A Guide to Student Grants and Scholarships

 by: John Mussi

Colleges and universities can be expensive… sometimes getting accepted into the school of your choice can be the easy part of the educational journey of the new student. It isn't always easy to find the money that you need to pay for your education, but there are ways to make paying for school much easier. Two of the more common ways to ease the cost of continuing education are student grants and scholarships, both of which provide certain amounts of money that can be applied toward the cost of further education without the need to repay them.

Student grants and scholarships aren't always easy to find or to win, but the extra time taken in researching and applying for them is well worth it if you are awarded any of those that you apply for.

Defining Grants and Scholarships

The first thing that you need to know when looking for student grants and scholarships is exactly what the difference between grants and scholarships is. Both grants and scholarships are funds that are given to students based upon academic performance, financial need, or other reasons, and do not require the student to pay them back after graduation unlike student loans.

The major difference in grants and scholarships are their origins and the ways in which they are used. Grants are usually given by government offices and non-profit organizations and can generally be used to cover a variety of different expenses. Scholarships, on the other hand, are usually created by businesses or private individuals and are used to cover specific costs such as tuition or dormitory costs.

Both grants and scholarships must be applied for, and are generally considered to be highly competitive since there's only so much grant or scholarship money to go around each semester or each year.

Finding Grants and Scholarships
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A Guide to Student Grants and Scholarships
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About The Author John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help homeowners find the best available loans via the www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.

Additional Resources

category - Education Grants

What does it mean that Federal Student Aid is a PBO?
A PBO is a Performance Based Organization representing an initiative that was created in order to help the government operate more effectively and efficiently. When people call Federal Student Aid a PBO, this means that they are committed to and hold the same standards of the Performance Based Organization.

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Student Loans Available Directly from the Federal Government
There are different variations of a Federal Direct Student Loan available; these are dependent on whether or not the student is eligible for government assistance. Need based programs include the Stafford Loan and the Direct Subsidized Loan; while non-need based programs are the Direct PLUS program, and the Direct Unsubsidized Loan.

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Government Grants Within The United States Education Sector
The United States of America prides itself as having one of the top countries with the most efficient and functional educational systems. The US has been consistently working towards the improvement of the country's education-related initiatives.

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2012 University Center Economic Development Program Competition
The Economic Development Administration has recently established the 2012 University Center Economic Development Program Competition wherein they intend to solicit grant applications from higher education institutions stating their intent to establish and operate special University Centers that are focused on leveraging university assets in order to create regional economic ecosystems that will support high-growth entrepreneurship.

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