You can search for information on scholarships, grants, and loans in
the directories at your public and school libraries, or on the internet.
The following resources, compiled by librarians at Calfornia State
University, Sacrament, provide helpful information about strategies
for paying for college, along with lists of scholarships. A guide Web
resources follows.
Annual Register of Grant Suport. Chicago: Marquis, Annual.
Describes grant programs offered by a wide variety of organizations
within broad subject categories.
A's and B's of Academic Scholarships. Alexandria, VA: Octameron,
Annual. Offers good general information on financial assistance
prefacing the main body of major awards available at colleges nationwide.
Cash for College: The Ultimate Guide to College Scholarships.
NY: William Morrow, 1999. Provides information on 6,000 scholarships,
alphabetically arranged, with indexes by category. Includes chapters,
with examples, on useful advice, the application process, query letters,
and cover letters.
College Blue Book. Scholarships, Fellowships, Grants and Loans.
New York: MacMillan, Annual. Contains four indexes that provide
easy access to loans and scholarships by title, subject, level of education,
and sponsoring organizations.
The College Costs and Financial AId Handbook 2000.
New York: The College Entrance Examination Board, 1999. Guides
prospective college students and their parents in assessing the true
costs of college and planning to meet these costs. Topics include preparing
a budget, evaluating family financial resources, and applying for financial
aid.
The Complete Scholarship Book. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks,
2000. Includes a directory of more than 3,000 awards indexed by
major and other criteria. Also lists school-specific awards.
Directory of Financial Aid for Women.
Financial Aid for African Americans.
Financial Aid for Asian Americans.
Financial Aid for Hispanic Americans.
Financial Aid for Native Americans.
Financial Aid for the Disabled and their Families.
High School Senior's Guide to Merit and Other No-Need Funding.
El Dorado Hills, CA: Reference Service Press, Biennial. Contains
details of scholarships, grants, loans, awards, prices, and internships
for the people mentioned in the title.
Don't Miss Out: The Ambitious Student's Guide to Financial Aid.
Alexandria: Octameron Press, Annual. Provides a guide to
traditional funding sources, as well as more creative financing possibilities.
Comprehensive but concise, it dispels a few myths in the process.
Financial Aid Book. Michigan: Perpetual Press, 1999.
Presents 3,000 scholarships, grants, loans, fellowships, internships,
and competitions, and covers the application process, with examples
of letters and essays. Easy to use with various indexes: field of study,
state of reisdence, personal characteristics.
Financial Aid for College: Understand and Plan Your Funding Options.
New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2000. Provides a concise overview
of paying for college, with insights, tools, and tips for using the
financial aid system to your advantage.
Free Money for College. New Yourk: Facts on File, Biennial.
Pulls together information from a variety of directories. More than
1,000 grants and scholarships for undergraduate studies are listed by
state, field of study, and category of student. Focuses on private sources
of aid, many of them quite specialized and specific. Other titles in
this series: Free Money from Colleges and universities and Free Money
for College from the Government.
How to Win A Sports Scholarship. Los Angeles: First Base
Sports, Inc., 1999. Encourages student-athletes, including those
who are not stars, to take the initiative in the recuriting process.
Includes chapters on assessing athletic and academic skills, building
a sports resume kit, and negotiating scholarship offers successfully,
with examples of sports resumes, cover letters, and contact letters.
Peterson's College Money Handbook. Princeton: Peterson's
Guides, 1997. Gives basic tuition and financial aid information
through college profiles; includes student aid planning software.
Peterson's Scholarships, Grants & Prizes. Princeton:
Peterson's Guides, Annual. Lists private sources of funding arranged
by career goals and by nonacademic criteria (employment, military service,
ethnic background). It comes with a CD version.
Scholarship Advisor. NY: Random House, 2000.
Lists alphabetically thousands of scholarships with indexes by category,
such as field of study. Contains chapters on how to compile an application,
write an essay, and prepare for an interview.
Scholarship Almanac. Princeton: Peterson's Guides, Annual.
After a brief discussion of general strategies for covering college
costs, presents funding sources outside the colleges and college-channeled
federal aid. Organized by academic major and by state.
The Scholarship Book. NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001. Focuses
on private-sector awards for undergraduate study only, with Web addresses
for direct inquiries. The index is by grade point average.
Scholarships 2001. NJ: Kaplan/Simon & Schuster, 2001.
Identifies sources of at least $1,000 that don't need to be repaid for
undergraduate study at colleges and universities, community colleges,
technical institutes, and vocational schools. Organized by discipline,
with helpful indexes, application advice, and sample letters.
Here's a roundup of Web sites that do a great job of covering the ABCs
of financial aid, and much more. (This is just a listing and not an endorsement
of the sites named.)
When using some of these free sites, you may be asked to give personal
information, such as your name, year in school, and more. Before doing
so, be sure you read and understand the privacy policy posted at each
site.
