Free College? Great Scholarships On the Web

Every year, millions of dollars of free money for college goes unclaimed because students aren't aware of it. The Internet is a storehouse of information on scholarships and grantsfor students of all ages—but you have to know the best ways to find it.

Most scholarships are for either $500 or $1,000, although some offer as much as $10,000 per year. Some students are awarded several different scholarships. Nearly every college
or university offers full scholarships that cover tuition and living expenses. 

WHAT TO DO...

• Start your search at www.google.com. This popular search engine constantly updates its listings on scholarships, grants, paid fellowships and other awards.
• Plug in money words. Start with "scholarship." Then search related money words, such as "grant".. ."fellowship".. ."assistantship," etc. These will lead you to more revenue sources. 
• Search with word strings. When you type more than one word in the search field, the listings will be more specific to your particular needs. Just enter the search words with a space between each word—you don't need to include "and" or a plus sign. 

EXAMPLE: Scholarship graphic design New York 2010. The location you include can be either where you live or where you want to go to school. Change one word at a time after your initial search. In the example above, replace "scholarship" with "grant" or "graphic
design" with "art." 

HELPFUL : Make a list of key words and their synonyms to include in your scholarship search.

• Bypass commercial sites. Typing "—.com" in the search field streamlines your search by eliminating paid-for scholarship search services. 
• Search your interests. No matter what you like to do — play tennis, skydive, act, quilt— there are probably scholarships available. Pair your interests with the word "scholarship" in your search engine. 
• Search the sites of major foundations, associations and companies. Many offer scholarships. 

SOME EXAMPLES TO SEARCH UNDER...

• Acting. Donna Reed Performing Arts scholarships, Irene Ryan Acting Competition 
• Athletics... National College Athletic Association (NCAA) scholarships 
• Business... IBM scholarships, Rotary International scholarships 
• Conservation... The Soil and Water Conservation Society scholarships and awards, World Wildlife Fund 
• Science and technology.. DuPont Challenge Science Essay Competition, Intel scholarships, 
• Microsoft scholarships, Military Science scholarships, National Science scholarships