Free Money Grants
NO CASH? APPLY FOR FREE GRANT MONEY
A prospective student who has a reasonable prospect of succeeding in a particular line of study, but cannot afford the tuition fees and other related costs, should consider applying for free grant money from the government, the educational institution itself, a charitable organization, or a generous individual that they might know of personally. The difference between student school grants and study scholarships is that grants are gift, not loans, and do not have to be repaid.
For this reason, federal or private grants are not simply dished out to every student who applies – funds are always limited, and diligent students without access to alternative funding are always given preference. An education grant is a privilege, not a right, and just because you qualify in principle does not mean that you will definitely succeed. Like everything else in life, effort and not day-dreaming generally gets rewarded – this means that your application for a university or college grant must be comprehensive, well motivated, and easy to read too.
These are some of the funding sources to which you could submit your application for an education grant:
o Federal Student Grant Opportunities
The trick to eliciting any gift is to understand the motive of the giver. Government programs are usually in response to one or other political motive – hence if you can connect yourself to one or other under-privileged group, or argue some other misfortune, you are in with a better chance. Federal Student Grants also often aim to address a national skills gap at the same time. While we are not saying that you should align your future career to this, you obviously stand a better chance of success if, for example, your interests lie in engineering, math, the physical sciences, technology, or certain foreign languages.
Government Grants are usually offered through specific programs administered through federal offices or agencies:
• The Pell Grants that are offered by the Department of Education to college students in exceptional need are a good example of this. The permutations are almost endless.
Work though http://www2.ed.gov/fund/grants-90apply.html before you make up your mind about the education grant you need.
• SMART Grants are a form of student financial available to undergraduate university students enrolled in their third and fourth academic years, and who also meet the Pell Grant criteria. Their major subjects must include at least one of engineering, mathematics, science, technology, a qualifying liberal arts curriculum suited to education, or a foreign language deemed to be critical to the national interest.
Visit http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN0909.html to view a complete list of qualifying majors.
• The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants are even more specific. They’re aimed at assisting low-income undergraduate students on a need basis only, and these are available at over 4000 participating post-secondary educational institutions.
You’ll find all the information that you need at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/fseog/index.html.
Higher-Level Government Research Grants
America’s policy is to be the world leader in research, and this is expressed through a number of grants that support the efforts of larger research institutes. Chief among these are:
• The National Science Foundation at http://www.nsf.gov/
• The National Institutes of Health (http://www.nih.gov/), and
• The Environmental Protection Agency at http://www.epa.gov
State-Funded Student Grants
Each American State has its own Education Grant Program too. Contacts to individual agencies are available from the Federal Education Department at http://www.ed.gov
Private Grant Sources
These are too numerous to mention here and should be researched on an as-needed basis. Opportunities include colleges and universities, large corporate firms, and charitable foundations. These should be contacted directly, after thorough research into their aims, objectives and funding policies.
There are a wide variety of Free Grant Money opportunities available, all of which are aimed at assisting disadvantaged students, and many of which are directed at specific academic disciplines too. Government and State Grants are advertised openly on the internet, while Private Grant Sources need to be investigated separately, as, unlike our Government, those organizations are not joined up, and operate independently.
Not having resources to fund your studies is not a reason for giving up on your academic dreams. If you have a genuine need, a fair academic record, and a fair chance of succeeding too, then the chances are good that somebody, somewhere out there in America, can help you succeed with your Free Grant Money application.
