Other Scholarships and Programs

In addition to state and federal financial aid programs, many schools and private sources (corporations, community-based service programs, church groups, private foundations, and ethnic associations are just a few examples) have resources that are established for assisting students with college expenses.

Finally, check with your employer (even though you may only work part-time) and your parent s employers to see if they offer educational benefits like tuition assistance. You may find out that your car insurance company offers a discount on your insurance as long as you have a 3.00 GPA in college. Now the insurance company won t pay tuition, but you can take the money that you are saving on insurance and use it towards tuition! Many Lorain County employers offer tuition reimbursement programs to their employees, meaning the employer pays for college coursework.

A word of caution:
Private sources of aid may have specific restrictions. For example, the student may have to have a certain grade point average and have very specific career goals in mind or be a part of a certain heritage. When researching private sources of financial aid, you might come across some really wild requirements which is why it is important to look for private scholarships, you never know what you will discover! Scholarship databases have been known to carry scholarships for students that have a specialty in under-water basket-weaving!

There are several places to research private sources of aid. Your local library or guidance counselor is a good starting point. The Internet is also a great place to look. But be careful! Avoid scholarship scams! Remember, you are searching for free money. Make sure you check references before paying a service or consultant money to find scholarships!