Scholarships Indiana and Kentucky Students Should Know About

What is a Scholarship and How is it Different from a Grant or Loan

When applying for college, it's important to keep in mind the cost to pursue a degree. Scholarships, grants, and loans help to pay off college tuition, room, board, and any other required materials. As long as the scholarship, grant, or loan condones spending on these materials.

Scholarships are basically free money that's granted most of the time on merit, or how well you are at school. So why not take advantage of those good grades?

Grants are like scholarships in the way they give money, but grants give money away based on need.

Student loans are like money you're just borrowing for the time being. However, instead of paying back what they gave you, you pay the amount given and more based on interest. So take whatever scholarships and loans you can now, to reduce financial stress later.

FAFSA

The Free Application for Free Student Aid, or FAFSA for short. You can apply to the FAFSA every year in any state. A student, no matter their income, can receive federal and state financial aid. In the form of scholarships, grants, work-study funding, and loans. Little to no reason not to apply. It only takes about 30 minutes for most people to complete.

Indiana Grants and Scholarships

Some scholarships and grants are college-specific, such as:

• Purdue First Year Scholarships is a series of scholarships and grants that can be renewed for up to 4 years with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. 5 separate potential scholarships made for freshman Purdue students.
• Indiana University Group Scholars Program is a grant-based program for IU geared towards first-generation college students. To be eligible for this program, a student must have a recommendation from their high school or an agency in their community. Additionally, IU, upon completing the general application, will consider you for the Debbie Narey Scholarship for up to $3,000 based on financial need.

Many colleges with your application will consider you for a variety of potential scholarships and grants, like the Debbie Narey Scholarship. Most colleges will have available scholarships and grants that you just need to apply for. Money could also be a big reason you can't go to your dream school. So don't let that be the case and apply for anything and everything you can from a college. You won't get everything but you might get something, so what's the harm?

Others are more general for what they can be used on:

• Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program is a full tuition covering scholarship, and covers most book and class fees. About 147 scholarships are awarded across all of Indiana, and as such, it is highly competitive.
• Frank O'Bannon Grant is a grant from the state of Indiana that is given based on the amount of money FAFSA can provide for a student. Since you're hopefully already filling out the FAFSA apply for the Frank O'Bannon Grant.
• The Career Scholarship Accounts (CSAs) is for those who are still in high school and working on their college degree. The CSA is first come first serve and across a school year will grant $5,000 to help cover the cost of college classes. In exchange, however, you must complete at least 75 hours of an internship within the year the money is granted. Personally, I did this, and it relieved an immense amount of stress of my shoulders, and now I get to write articles as a tiny job I can do alongside my school work.

Independent organizations can be just as helpful in securing funds as a college itself. You just need to be able to find them. Scroll down after the Kentucky scholarships and grants to find a variety of databases of vetted scholarships, and they're free to use!

Kentucky Scholarships and Grants

Some scholarships and grants are college-specific such as:

• Friends of Kentucky Wesleyan College/Endowed is a large series of first-year merit scholarships. This list just shows how many options there are from a college alone, but if you do some digging, even the college suggests looking for outside scholarships and grants. For sources to find those, look below this Kentucky section.
• It's not like Kentucky Wesleyan College is the only one. Eastern Kentucky University also has a large number of scholarships.
• Most schools like Kentucky University also have a heavy focus on preparing first-generation college students, not only financially but with a variety of resources such as program advising. A lot of colleges have this Murray State even offers potentially a full year of college without tuition.

It's important to note that most colleges will offer some form of financial help. Keep this is mind when applying.

Outside of College Resources:

• The KHEAA backed by the Kentucky Lottery, grants money for a variety of purposes. For basic college access in case of financial aid, high schoolers in dual credit classes, to optometry, and veterinary school. The KHEAA is a great, widespread source to pay for college take advantage of it and apply. Most requirements are already met just by being a Kentucky resident and having the need for the grants.

Where to Find Scholarships

One thing to note when trying to secure funding is that you should not have to pay to find scholarships. There are plenty of trustworthy databases of scholarships that you can filter through.

• CareerOneStop lets you filter by a large number of things Such as your level of study, where you will study, where you live currently, and special affiliations.
• Collegeboard has a similar search engine, and this is an especially useful tool because Collegeboard runs PSAT, SAT, AP, and CLEP exams. So who better to look for academic financial aid from?
• NCAA or the National Collegiate Athletic Association, can help to find athletics-based financial aid.

There are plenty of resources to find anything you might need; you just have to look for it. Wherever you may end up, getting financial help can't hurt.