As you move forward in the college search process and start looking for outside scholarships, you will definitely want to drop a line to your local credit union to see if they have anything available. You may be surprised.

KEMBA Financial Credit Union located in Columbus, Ohio is celebrating their 20th year of providing college scholarships to their members. This year they are giving away $2,000 to one lucky member.

Here are the details regarding eligibility:

• You have to be a member of the credit union (which is easily accomplished by any of the following)
  • Live, work, or worship in Franklin, Delaware, Logan, Madison, Sylvania Counties in Ohio
  • Be employed by a participating KEMBA partner company
  • Have a family member that is already a member
  • Become a member of Angie’s List Association, Ohio Nurse’s Association, or Columbus Board of Realtors
• Be at least a High School Senior
• Be enrolled or planning to attend an accredited college/university
• Going full-time (at least two courses)

If you meet the above criteria, you can download an application from KEMBA here. You will have to answer an essay question but it is a fairly easy one: How can strong money management skills help an individual establish a stable financial future?

The deadline is January 27th. Good Luck!

If you need additional assistance with finding outside scholarships, please be sure to check out CheapScholar’s Scholarship Resource Page.

CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange) has long since been known in the college sector as a leading provider of study abroad opportunities for students. They have been sending students abroad since 1947 and boast having over 140 programs established in 42 countries. Based upon this, it is only natural for people to use study abroad and CIEE together in the same sentence when they are looking at educational opportunities overseas.

CIEE is so committed to their study abroad programs that they are offering a million dollars of scholarship aid this coming summer for students in financial need. It is being referred to as the GAIN program (Global Access Initiative) and it will provide grants and scholarships to students regardless of whether they are taking study abroad programs for a full year, a single semester, or during the summer. At this time, the GAIN program is committing an additional million dollars to this program each and every year. So, if you are not planning on studying abroad for a couple of years, this still could be a great option for you to help fund that educational experience.

Additional details about the program (including the application process) will be announced this coming summer (2012). You can visit CIEE’s scholarship page for additional information as it becomes available or you can always email them at studyinfo@ciee.org

Studying abroad during your college years is a great learning experience. Being exposed to different cultures really helps you to develop a big picture approach to life. I hope these additional resources provided by CIEE help to make your dreams of studying abroad a reality.

This scholarship program began back in 2007 and has provided thousands of dollars to students and their charities over the years. What is really amazing is that this scholarship is available for all students (kindergarten through graduate school). Students under the age of 18 will need to have a 529 college savings plan in place so that their funds can be properly deposited. Past winners can be seen here.

Here are the criteria and guidelines for the scholarship:

1. All applicants must be enrolled in an accredited educational institution (kindergarten through graduate school) in the United States.
2. All applicants must have demonstrated on-going commitment to their community by performing unpaid volunteer services impacting hunger in the United States within the last 12 months.
3. All applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States.
4. Volunteer services performed by applicant must help non-family members.
5. If applicant is selected as a potential national Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Scholarship recipient or regional Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Honoree, in order to be confirmed as a winner, the student’s parent or legal guardian must sign an Affidavit of Eligibility and Assignment of Rights.
6. Scholarship funds awarded to winners must be used for tuition and related fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for courses at an accredited post-secondary education institution.
7. Applications must be received before December 5th.

Some unique attributes for the scholarship program:

1. The foundation may select up to five national scholarship recipients (at the $5k level); however, they reserve the right to select fewer than five national winners.
2. The foundation may select up to 20 regional Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Honorees and each will receive $1k to be granted to their favorite hunger related charity.
3. Employees of the Sodexo Foundation and Sodexo, Inc. are not eligible
4. Applicants must obtain a Community Service Recommendation as part of the application process.
5. Scholarship recipients will be notified by March, and a list of all winners will be posted on www.sodexofoundation.org by June.

Click Here to apply for this scholarship and to access additional details. If you have questions, you can contact the scholarship administrator via email: info@applyists.com or by phone at: 615 320 3149

If you know of someone that may benefit from this scholarship opportunity, please be sure to utilize the “share tab” below to pass this information onto them.

