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For many prospective college students, once they have chosen and been accepted by their preferred college or university, the next thing they must consider is how to obtain the financial resources to get them through their college years. With the cost of college continually on the rise from year to year, it may not be in a student’s best interest to take out a massive amount in loans. However, scholarships like Nancy Etz, may be the key to ensuring that they will not go into debt during their college years.

Finding these scholarships can be a daunting undertaking. With so much information at our fingertips in this day and age due to the internet, sometimes it is difficult to know where to find the best scholarships. Thankfully, there are many resources out there to help students and their parents on this quest.

Begin with local scholarships.

This is the best place to begin your search. Because these are available to those only within your own community or city, they tend to be less competitive, so the odds of a student obtaining these scholarships are much better than the national ones.

Sign up for national databases.

Even though national scholarships are much more competitive, it is still recommended that you sign up with a few of the national databases designed specifically for scholarships. However, don’t sign up for too many lest you get overwhelmed by too many emails.

Begin searching early.

Many prospective college students begin applying for scholarships in their senior year, but it is actually possible to begin searching and potentially applying for them as early as your freshman year in high school. Since most schools have high school counselors who keep up with current scholarships and what is available, they may also be a good resource in this hunt, especially if you are applying for scholarships early.

Familiarize yourself with the type of scholarships available.

While this is a constantly changing topic, it is well worth your while to keep up-to-date with the kind of scholarships that are available. You can find everything from:

• Academics
• Sports
• First-generation
• Underrepresented Groups
• Community Service
• Hobbies
• Financial Need
• Hobbies
• Military

In short, these only begin to scratch the surface, and if you are willing to invest some time searching and utilizing resource personnel and trusted websites, you will probably find even more types of scholarships than these listed.

Create a unique email address.

Because of the number of emails you will probably receive as you begin to search for and apply for scholarships, it is highly recommended that you create a unique email address that is devoted solely to scholarships. Otherwise, there is a high probability that you may miss an important email or notification concerning a scholarship for which you are eligible (or may have even received).

Current college students may apply.

While we tend to think of high school students applying for scholarships, there are a wealth of scholarships available to currently-enrolled college students as well. It is worth your time to continue to check those databases and visit your college counselor and/or academic advisor regularly so that you don’t miss a prospective scholarship once you are actively attending college.