Scholarships and Bursaries

Funds given to students who deserve it

It's a common joke that students pay for an education just to come out into the real world poorer than when they started. However, it doesn't have to be that way. You can easily finance your education if you qualify for scholarships and bursaries. However, it's the qualifying that can be just as hard as actually getting through school! The good thing is, there are a lot of scholarships out there, both federally-funded and privately-funded. Your job is to do your research to find the ones that are right for you to apply for.

Types of Scholarships
There are several types of scholarships that academic, federal or private institutions or creditors offer.

The amount of these can vary from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, but since every little bit helps, researching these types of scholarships is to your benefit as a student.

Types of financial aid include:
• Merit-based scholarships are given out by institutions, be they federal, financial, or academic. They're based on artistic, academic, or athletic abilities. If you're great at sports or an amazing artist, you might consider checking to see if you're eligible for any of these scholarships. They vary in amount.

• Ethnicity-based scholarships are based on a student's ethnic or cultural background, and are given to ensure a more diverse student population at colleges and universities.

• Institutional-based scholarships are given out by specific schools as an incentive to reward a student for their academic work in high school or to get them to attend that institution.

• General scholarships are awarded, mostly by private benefactors, for any number of reasons. Often, general scholarships are given by corporations to their employee's children.

Bursaries are similar to scholarships, but for the most part they're awards given out by institutions to reward students for academic or merit. You can apply for them, but you can also be chosen for them through your institution.

Both bursaries and scholarships are important for students – they can really help with the financial load, and you don't have to pay them back. Working hard has never paid off so much!