militarywithkids.com/100-military-kids-scholarships/

• https://www.scholarships.com/ 

• https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/scholarship-search# 

• https://www.petersons.com/scholarship-search.aspx 

In Conclusion

The scholarship search and application process can be very time-consuming, especially coming on the heels of college applications. But, if you are deliberate in your approach, applying for scholarships doesn’t need to feel overwhelming and can be well worth your time and effort! 

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Scholarships 101 Part 1: Merit-Based Aid to learn more about how to identify scholarships and merit money offered by individual colleges and universities.

Have a question? Don’t hesitate to reach out at nikihaubner@deliberatelydesignedllc.com!