Paying for School with Grants, Scholarships, & Work-Study
In this section, we’ll cover financial aid you don’t need to pay back - scholarships, grants, and work-study. While this money is “free”, that does not mean it comes without any costs or strings attached. For example, offers may be contingent on completing the semester or academic year, meaning if you drop out or withdraw from too many classes you’ll have to pay back the money. Most of these offers usually require an application to be submitted too, which can involve things like essays, grade cutoffs, or community service requirements. While it can definitely take some time and effort to apply for grants and scholarships, I cannot emphasize enough how good of a deal they are. Time spent filling out applications on these now will pay off enormously in time and money saved in the future, plus the reduced stress about how to pay for school. But if you’re reading this, you probably already know that. So let’s discuss the options, and where you can start looking for opportunities.
Scholarships
Scholarships can come from your high school, the colleges you apply to, nonprofits and foundations, or even private companies or local community organizations. The limit isn’t what’s offered here but finding the right ones and meeting the eligibility requirements. Scholarships can require an essay, letters of recommendation, certain activities or event-attendance, grade minimums, or other merit-based measures. Others may be based on identity, such as underrepresented groups or those with certain major/field/career intentions. Since many are based on merit and not need, this can be a great resource for middle-class students ineligible for some grants. At the same time, there are scholarships intended just for low-income students too!
Further, scholarships can vary from anything like a one-time award of several hundred dollars to a repeating award of thousands. Since they can vary so much, it’s hard to cover them all here - check with your school counselors, academic departments, community organizations, and others for suggestions. However, there are some websites that track larger scholarship opportunities, which you can find here and here and here and here. For advice on applying to scholarships, check out these resources. Note that since scholarships are independently offered, they can also have deadlines for any time of the year - so always keep on the lookout for new opportunities! Even if the school year has already started, there are likely new and unexplored scholarships out there.
Grants
Among grants there’s a load of different types as well, even just among federal grants, though the most common is the Pell Grant. This federal grant can award over $6,000 - and although that won’t cover most people’s tuition costs, it’s a big chunk of free money. Typically grants are more need-based than merit-based, such as those accessible after filling out the FAFSA (like the Pell Grant), in which the amounts awarded increase with lower family income. They’re also generally offered by the federal government (FAFSA!!), state governments (California’s Blue and Gold program), or the college you attend/are accepted to. For college-specific grants, check out the financial aid department website of your school, which will likely list the grants available. The department your major is in may offer field-specific grants (or scholarships) as well!
One important thing to note here is that grants can make up for a huge portion of a school’s tuition cost. The most expensive schools - private universities - tend to offer the most in grants! So don’t be scared away by the “sticker price” of a school, especially if your family income is lower, because these schools may offer to cover the majority, if not all, of your expenses. This isn’t a guarantee that all schools will be affordable. In the end, you’ll need to consider each school on its own, based on both the tuition costs AND the financial aid offered.
Work-Study
The last form of “free” financial aid we’ll cover isn’t really free. Work-study is a program that provides recipients with part-time or full-time jobs. So basically the award is that it helps you get a job (which you can then use the income from to pay for college or other expenses). I realize this doesn’t sound like much of a reward, or very free. But there are some distinct benefits to the work-study program. Many schools have jobs open only to work-study students, making it much easier to get hired for those eligible. These jobs can often be academic or career-related, and provide flexible schedules that let you focus on classes when needed. Off-campus jobs are also part of the work-study program and offer similarly student-friendly positions with meaningful work. The downside to these jobs is that there is a limited amount you can earn from these jobs, no more than your work-study award. So while work-study isn’t exactly free, it’s still a great opportunity for those offered it and another potential method of paying off your college expenses.
