Hillary Clinton has said that “the most important doorway to middle class is education beyond high school.” A college graduate faces the potential of earning more than double the salary of a high school graduate.

This is why in the U.S., the decreasing percentage of people with a college degree becomes a cause of concern. It’s every parent’s dream to get a son or daughter a college education, but the expenses involved increase every year – turning university education into a luxury.

One way to achieve your career goals is to try for a college scholarship. Scholarships are different from grants. Grants are usually federally funded and can take care of a considerable part of your college education. However, they normally don’t cover the full cost, forcing you to depend on your savings or student loans for the balance.

Scholarships, however, can give you the schooling you need without you ever having to spend a cent. You are also not required to pay the donor back, and there is virtually no limit to the amount of scholarships you can avail of.

There are billions of dollars’ worth of scholarships made available each year, and some are not even claimed at all, but you have to exert effort in searching for them. Rarely do they advertise slots and when they do, they are often swamped with hundreds of applications, significantly reducing your chances of winning one. Thus, you should start searching as early as the first few months of your senior year.

A few important things to keep in mind about qualifying for college scholarships are:

1.GPA is not the only qualification required for scholarships;
2.Various charitable groups look for different characteristics in beneficiaries;
3.Demonstrable financial need is a big factor in winning scholarships.

Sponsors are interested in helping students who are unique in some way. It may be that you have exceptional athletic abilities, a special artistic talent, or at the top of your class academically. It can also be that you’re only mediocre in terms of your GPA but are fortunate enough to fit the bill – say, a company is prioritizing students belonging to minority groups or those planning to take up courses in the sponsor’s industry.

Tips on landing a scholarship

You have to meet the qualifications. Don’t waste your time on applying for one where you clearly won’t qualify.

Be resourceful. Now that you know that millions of dollars’ worth of scholarships are left unclaimed each year, it’s time to start exerting effort to get ahead of the pack. Ask your parents if the companies they’re working for are offering scholarships. Or do some research on your own. Type in a few keywords to find which ones you’d qualify for, such as “scholarship + Asian + women” or “scholarship + tennis” or even “scholarship + left-handed”!

Focus. It’s true that you should apply to as many as you possibly can, but there’s always the danger of spreading yourself too thin and not being able to come up with a winning application.

Write a winning application. Ask for help form your parents or mentors with filling up the application if you have to. Just like applying for a job, your application should showcase your strengths and contributions not only to your school but to your community as well. Go online to find hundreds of tips on how to write a stellar essay.

Some students aiming for college scholarships start looking as early as the summer before their senior year. Check your eligibility for financial aid by using the epected family contribution (EFC) calculator on http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp. By November, you should be ready to mail out all your applications. Letters of decisions and aid awards usually arrive by April of the following year.