It’s not easy to find money for college. Some students are able to use grants received from financial aid, while others work to pay for bills and classes.
Adding new debt is not an option.
STEM students missed out on free money because they failed to check their ACES email and Facebook accounts.
STEM grant liaison Angela Stewart worked hard to find 65 students to take $2,500 scholarships by emailing applicants from the Alamo Colleges Foundation internal scholarship program and teaming up with public relations to post scholarship information on Facebook.
Who can afford to throw away money when tuition seems to increase every semester and financial aid is harder to qualify for?
The creation of a scholarship center, located centrally on campus, may be what is needed to provide a centralized location where students can get help with finding and applying for money.
The center would help students find scholarship money and organize portfolios and résumés that are usually required with the forms.
Staff members who know the latest scholarship information and access to online databases could help students to finance their education without using loans.
Shopping for scholarships can be scary. It can be hard to face competition with other students.
But when a scholarship is won, it means a recognition of your work and an understanding that someone believes in you enough to help finance your education.
The best thing of all about having a scholarship center is, with increased awareness, no more money will get lost in the mail.
