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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.
Take a number junior. We work in the field and are unhappy there isn't growth in the tech sector.
<blockquote> and even fewer that don't give a paltry one-time prize of $500 or less.</blockquote>
Dude, that's the entire domestic IT budget for IBM. What do you expect?
Consider flat out deception - tell an executive at IBM, Hewlett-Packard, etc., that you have Indian connections, you'll be able to skip school and go straight into the Board Room.
I had some friends at Georgia Tech that used this route through school. Takes a little longer to make it through school, but you most likely have a job when you get out.
This is sort of off-topic but can anyone explain to me how this works in the US? In the UK students are poor as anything but theoretically can get enough (loaned) from the state to survive. Is it much worse in the US?
Your rich uncle, Sam, has practically limitless amounts of cash to lend to students of higher education for piddly interest rates. Whether this is a good idea depends on whether you're going to school to party or as a stepping stone to a high paying career.
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...
Did you mean white, male student? Or are you outside the U.S.?
Hard to swallow? Apparently you haven't been keeping up with the news. All your jobs are belong to India. IT is a dying industry in the U.S. You might consider nursing, or something else that can't be outsourced as easily. Union NO!
I've worked for over 20 years in various tech roles, after getting advanced degrees in Physics from the biggest name skoolz in the US. The ability to solve problems quickly and efficiently is what matters, not how much acronymic crap you can pack into your resume. My general experience is that good people are those who can adapt, not ones who learned old-tech from profs in some academic environment. Direct academic training for entering the IT world is a total waste, and always has been so, even when the economy did not suck.
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
Have you thought about doing what most other people do, and get a job? Sure, you'll have to work your butt off, but if you do it this way, you'll certainly have more self esteem than had you paid for tuition and what-have-you with scholarships. Free money ain't, really. If you work for the cash, you'll know what it really cost you to get an education. You'll also realize that you're going to college to *work*, and not to screw around. I saw way too many people party away $1000s of scholarship dollars simply because it wasn't really their money.
Student loans are another way to go - there's nothing wrong with getting one either. I did it, and I paid it off too. Yes, it took a few years, but it was finally paid off.
It may even be the case that you'll have to put off going to college for a year or so until you have enough money. So be it.
Good luck!
so when your job ends up being in india you'll be able to talk to your boss in his own language. Although chances are they'll already speak english quite well. But finding a scholarship for "Indian (dot, not feather) studies" would be more productive realistically and pragmatically than looking for a scholarship for tech-based study.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
i was a busboy/waiter all through high school and college and i can tell you that it teaches you valuable life skills like:
* how to manage your time and prioritize obligations
* how to make and save money; how to spend money wisely
* how to deal with work conditions, including low pay, long hours, bad bosses, evil customers, etc.
* eventually, how to appreciate a "better" job, having tasted first hand what some people have to do to earn a living
Maybe you should work more on ensuring you actually are more than a potential graduate first. Upcoming graduate? Future graduate?
;-)
I was a potential graduate and the last few months of my senior year really really sucked.
Though the current climate is a bit unusual in terms of action in the middle east, I recommend joining the Army, Navy, etc if you are inclined. After serving your country you can get about $8k a year (scholarship - ie not a loan that you have to pay back) towards a schoo of your choice. Granted you have to maintain a certain GPA, but it is still better than having $32k in debt after graduating.
PS Flamers: This is not for everyone, just a suggestion to those of us that don't want to pay an unreasonable amount for a college education.
Currently there really isn't much growth in the technical sector, since management has figured out that it can send jobs to countries that pay Bachelors' trained people half of what they make, or less, than in the U.S. Granted, there are new jobs that come up, but there are so many people looking to fill them that unless you're really lucky, you're not going to end up with that nice job with longevity and stability.