Google and the Associated Press will be giving out six $20,000 scholarships to students obtaining degrees in journalism, computer science and/or new media. Preference is given to students that can display attributes that would recognize them as innovators in the digital journalism world.

Here are the requirements for all applicants:

• Be a U.S. citizen
• Be a minimum of 18 years of age
• Be currently enrolled full time at an accredited U.S. post-secondary institution pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree. (College graduates returning to school are eligible to apply and must provide an acceptance letter from graduate institution.)
• Have at least one year of full-time undergraduate or graduate study remaining
• Have minimum grade point average of 3.0
• Be at least a college sophomore at time of application
• Submit your application by January 27th
• Be available for in-person or remote interviews with selection committee if selected as a finalist

Some of the scholarships awarded will be based upon a student’s unmet need (meaning how much you have to pay over and above your estimated family contribution (EFC) and after your financial aid is factored in). So, the lower your EFC, the better your chances for getting one of the scholarships earmarked for students with unmet need.

You can apply for the Google – Associated Press Scholarship here…

The application process has three parts to it. Make sure you read through all the details and required information before initiating the application process. Good luck!

The scholarship process is being administered by the Online News Association. Mr. Irving Washington is the contact person. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to drop him a line via email: iwashington@journalists.org or phone: (317) 441-5051

If you know of anyone that may be interested in this scholarship, please be sure to use the “share tab” below to pass the information along.

In order to enter, all you have to do is submit a video sharing your reasons of why you would be an excellent recipient of  Dr. Pepper’s tuition prize.

Here are the requirements for your video:

All videos must be:
1.   in one of the following video types: .avi, .mov, .mpg, .mp4, mpeg or .wmv
2.   no more than one (1) minute in length and 50 megabytes in size
3.   your original creation
4.   suitable for publication
Videos will be judged on:
1.   appropriateness to theme of college football and tuition
2.   inclusion of Dr Pepper
3.   impact of tuition prize on your life
4.   overall presentation quality
Videos must not:
1.   have won previous awards
2.   have been previously published
3.   infringe on any third-party rights

Each tuition prize amount is payable as follows (official legal language):
(a) as tuition to cover up to four (4) consecutive years of college or postsecondary vocational institution tuition, fees, books, supplies, equipment, related educational expenses and room and board to be awarded in the form of a check distributed to the school (eligible under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 as amended) and located in the United States on behalf of the Winner or Winner’s designee, who must be at least 16 years of age (“Designee”); or
(b)  to pay off student loans incurred by the runner up for eligible costs in (a) above in the form of a check distributed to the lending institution on behalf of the Winner or Winner’s Designee; or
(c)  a combination of (a) and (b) above in an amount not to exceed the prize amount.

So, do you think you have what it takes for a chance to win $2,500 to $100,000 toward your education expenses? If so, put your media skills to test and upload your video today!

Contest Details Can Be Found Here!

Here is sample of a video submitted by a recent winner:

Lowes offers a couple of scholarship opportunities. They have a Lowe’s scholarship (which is easy to qualify for and probably what most people go after) and they also have a Carl Buchan scholarship (which is only for Lowes employees and their qualified relatives).

Here is the information for each of these programs:

Lowes Scholarship

• 240 students will be getting $2500 (total of $600,000 up for grabs)
• Student must be current high school senior,
• Maintain a minimum 3.25 Grade Point Average (on a 4.0 scale),
• and demonstrate a history of commitment to their community through leadership activities, community service and/or work experience
• Application deadline is February 28th
• You can apply here. You will need to set up an account to track your scholarship and you can use LOWES for the access key if you are prompted.

Carl Buchan Scholarship

• 50 students will each receive $5,000 ($250,000 in total awards)
• Student must be a full or part-time Lowes employee with at least 90 days of service
• Dependents and Spouses of Lowes employees are eligible as well
• Student must be a high school senior or current college undergraduate who has completed at least one full semester at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or technical school in the United States,
• Maintain a minimum 3.25 Grade Point Average (on a 4.0 scale),
• and demonstrate a history of commitment to their community through leadership activities, community service and/or work experience
• Application deadline is February 28th
• You can apply here. You will need to set up an account to track your scholarship and you can use LCBS for the access key if you are prompted.

