• Federal Student Aid
• Types of Financial Aid
• Financial Aid Terminology

Scholarships & Financial Aid

Union Collegiate Academy

Finding Money for College
The link here is a PDF of a PowerPoint that was part of a presentation on January 22, 2013.

Locating Scholarships

• Begin with the colleges where you have applied because they provide many of the scholarships and grants received by students.  Research scholarship opportunities in the financial aid portion of their websites. 
• Follow cccunion on Twitter.  Scholarships will be tweeted.
• Watch for scholarship announcements on the College and Careers calendar.
• Watch the newspapers for scholarship announcements.
• Watch for church-sponsored scholarships and for those sponsored by other groups to which you belong.
• Inquire of your parent's employers regarding company-sponsored scholarship programs for employees' children. Some company scholarships require national test scores.

How to Apply for Scholarships

Many colleges and universities offer merit-based scholarships for students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership skills and academic achievements. Although these scholarships are based on merit, students will probably be required to complete a financial needs analysis. If a college awards its own scholarship dollars to students eligible for state or federal funds, this would eliminate the possibility of receiving outside need-based funds. This allows colleges to make the best use of their scholarship dollars and serve the greatest number of students.

Students should investigate any private sources of financial aid available, including:

• Parents' employers
• Parents' fraternal or school organizations
• Professional organizations
• Contests
• Department awards within the university
• Business and service clubs
• Churches/religious organizations
• Cultural groups
• Foundations
• Banks

In most cases, scholarship decisions are based on a variety of criteria. These are a few of the most often used:

• Grade point averages
• Class rank
• ACT or SAT test scores
• Extracurricular activities
• Leadership
• Letters of recommendation
• Interviews
• Autobiographical statement or essay

Visit the following websites to learn about additional scholarship programs:

• OKCIS:  http://okcareertech.org/cac/pages/OKCIS/okcis.htm
  User Name:  tulsaunionhs
  Password:  okcis 106
  
• College Board: http://www.collegeboard.com/
• Education Corner: http://www.educationcorner.com/
• FastWeb: http://www.fastweb.monster.com/
• OKhighered.org:  http://okcollegestart.org
• The Princeton Review: http://www.princetonreview.com/

Good sites to find financial aid for minority students include:

• Gates Millennium Scholars: http://www.gmsp.org/
• Hispanic Scholarship Fund: http://www.hsf.net/
• Japanese American Citizens League: http://www.jacl.org/
• LULAC-League of United Latin American Citizens: http://www.inesc.org/
• American Indian College Fund: http://www.collegefund.org/scholarships/main.html
• United Negro College Fund: http://www.uncf.org/
• Minority On-Line Information Service: http://www.molis.us/
• Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute:  http://www.chci.org/scholarships/

Other good sites:

• National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (this site contains a section on scholarships for specific majors or courses of study): http://nasfaa.org/redesign/ParentsStudents.html