I started studying Computer Systems Engineering. After seeing what my code-monkey friends have been going through for the last two or three years, I decided not to go with that. I'm going to go back and finish college in something else. I'm not sure what, just yet, but I'll use my computer knowledge as an asset to help further myself in another career, not as a career in itself. You're either going to do computer service for a living, which can make money, but not a lot and is mindnumbingly boring, or you're going to be feast-or-famine as long as technology remains the commodity that it has shown to be. Learn how to do something else, that knowing computers benefits you in, and keep your skills to help you.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
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
___________
Save the World! Use a Quote!
We don't want no stinkin growth in the tech industry.
There aren't enough jobs to go around as it is.
Why don't you change your major to an industry that IS growing, like IP Law. Or Linguist for some obscure 3rd world country. Actually, you should try to find the poorest nation out there, and learn it's language. In 4 years, you'll be helping US firms hire them in droves.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
My first suggestion whatever you decide is not to portray yourself as a 'potential' high school graduate. You're much more likely to get a scholarship if you can at least appear confident that you'll graduate high school.
Cheers, Paul
You want a major in which you can actually find work after graduation. Something useful like Comparative Literature or Philosophy.
Maybe you should consider schools that have a history, rather than a very new school. An older school will have a reputation, and more access to funds via it's financial aid offices.
You should also be careful about picking a school based on (as you put it) your "rather biased educational interests". As a someone who hasn't graduated from high school yet, your interests are very likely to change over the next few years of your life, as you set out into the world and see things that are different from where you grew up. Don't shortchange yourself by picking a school that is tailored to your current interests, and won't be able to support your future ones.
Also, don't shortchange yourself by isolating your interests into the tech sector. Make sure you can explore the full range of academic subjects that are available at a good school. You'll never get a chance like this again.
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.
I understand that you probably have your heart set on a technology career but I would strongly encourage you to look elsewhere for your life's work. the technology career in the United States is fading. There is significant age discrimination and it is effectively a ten to fifteen year career.
/.comments of "I'm over X, and I still have a job by being technically hot shit" because they are exceptions that prove the rule. For the most part, your typical your career will be over by the time you are 35-40.
Try some informational interviews at technology companies and just look around and see how the people in the technology staff and first couple levels of management are above the age of 45. If the companies say they have a "dual career ladder", ask how many directors they have on the managerial side. Then ask how many they have on the technical side. if they give you a nonzero number, ask to be introduced to some of them. Another question on the same line is to ask what does it take to become a director for managerial and then ask for the technical. You'll frequently find that the technical rungs have significantly higher hurdles than the managerial side.
Don't be fooled by the typical
A technology career is also bad for you physically and mentally. Most companies use subtle or not so subtle psychological pressure to encourage staff to work all sorts of hours, usually in the name of teambuilding. It will cost you sleep, health by being increasingly sedentary and obese, and even possibly repetitive motion damages which leaves you with lifelong pain.
The psychological pressure to work long hours will reduce your ability to take time off to take vacations.
The hyper focus mindset it takes to get work done in a cube environment also will impact your ability to form healthy relationships with a partner. Important time off together (see above) will be impaired and nibbled away at by the inability to leave work at work.
So, leave the technology career for others. The smart move into something where you can have a long career and make good money without putting your physical and mental health at risk. take care of yourself. Because not only will nobody else do it, everybody else wants to eat you alive and not in a good way.
There are some with minimum strings. Most are related to location, and emphasize on staying in state. I am an AEA scholar, I get a good scholarship and internship from the American Electronic Association for attending a school in my home state of Oregon. This scholarship applies to any student in Oregon for tech, and is related to some Intel Scholarships and internships. There is serious money from them in Oregon. But only if you stay in state. That is why I turned down going of state.
I'd say more, but my guild is raiding.
I got over 20 grand for school and was able to finish my first degree without any debt. All thanks to my uncle sam.
If getting blown up / shot worries you - I say go Navy or Air Force. Not to mention if you are smart and test well you could get into some very interesting technical work- say with UAVs or something else cool. There are other benefits as well- like being able to buy a house with no money down using a V.A. home loan. I had more out of pocket costs on my first car than I did on my first house.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
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.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"We are Linux. Resistance is measured in Ohms."
