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Tech Scholarships for College/University?
Mirkon asks: "I'm a potential high school graduate, and have been accepted to a four-year school for furthering my rather biased educational interests. The problem is that while I'm cheap, the school (predictably) isn't. It's still getting itself off the ground, and thus only offers the legal minimum of scholarships - for racial minorities and those with intense financial need, neither of which I qualify for. Tedious searching for third-party scholarships has revealed that there are very, very few that cater to the interests of a technologically-inclined student, and even fewer that don't give a paltry one-time prize of $500 or less. While there's certainly no shortage of 'write an essay about us/you and we might give you a scholarship' offerings, I find it hard to swallow that there aren't more and more valuable scholarships to encourage growth in the tech sector. Are there?"
In addition to the many national and regional organizations out there, you might find that there are local financial charities in your area that have a surprisingly rich portfolio of grants and scholarships. Here in northern California we have the Humboldt Area Foundation which provides scholarships on behalf of members in the community who have setup over 100 memorial endowments totalling more than $50 million. When looking for financial aid, be sure to not to overlook your local resources.
No one actually applies for most of the schoolarships out there... I have a nephew that has won a ton of money by virtue of being the only entrant.
Write a generic, flexible essay and, well, crap-flood it everywhere. You'll be amazed at the checks you'll be cashing at the end of the semester, after all of your tuition, housing, and books have been paid by other people...
It's the same - "Student Loans" is a term here which quite frequency make people in their 30's cringe from the sting they still feel in trying to relieve the debt.
Any spoon would be too big.
It is quite hard to get a full scholarship at the undergraduate level from 3rd party. Once you are in the graduate school, it scholarship comes in form of Research Assistant, Intership, Independent StudyGraduate Assistant, etc.
Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
Undergrad Tech Scolarships were few and far between. At the time, I was working for the number three CS department in the Nation.
The real money is in Graduate Grants and Scolarships. For it's when you're in Grad School that you're working on the potentially groundbreaking technology. Not as an Undergrad.
See if you can find other types of money as there are so many non-tech scolarships available that are never used. Keep looking the scolarships you're looking for are out there.
Dolemite
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Save the World! Use a Quote!
Instead of college, I'd suggest joining the military. They will beat that self-centered I-want-someone-else-to-pay-for-my-education attitude out of you, and you can apply for benefits via the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) and Army/Navy College Fund (ACF) after you serve.
Student loans are also one of the few things you can't generally bankrupt your way out of (too many e.g. med students taking advantage of bankruptcy for that, so the loophole was closed). Once you sign that promissory note, you're pretty much stuck with it forever (or until it's paid off, whichever comes first).
Of course, the interest rates have gotten pretty good (they're the lowest of any of my current creditors), especially if you consolidate (though that has some ramifications, too--check with a financial professional before trying this).
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." --Groucho Marx
The short answer is that, yes, there are scholarships out there for the technologically-inclined. You can sign up for FastWeb, a free scholarship-search service that allows you to fill out your information and they notify you when a scholarship you qualify for comes up. There are other sources as well, most of which are online. I would suggest you go talk to your guidance counselor, who has more resources for you then they are probably openly offering. Keep in mind, however, that they are limited in what they can do and to find the real jackpot scholarships, you will have to do some searching on your own.
It would be helpful if you could provide more information to us.
1) What major are you considering?
2) Which school are you considering?
3) Are you parents alumni of that school?
4) Do you have any interesting quirks?
Such as, are you left-handed? You might be suprised to know that there are scholarships out there for even that. If your parents are members of unions, they work at large corporations, if you're the first to go to college, etc., then there is probably a scholarship out there for you.
5) How were your grades, and what within what percentage of your graduating class were you ranked? You don't have to answer this one, but believe me, external-based academic scholarships are out there.
6) Are you a member of any organizations?
7) What kind of "technologically-inclined" abilities do you have?
Feel free to contact me and I would be happy to help you through this oftentimes confusing and scary process. I will set up a temporary entry in my journal that you can post to. I just graduated from a private college (after 3.5 years), so it wasn't too long ago that I was in your shoes. Now, after having seen the admission process, I can give you an idea of what they are looking for, and exactly what you were told all along would count for something but really counts for jack squat.
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"We are Linux. Resistance is measured in Ohms."
(note:i'm not in ROTC myself but a lot of my friends are)
I never said I was smart, I just said I was smarter than you
Haha, I remember those days.....
What I really recommend that you do is fill out the FAFSA paperwork (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/) asap...that is the free app. for federal student aid, then sit down and work out a worst-reasonible-case budget, school expenses, travel, food, rent....everything you can think about. Take a hard look at what is available to you for financial aid from the school and your local community. Write those essays and go for those obscure scholarships, but whatever you do be very careful about student loans....DO NOT put your self in debt for more than you can reasonably expect to make for a yearly low-range starting salary (example:$35,000 starting salary, do not go over $35,000 debt by graduation). Stay away from private and non-subsidized student loans also.
Another fine option is to get an entry level job in the field you are interested in, and work a few years to save money. If you do it right you set yourself up financially, you might get a company to back you for your degree, and even better, when you have that piece of paper you already have experience. Personally, based on my experiences getting an engineering degree, I really regret not finding a decent job right out of high school to save money for college before I was in debt up to my eyeballs...The military is a good choice also for financial aid if you can stomach being government property for a few years....either way, I think the best course is to take a break from school for a while, work a day to day job to give you an appreciation of real life and then go to school when you are a bit older, a bit more mature (not intended to be insulting, just reality), and better set up financially.
