With high school gradations taking place in a few weeks, many seniors are looking for scholarships. There are three categories in which scholarships may be found, and those are the following: national companies, community foundations, and some niche professional groups.
Since most foundations have specific missions (like supporting a certain city or a specific career path), seniors will want to tailor their search based on where they live and what they want to do.
For some of the largest scholarships, there are three big search engines. These sites allow the students to filter specifically for what they are searching. The sites are College Board, Fastweb, and Scholarship America.
Almost every city or county has a “community foundation” that manages dozen of small, local scholarships for students in that specific area.
Students can do a simple Google search to find the one in their area.
It is best for students to begin applying for the local scholarships because they will only be competing against students in their town and not the whole country.
Students should also go to their high school’s “Guidance” or “College Career” website. Most counselors keep a PDF list of local foundations that have historically given money to students from your specific school.