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?"

Comments

Local Resources

[Taboo]

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.

Re:Local Resources

[Cycomast]

Bottom line, forget all the scholarships from big companies like Target, Best Buy, etc. They usually give out between 10-50 scholarships, but have in excess of 10000 or 20000 applicants. Look for local companies, rotary clubs, and any scholarships specifically offered at your school. The latter are often available due to memorial funds set up for deceased students. I ran into this very problem as the poster when looking for scholarships to fund my education at an expensive private university. While I did not qualify for financial aid, my parents have two more kids to send through college, and scholarships would certainly have helped to ease the financial burden. I too was unable to find any scholarships that were specifically for tech/engineering. There were actually a few, but they were all for women or minorities. I guess there just isn't much out there for WMEs (white male engineers). However, don't overlook local scholarships - there are plenty that aren't specifically geared toward any one type of person, that are granted to 1/5 or 1/10 applicants.

Coop with tech companies

[bwags]

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.

Rich relatives

[magarity]

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.

write those essays

[RevDobbs]

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...

Typo

[Anonymous Coward]

Tedious searching for third-party scholarships has revealed that there are very, very few that cater to the interests of a technologically-inclined student

Did you mean white, male student? Or are you outside the U.S.?

I find it hard to swallow that there aren't more and more valuable scholarships to encourage growth in the tech sector.

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!

Why so married to 'tech'?

[glomph]

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.

Re:Why so married to 'tech'?

[endeitzslash]

I'm a little hesitant when I see the "school doesn't matter because you don't learn problem solving and those academics don't know their arses from a hole in the ground" attitude. The fact that this person has been working for 20 years means that he (or she) went into the workforce long before a college education was an absolute requirement (as it is now) for most well-salaried jobs.

While it may be true that some people don't learn many applied skills in college, many companies simply won't take a chance on a non-college graduate, college dropout, or someone who got straight D's.

You can bleat and complain as much as you want about the effectiveness of academic training, but the power of the diploma is well-established in job hunting.

Besides, college is fun and is often a good place to mature and improve other important social skills.

How about a job?

[andawyr]

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!

Re:How about a job?

[hyrdra]

Please mod the parent up. This is what college and being out on your own are all about, and this way only serves to better prepare you for life ahead. There is a lot more to life than having a good education, and doing it this way (I am doing it now) teaches you things your scholarship/daddy money peers probably won't learn about until out of school.

Don't always take the easy way; the other path may be more interesting and rewarding -- true success isn't without its struggle.

army

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Growth in the tech sector

[TWX]

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.

Potential?

[verloren]

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

Re:Two solutions

[provolt]

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.

Why limit your scholarship possibilities

[i_r_sensitive]

I went to University looking to get a $DISCIPLINE degree, prior to even registering for classes I started hunting through the scholarships. What I found is that any shcolarship offered to students who intend to major in $DISCIPLINE has some pretty tough competition. I found that out by using the best resource I ever found for the poor student:

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...