How to Find Scholarship Money for College

(ARA) - Earning a college degree can be a life-changing experience, but for many people it seems financially out of reach. In many cases, a little financial assistance can go a long way towards achieving this goal. Whether you're headed to college for the first time or going back to school to change your career, there is scholarship money out there if you know where to look for it.

The Internet is a great tool to use when searching for college scholarships, but you have to use it wisely. There are many scholarship search engines and no one can include all the opportunities that exist, so make sure to search for scholarships using several different search engines. Expand your search to include the region of the country you live in as well as your state and city. Regional scholarships may be available that do not appear in national search engines.

No one will walk up to you and hand you free money - you have to work for it and scholarships are no different. Don't rely on guidance or career counselors to find scholarship money - you need to put in the extra time and be organized about your search for college funding.

Create a filing and organization system that works for you to keep track of the scholarships you apply for and their deadlines. Fill in and include all the requested information and don't wait until the last minute! You will not receive a scholarship if your application is received after the deadline. There are still organizations that will accept applications only through the mail, so be sure to factor that into your timeline. Other organizations now accept applications via the Web, e-mail or even video.

For example, Western Governors University, the nation's premier competency-based, non-profit online university offers potential students many scholarship opportunities through their Website, but is also giving them the chance to submit their scholarship application for one via online video.

From now until the August 11 deadline, make a video on how a degree from WGU could improve your life or the life of someone you know. Visit www.wgu.edu/contest and submit a video no more than four minutes in length. A panel of WGU judges will review submissions and select five finalists based on the quality of the video and number of votes and views received on YouTube.com. The top five videos will be posted at wgu.edu on August 25 and the public will vote on the most deserving video for the top scholarship.

The grand prize is a $7,500 scholarship to WGU and $500 cash, second place is a $3,000 scholarship to WGU and $500 cash and third place is a $2,000 scholarship or $500 cash. The winners will be announced September 3, 2008.

Founded by 19 U.S. governors, WGU is the nation's only non-profit university that is exclusively online. WGU offers bachelor's and master's degrees in education, business, information technology and health professions, including nursing.

WGU was created to help students fit college into their busy lives and is the first online university in the United States to be competency-based. The competency-based approach focuses on demonstrating competence to advance in a program, not sitting in a classroom.

For more information on the programs offered by WGU, to apply for the video scholarship contest or to vote for the finalists, visit www.wgu.edu.

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