The Chronicles Of Grant County
There are a number of search engines that list college and university scholarship opportunities. In the last edition of The Chronicles Of Grant County, information was detailed on the scholarship search engine provided by Sallie Mae. A second major scholarship search engine is at Scholarships.com. According to the firm, "Scholarships.com has helped students find money for college and learn about the entire financial aid process. We are among the most widely-used and trusted free college scholarship search and financial aid information resources on the internet and have been recognized by high schools, colleges and universities nationwide, among others. We've built solid relationships with colleges and universities across the country and want to provide students with the opportunity to not only find free money for college and interact with prospective colleges but to be recruited as well."
If you choose, you can register for this site by clicking here.
As an alternative, you can view scholarship opportunities without registration by searching the directory of scholarships. To do so, click here.
This directory is divided into a number of categories, including:
Academic Major
ACT Score
Age
Artistic Ability
Athletic Ability
Deadline
Employer
Ethnicity
Financial Need
Gender
Grade Point Average
Honors Organization
Military Affiliation
Number of Scholarships Available
Physical Disabilities
Race
Religion
Residence State
SAT Score
Scholarship Amount
School Attendance State
School Year
Special Attributes
Student Organization
Within each of these categories are further groupings. For example, there are scores of businesses and occupations listed in the "Employer" category ranging from Wells Fargo to Chevron and from firefighters to roofing contractors.
Within the "Ethnicity" category, there are eight scholarship opportunities listed under the "Native American" grouping and ten scholarship opportunities listed under the "Mexican" grouping.
More than forty scholarship opportunities are listed for residents of New Mexico, while there are more than thirty scholarship opportunities for students attending colleges and universities in New Mexico. Residents of New Mexico can apply for scholarships at, for example, Boise State University, Indiana University, and the University of Minnesota. The scholarships offered by the Wisconsin Architects Foundation to outstanding Wisconsin students who are pursuing architectural studies at the University of New Mexico, among other colleges, is an example of a scholarship opportunity for people who live outside of New Mexico but want to go to school in New Mexico.
To give you a further perspective, in the "Special Attributes" categories, the following are listed as options:
Adopted/Foster Child/Orphan
Affected by Sept. 11th Attacks
Against The Death Penalty
Animal/Pet Care Experience
Anti-Bullying Advocate/Victim of Bullying
Bilingual
Birth Mother Placed a Child for Adoption
Cancer Patient/Survivor (or Child of)
Child of Single Parent
Credit Union Member
Domestic Abuse Victim
Duck Calling
Environmental Activism
Farmer
First In Family College Student
Greek Life
Homeless/Formerly Homeless
Left-Handed People
LGBTQIA+, Parent LGBTQIA+ or LGBTQIA+ Ally
Migrant Worker/Child of Migrant Worker
Multiple Birth Sibling (or Parent of)
National Merit Scholar
Quiz Bowl Participant
Refugee/Immigrant
Returning/Continuing Student
Rural Student
Single Parent
Social Action
Student with Dependent Children
Study Abroad
Tall People
Transfer Students
Transplant Candidate/Recipient
Undocumented/TPS/DACA
Vegetarian/Vegan
Veteran or Child of Veteran
In the "Rural Student" grouping, there are more than ten scholarship opportunities. Examples include five NBCC Foundation Rural Scholarships, each in the amount of $8,000, as well as three Beacon Scholarships for Rural America, each in the amount of $1,000.
Detailed requirements are listed for each of the scholarship opportunities. Some scholarships are based on grade point averages, test scores, or specific types of relationships. The dollar amounts and the number of scholarships awarded annually vary depending on the sponsor. Some of these scholarships are listed within several different categories.
In the next edition of The Chronicles Of Grant County, we'll review a source of scholarships that is among the largest in the United States. These include the scholarships provided by the Federal government for receiving an education at the service academies operated by the U S military.
Do you have questions about communities in Grant County?
A street name? A building?
Your questions may be used in a future news column.
Contact Richard McDonough at chroniclesofgrantcounty@mail.com.
If your email does not go through, please contact editor@grantcountybeat.com.
© 2021 Richard McDonough