Meeting The High Cost Of Higher Education

Friday, March 1, 2019

(NAPSA)—If you or someone you care aboutis—or hopes to be—acollege student soon,a few facts and stats may prove educational: + As of February of 2019, the U.S. had. $1.56 trillion in total studentloan debt This exceeds USS. credit card debt by about$521 billion + Ofthe college students from theclass of 2018, 69 percenttook outstudentloans. Fortunately for the many current and formercollege students struggling with this financial burden—and the large number whosimply can'tattend college becauseoffinances—there are organiza- tionsthatoffer a solution: scholarships. Somescholarships for college are merit-based. You earn them by meeting or exceeding certain standards set bythe scholarship-giver. Merit scholarships might be awarded based on aca- demic achievementor on a combination of academicsanda specialtalent,trait or interest. Otherscholarshipsare based on financial need. Many are geared toward particu- lar groupsofpeople; forinstance, there are scholarships for women or graduate students. Someare available because of where you or your parent works, or because you comefrom certain back- ground(for instance, there are scholar- shipsfor military families). scholarship might coverthe entire cost of yourtuition or it might be a one-time award of a few hundred dol- lars. Either way, it’s worth applying for, becauseit'll help reduce the costof your education. The experts at the U.S. Department of Education suggest you try these free sources of information about scholarships: Student loan debthas reached astronomicallevels in the United States but special scholarships can help. associations)related to yourfield of interest, + Ethnicity-based organizations + The US. Department of Labor's free scholarship search tool. Oneorganization, Scholarship Amer- ica, has been committedto giving as many students as possible access to higher edu- cation. Since 1958, the organization has distributed $4.2 billion to more than 2.5 million students. ‘Tofurther help with thefinancial burdenscollege students may face—such as overdue rent and child care—the organization createdinitiatives such as Dream- keepers, which offers emergency finan- cial aid, and Collegiate Partners, which gets educational institutions to promise notto take awaystudentaid because of private scholarships. Currently, Scholarship America is accepting applications for the 2020 Scholarship America Dream Award.It +A high schoolor TRIO counselor providesfinancialstability to those who have overcomesignificant obstacles in theirlives and gotten off to a strongstart at college. Applicants must be in their Thestate grant agency educationto beeligible for the award. Thefinancial aid office at the college or careerschoolyou're considering Federalagencies Thelibrary's reference section Foundations, religious or commu- nity organizations, businesses and civic groups + Organizations (includingprofessional secondyear orhigherofpostsecondary Learn More To apply for a scholarship, to learn more or to donate to the education of scholarship recipients, visit https:// scholarshipamerica.org.

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