The Chronicles Of Grant County
Scholarships – Part Two
Prospective college students, current college students, and loved ones of those individuals have several resources they can utilize to find potential scholarship opportunities. It's important to recognize that while some scholarships are open to just about everyone, many scholarships are designed to help individuals in specific groups of interest to the donors or providers of the scholarships.
In this edition of The Chronicles Of Grant County, we're looking at one of those options: The Scholarship Search tool offered by Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae is a public corporation. It used to be structured as a government-sponsored entity. Its main focus in consumer banking revolves around private education loans as well as credit cards and savings accounts.
You don't have to be a customer of Sallie Mae or pay anything to Sallie Mae to be able to use its Scholarship Search tool. You do, though, have to register with the company to be able to use this tool. Individual students, parents, and educators are among those that can register to use this option. As with any digital site or any other program that requires registration, please review all terms of use and the privacy policy prior to providing any personal information.
The main site can be viewed by clicking here.
You can view the registration page by clicking here.
If you decide to register, there is an option to enter a sweepstakes. Be aware of all of the rules if you choose to participate in the sweepstakes. You do not have to enter the sweepstakes to use the Scholarship Search tool at Sallie Mae.
After you complete the registration, you will be asked to complete the "My Profile" section of the website. This is where you provide detailed information on the life of a specific student seeking scholarship funds.
The first profile page – there are four profile pages – is where you would indicate where the student lives, their gender, their citizenship status, their ethnicity, and their age. Many scholarships are based on helping people living in a specific state or commonwealth. Other scholarships are based on gender. Some scholarship programs exist specifically to help refugees, while many government-operated universities require U S citizenship to receive a scholarship. A number of scholarships exist to help specific ethnic groups. Sometimes, those scholarships are based on a specific national heritage – Mexican or Welsh, for example, while other scholarships are instead based on geographic regions – Pacific Islander or Middle Eastern, for example. You can list multiple ethnic groups for a specific student. Some scholarships are based on the age of the applicants, with some scholarships aimed at younger folks and others aimed at older adults.
The second profile page is where you would detail aspects of the academic background for a specific student. You would indicate what the student wants to major in or already is majoring in at college as well as what the current or future career goals are for that specific student. Detailed information is requested on scores of specific college entrance tests (options for SAT and ACT scores), current grade point average, and current class rank. Younger high school students may not yet have taken the SAT or ACT, so those items might be left blank.
The third profile page is focused on activities of a specific student. Drop down menus list a variety of athletics and sports, interests and hobbies, and club and organization memberships to choose to detail the activities of a specific student. You have the option to list multiple types of activities in each of these three main categories.
The fourth profile page includes options to list further details about a specific student. Among categories on this page are ones that focus on religious faith, whether the individual has a disability, or whether the individual has an affiliation with the military. There's also a catchall category of "Special Circumstances" that includes a variety of potential selections. A few examples: a vegetarian, an undocumented U S resident, a student whose parent is a firefighter, a student who lived in a manufactured home, and a student who works at a dairy, deli, or bakery.
Once the profile is completed, click on the "View Matches" button. A list of potential scholarships that fit the profile of the specific student are then displayed. Deadlines and dollar amounts of the potential scholarships are noted alongside the names of the individual scholarships.
The more detailed the profile, the more specific scholarship opportunities are listed for review. "Our goal is to only match students with scholarships they have an ability to qualify for and potentially win," explained a representative of Sallie Mae. "Each of the information fields in the experience are optional, meaning when a student doesn't answer questions it may either increase or decrease the number of matches they receive, truly dependent on the question."
To learn more about each scholarship listed, click on the name of the scholarship. A new webpage will display with details about that specific scholarship, including purpose and eligibility for the scholarship. The sponsor of the scholarship is listed as is contact information for that scholarship. Where available, links are also provided to the websites of the specific scholarships. Many of the scholarships have their own websites that detail even more information about their efforts to help students as they strive to enhance their education.
In the next edition of The Chronicles Of Grant County, we'll detail a second database available for area residents to search for scholarships that might be available to prospective college students as well as current college students in communities in Grant County.
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© 2021 Richard McDonough