You wrote, "[i]t's still getting itself off the ground," and that worries me. First of all you want to attend a well established institution. This is not only because of the name recognition when you apply for employment after graduation. You want the school to be around long enough for you to be able to graduate and solvent enough to cover its expenses, or the staff and profs will leave. This is from personal experience. My wife's cousin attended a college that was just starting up, but I do not remember the name. He was studying music. A couple of years later the school declared bankruptcy and that was it. He lost all the tution he paid even for classes that he paid for but never took yet due to the bankruptcy. Later, since the school was a virtual unknown and there was no one there to contact, no other school offered him any credit for the work he did while there. In debt he had to get a job and only now, some years later, is he back in school at UIC and not studying music.
The $500 scholarships are worthless, do not bother. I won a handful and in two cases I never saw the money. Also, you have to list them when you apply for financial aid and each year the financial aid office calculate 54% (if I remember correctly) of that to reduce your award from the school. In the end I lost more money than I gained from that and I spent many weekends writing annoying essays about topics like the American Revolution and how I will make the world a better place after my college education.
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.
I was astonished to find how few scholarships I could apply for as a White Male from a lower middle income family. There wasn't a prayer that my family could pay for all of my college (indeed, they didn't make it far into it). Of course, I got good grades in high school, but, to my surprise, it counted for $1000 for my first year of college. Of course, it helped, but I was pretty much stuck with student loans. Of course, I could not get any _good_ student loans, because my parents made plenty of money to put me through a state school and I was obviously being supported by them
In the end of it, I suppose it wasn't a too bad a deal, because I ran out of money about the time I was losing interested in the field that I was looking at (pharmacy, thanks for asking). So, I worked my share of crap jobs (fast food) and had my really hard times ($10 for a week, for my girlfriend and me for food, thank you friends and getting a job at fast food place and bringing home waste food). let me tell you, I won't forget that time ever
In the end, I moved in with the girlfriend's folks, got given a solid car (well, cheap payments) drove pizza and saved a lot of money. By this time I was old enough to be legally independant of my parents (freakin' 25!!!!! come on! I hadn't gotten a red cent from them in 4 years!) and was able to get the _good student loans, and had found my nitch (comp sci, emphasis in networking and security), I worked my ass off to get through in minimum time (summer work, and summer school).
In short, I made it, but I swore that I was going to make scholarships that were not based on income (with some limit, of course), were not based on race, were not based on sex, and were not based on sports.
Can you tell I'm _still_ mad?
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
You sound like you're in a precarious position: not being from a "rich" family, but not qualifying for any magic "poverty assistance" levels. Like a majority of people, college will be a real financial sacrifice for you and your family.
As people have already mentioned, the following "financial aids" exist:
1. Student Loans
2. "University-provided aid" scholarships, usually need-based
3. Outside scholarships that you have to find yourself
There are two things I haven't seen anybody warn about here yet, so I'll throw in my two cents.
First of all, the colleges I looked at (15 years ago) all claimed that the aid they might give me would be decreased by the same amount as any outside scholarships I might find. Hense, if I came up with a $10K scholarship, the school would decrease their aid package by $10K. I think that was stupid and discouraged anybody to find outside help.
I hope this has changed recently. Of course, if your desired school is NOT offering you any aid, at least you don't stand to get screwed by this behavior.
Second, schools are NOTORIOUS for giving you a "reasonable" financial aid package for your Freshman year and then cutting it to almost nothing your Sophmore year. This bait-and-switch tactic is great for hooking some students and then BLEEDING them and their families dry. Many of my high school friends had to leave their college of choice after the first year because of this. Talk about a dehumanizing experience!
But again, if your school is not offering you any aid up front, the independence you are forced to seek in the beginning (by applying to lots of smaller scholarships/grants) will be a blessing in disguise as you find yourself NOT blindsided by the nasty Sophmore-aid-cut-syndrome.