Semi-finalist for both of these scholarship programs will be notified in March and the final winners will be contacted in May. Scholarship checks will be sent to the student’s home (made payable to the school of their choice) in August.

If you think this might be a good scholarship opportunity for someone you know, please be sure to use the “Share Tab” below to pass this information along.

An Up-Front Fee

Specific requirements must always be met in order to obtain a scholarship of any kind. A certain grade point average is usually a prerequisite, and then other qualifying factors are taken into account, like gender or ethnicity. But none of those factors should be the payment of any kind of fee, not even an application fee. Don’t be fooled by very low fees of just a few dollars, either. A scammer won’t necessarily charge a huge amount—that can get them caught more quickly. By charging just two or three dollars per application, they can still make a lot of money because more people will apply if the fee isn’t prohibitive. Do your homework and find the many free scholarships available.

Promises To Do The Work

Many scholarships require students to perform some sort of task in order to win them. It may be writing an essay, passing a test, participating in an academic competition, or just pursuing a particular course of study. Legitimate scholarship programs require the students to perform the work themselves in order to be eligible. If you run across a program offering to write that essay, or so whatever else is necessary for a particular scholarship, it should be a red flag. Allowing someone else to do the work could get you or your child disqualified, not to mention, this work won’t be performed for free. There will usually be a fee of some sort involved. Don’t fall for it.

You’ve Won a Scholarship—That You Never Applied For

As wonderful as it would be for someone to show up and simply hand you or your child a scholarship to a great program or school, it just doesn’t happen that way. Scholarships must be applied for, or are the result of contests that require actual entry. No scholarship magically materializes for anyone. If you receive any sort of correspondence saying you’ve won a scholarship and all you have to do is claim it, be wary.

Claims of Exclusivity

Information for legitimate scholarships is freely available, from schools, in educational publications, and on the Internet. There are no secret scholarships out there that are only made available to a select group of people, or, as you might guess, those who pay for the information. Any scholarship program that says the information they have is exclusive, and unavailable anywhere else, is running a scholarship scam. Save your money and stick with the free resources.

If you’re still unsure of a scholarship offer you receive either via e-mail or regular mail, talk to a counselor at the educational institution you or your child attends. They will be able to look up the program that contacted you, and tell you whether it’s legitimate or not. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or do a little research on your own. It can end up saving you a lot of money.

This article was brought to you by Susan Taylor. Susan is a former English teacher, writer and stay at home mom who knows the challenges students face in today’s education system. If you would like to reach Susan, please feel free to drop her a line at susanrctaylor@gmail.com

The following are the various ways in which you can enter our scholarship contest:

1. Post your answer on CheapScholar’s Facebook Page
2. Tweet your answer to @CheapScholar on Twitter
3. Submit your answer via our contact page

Each of the methods above will give you an entry into the scholarship contest. In addition, you can enter more than once if you have multiple ideas/answers to the question. Since the scholarship is transferable, friends and family members can enter the contest as well.

Originality and creativity are encouraged with your answers. Here are a few examples to get you thinking:

• Lots and lots of Ramen Noodles
• Submit the FAFSA each and every year
• Applying for outside scholarships
• Doing laundry at mom and dad’s

Here is the Small Print on the $500 Scholarship Giveaway:

• Winner will be randomly selected on May 1st 2012 (National Enrollment Deposit Day!)
• Winner will be contacted via the same method in which their entry was received (Twitter, Facebook, and/or email) Winner’s name will also be posted on this page (so you may want to bookmark this article)
• If I don’t receive a confirmation from the winner within a week’s time, I will randomly select an alternate.
• The scholarship is transferable. However, the final recipient must be currently attending (or planning to attend) a U.S. based College or University.

I wish you luck on winning this great scholarship opportunity. In the meantime, if you need additional tips and information on finding scholarships, please be sure to check out CheapScholar’s Scholarship Resource Center.

Remember… all you have to do is answer the following question via one or all of the three methods provided (Facebook, Twitter, Email).  Each response counts as an entry.  It really is that easy…

HOW DO YOU MAKE COLLEGE CHEAPER?