1. When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend.
2. Do not eat iPod shuffle.
Getting the "small" $50, $100, or $250 scholarships helped my sister and I out a lot. If I got a $500 dollar scholarship I thought it was great. When all was said and done, I didn't pay for a thing my first year and had some for my second year. Co-op's and part-time jobs paid for it after that.
However, filling out "small" scholarship applications paid way better. I made about $100/hour doing it. My sister made more (mostly because she worked harder at it). I didn't qualify for any of the minority/need scholarships, but there are other ones out there. Check your local clubs and businesses (rotary, optimists, VFW, AmVets, etc). Avoid anything that makes you pay for a list or pay to apply.
Woah woah woah! I have to disagree with you there. If you go for reputable scholarships in small amounts, they really add up. A bulk of the $5,000 I earned in scholarships was from these small ones. I have to admit though, one I applied for, which wanted a "$5 application" fee and seemed reputable and solid never ever wrote back to me to say if I had won the scholarship or not.
So it's up to the individual to decide how he wants to spend his time. I spent more time on the larger scholarships and the ones I was more sure of possibly winning and I made off pretty well.
YMMV, as always.
Student loans are another way to go - there's nothing wrong with getting one either.
Except the ridiculous interest and the fact that it takes years and years and years to pay it off.
Item one in college: DO NOT BORROW EVEN ONE DOLLAR UNLESS IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.
While I'll agree that most college students are well-served to stay away from credit cards, and other high-interest rate loans, you can't apply the same logic to college loans.
Specifically, the Stafford (even Unsubsidized) loans have very low interest that you can even pay off monthly if you want to keep that under control. Compared to your average credit card/etc loan, they are very reasonable. (of course, that is presuming you live in the US, i'm not sure about availability elsewhere)
Additionally, there's the fact that Stafford gives you a grace period of six months once you graduate, and then gives you the option to defer payment (for up to 36 months, IIRC) in the event that you become unemployed, or are not yet making enough money to pay them. (i can say this from personal experience)
have you been seen on slash?
Unfortunately, most tech scholarships are awarded by the universities themselves, so a school getting itself off the ground won't have much to work with yet.
The reason is that engineering/CS are notorious for their high attrition rates, and money given to entering students often goes to future business and psychology majors. Corporations do give quite a bit of merit money, but it goes straight to the engineering/CS schools who are typically quite experienced at identifying who are good candidates and who are not.
It's important to talk to the specific programs that you are interested, not to the larger campus since the scholarships are often tied to specific programs or to engineering as a whole. These scholarships are often offers, rather than applications, but you can certainly get your name in there.
Don't overlook working through school, tech majors often have access to some pretty well paying jobs - look at on-campus student tech support positions and off-campus internships and co-ops. You probably won't be able to work as must as some non-tech students because of your study load, but college loans are a very worthwhile investment and are readily available.
A "good" college is one that has a reputation; it's all a huge system for keeping money in the hands of the wealthy and putting the poor on the streets where they belong. The classes that you take at X Community College will be no worse than those at Princeton.
If you can live at home for free, take some time to read books about society and culture (James Baldwin, W.E.B DuBois, A. Hacker, P.J. Palmer, J. Spring) to understand the world you are participating in.
Then, live at home and find the cheapest local college, take as many classes as you can, and then transfer to the next cheapest one that has the coursework you need.
Get a job.
Die.
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
I second the small scholarship route. My girlfriend got a check every quarter from a local scholarship group. Check both local to your high school and local to the college you are attending.
Other options for funding:
1. As I recall, there is also the FAFSA (federal application for student aid, or something like that). When you get accepted into school in the US, the school may require you to fill one out. Basically, in the "white guy with average parents" scenario, you don't qualify for squat in grants. However, subsidized loans are better than bank loans.
2. If you want to plan better, look forward to year 2 at school. Start by getting a part time job and having your parents NOT claim you as a dependent on their taxes (this is easier if you are already 18). Once you become independent, your qualifications for government grants go way up (since you don't have your parents' income keeping you above the poverty line). The grants you can qualify more than make up for the tax credit. You can live like a king your freshman and sophmore years for less than 15K (total) income per year in California (note: a King in the freshman year of college has roommates and eats Ramen... royalty lives better outside of California). Of course, that assumes in state tuition. Tell your parents you will pay them back the tax credit for this year when you graduate. Hopefully they will support that idea as a zero interest loan or as a grant from Bank of Family.
3. Take every AP test you can, even if your school doesn't offer the corresponding course. If you pass 10 AP tests, there are a number of free scholarships you can get just by applying. It's quite possible too... if you are good at standardized tests.
4. Academic Scholarships: if you don't qualify for your freshman year, work your ass off and try for your sophmore year. 4.0 GPA = free money.
5. Psychology department: every school that has graduate students has a signup sheet for psych experiments which will pay 5-10 bucks. Except for my irrational fear of chalk, there's no downside to this. Basically, you get paid to breath for an hour.
6. Tutoring: this generally pays better than psych experiments (minimum wage pays better than psych experiments). Only slightly more work.
7. Parking Services, Library Security, Rec Center Front Desk: These are basically jobs where you get paid to study. DO NOT DO FOOD SERVICES!!!
8. If you aren't going to an in state school, try to get an apartment near your school to live. Then apply for residency your next year. That will lower your costs substantially. For some reason, the school will tell this to every graduate student but not to a single undergraduate. Again, this one sort of requires the part time job and financial (tax) independence.
Network Security: It always comes down to a big guy with a gun.