I agree with the other people who posted saying that there are lots of scholarships out there. You just have to learn how to research and find them. Enlist your high school guidence counselor's help and don't take "no" for an answer. Also don't assume that if you can't find it on a Google search that it doesn't exist. Find a nonprofit org like some already mentioned to find lists of scholarships out there. If you put in a serious continual 3 hours/week into a serious and comprehensive search, you can fund your college education, and that's a hell of a bargain.
Good Luck
Murray Todd Williams
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.
If you're going to pay for College, then get your money's worth and take classes you don't already know about or can't pickup the details of by reading a book for a week. CLEP or test out of the rest.
In other words, investigate and take as many CLEP tests as you possibly can. It's cheaper than tuition and you won't have to sit through a semester of English 101 (or even 201 in most cases).
Even if you have to study a textbook to refresh your memory of biology, it's cheaper and easier (not to mention much less time wasting) to take the CLEP test.
Along the same lines, if there isn't a relevent CLEP test for you to take or you just need to pad out your number of units, most schools will let you register for a class, then arrange to take the final on the first day of class and be done with the class without attending all semester.
Taking a "spreadsheet" class this way can seriously help out your GPA if you need it and it's an excellent method for taking care of prereq's when you already know all or most of the material.
In summary, if you are going to sit in class, do it in an interesting or fun class and skip out of the others.
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
I find that when some people get out of high school they get this idea in their heads that if they don't go to this super snooty college than they will never be able to get a job and all of their hopes and dreams will be crushed. Another unusual thing I find is that high school students often times think that state schools are only cool if they in other states. This is ironic because although you may not think that colleges in your state are cool many people from other states probably do think they are cool. Now I am not going to tell you that there is NO difference between going to a super expensive school and going to a cheap school. However I have had some experience in this matter (undergrad at a cheap state school grad at a super expensive private school that you all have heard of) and I can tell you that the difference in education is very small. All schools use more or less the same text books and they have to meet certain standards in order to be able to keep giving out diplomas.
My point is that if you can't afford some super expensive school maybe you should think about going to a cheaper state school (one that is in YOUR state.) I think that you will find that when you get out the people who went to the cheap schools will for the most part being working at the same jobs and making the same amount of $$ as those who went for the expensive schools. The cost of state schools are going up much faster than inflation but I think most of the time you can still afford basic tuition by working in the summer and at part time jobs. For room and board I guess you will have to live off mommy and daddy or get student loans. My advice: try to stay for longer than 4 years (compared to college the real world sucks!! who graduates in 4 years anymore anyway?) and try to take as few student loans as possible; if you are lucky the mommy and daddy bank will pay for much of it -- even if that means you have to live in your parent's basement.
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.
The University Student Panhandling Advisor
Seriously, a lot of schools will have staff whose sole professional purpose is to keep track of scholarships which students of that institution could compete for. Makes sense, the U doesn't care who pays the bills, just so long as they get paid, so helping economically disadvantaged students to find funding is a win-win.
My personal experience was that there were literally hundreds of scholarships available to me, once I stopped focusing on $DISCIPLINE.
So stop worrying about tech scholarships, start worrying about scholarships, period. If that youth-tap-dance-zealot scholarship pays the bills, put on those shoes baby, just put on those shoes...
"Talk minus action equals nothing" - Joey Shithead, D.O.A.
"Talk minus action equals
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.
The NC state colleges offer a deal of 18 hours work a week gets you a room,tuition, books, etc.. Wish they had this in the " damn ,,, gopher is cool" days.
100% of my college is paid for through academic scholarship. That just leaves room and board, which scholarship covers part of. So I work, something like 15 hours a week at Sears. Not only does it make me focus more on my studies, but it keeps me motivated, because I know that my free time goes toward paying for my education, and also prevents me from just giving up. I might try writting a generic essay and just flooding every scholarship you see with it. It'll be very very simple to do and could let you reap huge rewards. I'd try writting one and submitting it for a couple hours a day for a few days and see how things turn out :) Best of luck!