On March 30th, President Barack Obama went down to the Northern Virginia Community College and signed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act in front of hundreds of cheering students and faculty. While the Act increased Pell Grants and reformed a number of tax credits, it only addresses some of the issues anyone wanting to go to school must address when it comes to covering the high cost of a higher education and a college degree.
While many prospective students figure a way around this is to uncover a work-study program, the current recession makes finding any job uncertain. After all, individuals with college degrees have much better odds when finding long term jobs. They also provide more opportunities later in a career. While the Student Aid Act is encouraging news, it’s not the only avenue a young scholar should explore.
In other words, potential students shouldn’t use the state of the economy or the cost of education as a reason to put going to college on the backburner. Anyone who does is wallowing in cheap excuses. Financial assistance is there, including a variety of student loans, grants, scholarship opportunities, tax deductions and credits many never think of or even have heard about.
Many institutes of higher learning, both online and on campus, offer a wide array of assistance. Need-based grants can range from $500 to $15,000 annually, depending on the university. People who are in need of financial assistance should do research and discover the scholarship that best fits their academic history and background. They should also contact with the school’s financial aid officer. It’s these people’s jobs to help get them into their place of employment (the college). One could even say these officer’s jobs are dependent on it.
For starters, on campus and online colleges offer a wide variety of economic aid. They usually have, for lack of a better term, a budget that can hand out anywhere from $500 to $15,000 annually. Many times it is dependent on their actual need, grades and academic history, but it’s a good start. What a student should do is contact the school’s financial aid officer. They are hired to get as many people into their place of employment (i.e., the college) as possible. It’s a resource that many times is woefully unexploited.
There are also scholarships for minorities. Probably the best known is the United Negro College Fund. Their commercial stating a mind being a terrible thing to waste still resonates today. There are a number of other worthy charities out there. Also many private corporations and professional societies have programs for racial-specific scholarships for students of all colors and ethnic backgrounds.
At the same time, never forget academic scholarships - just realize colleges aren’t the only ones that hand them out. Many professional societies and private companies utilize them as a recruitment tactic. This makes sense for a company or corporation to invest in talent they want working for them in the future.
In all, there’s an important lesson a student seeking online master. They need to get on the stick and find out as many sources of grants for college out there, for both brick-and-mortar and online colleges. There are a number of college grants and scholarships out there that will help on to path of success. For more information about online course, check the internet.
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