Scholarship Opportunities & Resources

VIDEO LINK: Paying for College

Local Area Scholarships

AFCEA Washington (Educational Tab for Chapter and National Scholarships) STEM fields of computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics, chemistry and management information systems.

Arlington Community Foundation   There are different scholarships with different criteria but only one application is required to be considered for all the available scholarships for Arlington students

Arlington Gay and Lesbian Association  Recipients are members of their school’s Gay Straight Alliance or whose accomplishments demonstrate significant support for the Arlington Public Schools’ policies of diversity, fairness and safety, as demonstrated in an essay.

Arlington Optimists  Essay Contest is sponsored by the local Optimist Club to give young people the opportunity to write about their own opinions regarding the world in which they live.

Arlington Rotary Education Foundation  Scholarship assistance to graduates to a deserving high school senior selected by our Board on a competitive basis from among applications received.

Arlington Teens  Provides suggestions and updates on local area scholarship in the Arlington area.

Federal Employee Assistance and Education  Children, step-children, and legal dependents of full- permanent federal civilian or postal workers employed with the federal government 3+ years

Granville P. Meade Scholarship  For students attending a Virginia university, financial need required.

Guide for Scholarships for Future Teachers. Resources to assist future teachers and decrease the financial burden of higher education.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities  For students attending HBCUs. The HBCU scholarships, internships, and fellowships listings are provided by the bestcollege.com website.

The Huth Scholarship  Recognizing, celebrating and rewarding young people who demonstrate an outstanding commitment to teaching, technology and volunteerism involving the elderly.

Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholarship for a minority high school senior showing leadership potential and demonstrating financial need.

Links Inc. Arlington  Encourage minority college achievement, 2.5 minimum Virginia Sheriffs’ Institute http://vasheriffsinstitute.org/scholarship/ Must be interested in criminal justice.

P.E.O – The P.E.O. Sisterhood maintains six educational projects in the form of grants, scholarships and loans for women (deadline mid-September).

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia Students   Each year, the Community Foundation awards over $300,000 in scholarship funds to nearly 100 Northern Virginia students.

SMYAL LGBT Youth Leadership Awards  Self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender high school seniors who have demonstrated personal growth and leadership in their school or community.

Team DC Student-Athlete Scholarship LGBT identified student-athletes in the wider DC area

Virginia Hospital Center Nursing Scholarship   For current/future employees of Virginia Hospital Center.

Washington Regional Transplant Authority Scholarship  Local area (not just Arlington) essay or video on encouraging registering as an organ donor.

Zonta Club of Washington, D.C  Women planning a major in business, engineering, healthcare, mathematics, education, technology or the sciences (social or basic). Scholarships Searching Tools

National Scholarships  & Search Sites

The following information was provided, in part through the American Educational Guidance Center.

uAspire  A nonprofit organization ensuring that all young people have the financial information and resources necessary to find an affordable path to and through college.

BestColleges.com  College search, college rankings, career resources, financial planning.  Includes a section on Financial Aid for LGBTQ college students.

Career One Stop – This site, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, has a searchable data base containing more than 5,000 scholarships, fellowships, loans, and other financial aid opportunities.

Chegg – Chegg has a large scholarship data base and is set up so students can save information on the scholarships for which they applied. In addition, Chegg sends scholarship deadline reminders to students who use their site.

Cheap Scholar – Uses a data base containing three million scholarships. CAPPEX – http://www.cappex.com/scholarships/ A data base with $11 billion in listed scholarships.

College Board Scholarship Search – The College Board’s free scholarship search utilizes a database of more than 2,300 sources of college funding totaling almost $3 billion in scholarships and aid.

College Data –   Scholarship search service sponsored by 1st Financial Bank.

College Grant Database  – This site will show you were to look for free college grant money and add some tips on how to apply.

College Resource Network – CRN offers an easy interface allowing students to search for scholarships using several categories.

College Scholarships  –This scholarship database is maintained by a non-profit organization.

College Tool Kit – These folks allow you to search for scholarships by geography, heritage, religion, extracurriculars, family affiliation, high school, or scholarship name.

College Xpress – provided by Wintergreen Orchard House,  includes 1.7 million scholarships.

Discover Nursing Scholarship  –.Find more nursing scholarships here than in any other source.

Diversity Abroad – International scholarships and fellowships.

eCampus Tours –  The eCampusTours search uses a database of more than 10,000 scholarship programs that distribute awards worth more than $36 million.

Fast Web – One of the older, larger, scholarship search sites.

Financial Aid Officer –This free scholarship search engine lists scholarships worth $1.45 billion.

Guaranteed-Scholarships –A list of scholarships offered by individual colleges, to all enrolled students meeting specified criteria.

High Five Scholarships – They imply that they have a data base with “millions of Scholarships” worth $45 billion dollars. This site was recommended to us by a college scholarship administrator.

Human Rights Campaign  – Searchable by state, this site offers “a list of scholarships, fellowships and grants for LGBT and allied students at both the undergraduate and graduate-level”.

LGBTQIA+ Scholarships & Resources  – Explore scholarship awards, advocacy groups, and professional networks that are making college more affordable and inclusive for the LGBTQIA+ community.

National Database of Scholarship – This free scholarship search sites claims to list scholarships worth more than 10 billion dollars.

Nerd Scholar – Scholarship searches and other info for students.

Niche   Search lists of scholarships by choosing a category or get matched to college scholarships you are eligible for.

