Paying for College

Paycheck to Paycheck

Scholarships

Colleges are concerned about students being able to afford tuition at their schools. As a result, colleges spend a lot of time raising scholarship money to give to students who attend their schools. In fact, colleges and universities represent the largest source of scholarships for college students. However, the types of scholarships offered by colleges and universities, and the amount of those scholarships, vary tremendously.

It is important to find out early what kinds of need-based and merit-based scholarships are awarded by the colleges your student is considering and how those scholarships are awarded. Some colleges give almost all of their scholarship dollars to students based on their financial need. Some give part of their money to students based on financial need and some based on merit. Sometimes colleges look at both the financial need and the merit of the student and award combination aid.

For example, a college might award a lot of its merit-based scholarships to students who are strong in performing arts because that is a particular interest of the college. At another college, athletics may be more important in awarding scholarships. Other universities may not award any merit-based aid at all, choosing instead to focus all of their scholarship resources on students with financial need.

These different types of scholarships are all a part of what is called “institutional aid”. Contact the admission office or the financial aid office of the colleges your student is considering to find out about their scholarship policies. Most colleges have web sites that give you the phone numbers for these offices. Some of the colleges’ web sites also give you information on their scholarship programs. For the key questions you should ask every time you talk to a college about its financial aid, click here. To search for an Indiana college you want to learn more about, click here.