Outside Scholarships  – According to their website, they have a database with a total of $1.6 million dollars in scholarships.

Pacific Northwest Scholarship Guide  – A free online scholarship match program maintained by the nonprofit College Planning Network, serving students of the Pacific Northwest.

Princeton Review –  A data base containing over 3 million scholarships.

QuestBridge– The National College Match is a college admission and scholarship process through which high-achieving, low-income students can be admitted early with full four-year scholarships to QuestBridge college partners.

SallieMae’s Plan for College – Sallie Mae’s scholarship search site.

The Scholarship Page   –Started by a student in 1997, this site primarily featured engineering scholarships, but has since expanded to include others.

Scholarships.com –  This site claims a scholarship database of 3,0000 sources worth up to $3 billion.

Scholarships 360 – This helpful site is run by an admissions officer at Kenyon College.

Scholarship Auditions  Visual and performing arts scholarships.

Scholarship Hunter – Not a great looking site, but a search here might be worth a try.

Scholarship Owl –  ScholarshipOwl is a scholarship search site with a difference. All you have to do is complete a brief questionnaire and they find scholarships for which you may qualify. Now, here’s the big difference…they apply for the scholarship on your behalf.

Scholarship Library – Well organized with a database of 230,000 scholarships.

Stand Out College Prep  Directory of scholarship by monthly deadline for Virginia students

Super College – An online scholarship search sponsored by Harvard educated folks who publish books on college planning.

Scholarships Online – They claim to be the largest online directory of legit scholarships.

Student Scholarships – They say they have “the largest scholarship database on the web”, a claim that others make as well.

Student Scholarship Search  – Claim to have the largest database of scholarships online and a speedy scholarship matching tool.

Tuition Funding Sources –  The name says it.

United Negro College Fund Scholarship Search –  A free online scholarship search sponsored by the United Negro College Fund.

Unigo Scholarship Experts – One of the most comprehensive and best scholarship search services.

Virginia Nursing Scholarship Programs The Virginia Department of Health, Office of Health Equity offers several scholarship opportunities to help pay for nursing education.

Worldwide Learn –  Unlike many other scholarship search and information sites, this one requires no registration and no contact or personal information.

45+ College Scholarships for Minority Student –  This resource shares 45+ financial aid scholarships. Within the resource, are opportunities dedicated to specific demographics such as African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Students.

ROTC Scholarships

AirForce/SpaceForce ROTC :https://www.afrotc.com/scholarships/high-school/types/

Army ROTC https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/find-your-path/army-officers/rotc/scholarships.html

Navy ROTC  https://www.netc.navy.mil/Commands/Naval-Service-Training-Command/NROTC/Requirements/

Virginia Tech ROTC https://vtcc.vt.edu/join/scholarships1.html

Financial Aid

FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) For most students planning to attend college or career school, financial aid is essential. This is the official US Department of Education’s Financial Aid website. It includes how financial aid works, resources to pay for college, and loan repayment options.

FAFSA Step-by-Step Guide Sponsored by Stand Out College Prep, this link walks students and families through each question of the FAFSA.

CSS Profile | College Board: Required by some highly competitive and some private colleges. This form collects additional and more detailed information used for financial aid decisions for non-federal aid.

Net Price Calculator. https://collegecost.ed.gov/net-price  Colleges provide first-year, full-time undergraduate students an estimate of the net cost (estimated full cost minus anticipated grants and scholarships from all sources) for the academic year.  Example: https://marymount.studentaidcalculator.com/survey.aspx

Paying for College Resources Sallie Mae’s Resources to help students and families responsibly pay for college. Explore important, timely topics and share with others who may have questions about planning for college. Students could win $1,000 for college simply by registering with Sallie Mae’s college planning tools.

STAND OUT COLLEGE PREP FAFSA Step-by-Step Guide that walks students and families through each question of the FAFSA, including screenshots and explanations and a FAQ page for students with special circumstances.

FAFSA 101   College Covered, a service from Discover Students Loans provides tools and resources on the FAFSA.

Tuition Programs

Academic Common Market  https://www.sreb.org/academic-common-market Study in a specialized field at an out-of-state college and pay in-state tuition rates.Looking for a college degree not offered by a public institution in your home state? Not all colleges participate, not all programs are offered, and not every offered programs is available to students in all states.   Virginia Academic Common Market Website and Contact Darlene Derricott, DarleneDerricott@schev.edu,  Director of Academic Services State Council of Higher Education, Phone: 804-225-2621 VA State ACM Website

Tuition Exchange https://www.tuitionexchange.org/vnews/display.v/ART/529e354b60b7c   Opens doors and creates opportunities through a reciprocal educational scholarship program. The Tuition Exchange scholarships are competitive awards and are not guaranteed. These awards enable the dependents of faculty and staff at participating colleges and universities to significantly defray their higher education costs. Education.Tuition Exchange  p. 301.941.1827 info@tuitionexchange.org

Articles

The 36 Colleges With the Best Financial Aid https://blog.prepscholar.com/colleges-with-the-best-financial-aid  PrepScholar October 2021

These are the top public and private colleges with the most generous financial aid packages https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/31/the-top-colleges-with-the-most-generous-financial-aid-offers  CNBC August 2021

Arlington Public Schools does not sponsor, endorse, recommend or screen companies whose offers are posted here. Families and students are reminded that they need to complete their own research on these companies to determine if they wish to engage in any of their opportunities or services.