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Access Missouri Program

• Deadline April 1, 2024
• Offered By Missouri Department of Higher Education
• State Missouri
• Description This is a need-based program designed to be simple to understand, provide predictable, portable awards, and increase access to your school of choice. Must be a Missouri resident and an undergraduate student enrolled full time at a participating Missouri school.
• Essay Required :  No
• Recommendations Required :  No
• Minimum GPA :  None
• Major Any Major
• Type Generic

American Legion Auxiliary Scholarship Program

• Offered By American Legion Auxiliary, Department of Alabama
• State Alabama
• Description A grant award to be used for tuition, fees and board expenses to attend a public postsecondary educational institution in Alabama. Awards are restricted to students who attend institutions in Alabama.
• Essay Required :  Yes
• Recommendations Required :  Yes
• Minimum GPA :  3.0
• Type Military Family

Edna Ione Hall Scholarship

• Offered By Weber State University
• State Nationwide
• Description The scholarship recipient must be a full time student majoring, minoring, or taking classes within the college (during the year of the award). Preference will be given to international, out-of-state or minority students, and/or students with financial need (FAFSA recommended). The recipient may be an incoming or continuing student.
• Minimum GPA :  3
• Major Art, Fine Arts, Visual Arts, Communication, Foreign Languages, English, Performing Arts, Design, Film Studies
• Type Weber State University
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Hope Through Learning Award

• Offered By Homeless Children's Education Fund
• State Pennsylvania
• Description The Hope Through Learning Award is a $2,500 award available to youth age 24 and under residing in Allegheny County who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness during their school attendance years, and who are going on to a higher education or career training program for the first time. Homelessness is defined as lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence, and includes students living in a shelter, car, motel, doubled-up situation, or places not meant for human habitation.

Italian Catholic Federation

• Offered By Italian Catholic Federation
• State Arizona, California, Illinois, Nevada
• Description This scholarship is for those who are Roman Catholic and of Italian Descent and live within the Roman Catholic Dioceses of California, Illinois and Nevada, only where Branches of the Federation are established; or are Roman Catholic and either Roman Catholic parent, guardian or grandparent is a member of the “Italian Catholic Federation.”
• Minimum GPA :  3.2

Jose Marti Scholarship Challenge Grant Fund

• Offered By Florida Department of Education
• State Florida
• Description The Jose Marti Scholarship Challenge Grant Fund is a need-based merit scholarship that provides financial assistance to eligible students of Hispanic origin who will attend Florida public or eligible private institutions.
• Minimum GPA :  3.00
• Type Hispanic

Kansas Comprehensive Grant

• Offered By State of Kansas Student Aid
• State Kansas
• Description The Kansas Comprehensive Grant is a need-based grant available to Kansas residents enrolled full-time at eighteen private colleges and universities located in Kansas, the six state universities, and Washburn University.

Kenny C. Guinn Memorial Millennium Scholarship

• Offered By Nevada State Treasurer
• State Nevada
• Description The Kenny C. Guinn Memorial Millennium Scholarship is used to bestow additional scholarships each year to four qualified Gov. Guinn Millennium Scholars, two each in Northern and Southern Nevada, who are majoring in elementary or secondary education with the intent of teaching in Nevada.
• Minimum GPA :  3.5
• Major Education

OSAC Scholarship

• Offered By Oregon Office of Student Access and Completion
• State Oregon
• Description The OSAC Scholarship Application provides current and future Oregon students one easy application to apply for multiple scholarships at one time. OSAC awards more than $10 million in scholarships annually through more than 600 scholarships.
• Essay Required :  Unknown
• Recommendations Required :  Unknown

Rosewood Family Scholarship

• Description The Rosewood Family Scholarship Program was created to provide student financial assistance for a maximum of 50 eligible students who attend a state university, Florida college (public community college), or public postsecondary vocational technical school. Eligible students must be direct descendants of Rosewood families affected by the historical incidents of January 1923.

SUNY Plattsburgh Winkel Scholarships

• Offered By SUNY Plattsburgh
• Description For continuing SUNY Plattsburgh Art Majors who have at least a 3.0 GPA in art courses and incoming freshmen who have declared art as their major. Graduating art majors are not eligible for Winkel Scholarships, but they may be eligible for a Winkel Post-Graduate Internship.
• Major Visual Arts, Fine Arts, Art
• Type SUNY Plattsburgh

Scholarships for Children and Spouses of Deceased or Disabled Veterans

• Description The Scholarships for Children and Spouses of Deceased or Disabled Veterans (CSDDV) provides an award to dependent children or un-remarried spouses of qualified Florida veterans.

St. Andrew's Society Scholarship

• Offered By Oregon Community Foundation
• Description For graduating seniors in Oregon or Clark County, WA to enroll at an institution of higher education anywhere in the United States. Applicants must (a) be born in Scotland, (b) have a parent or grandparent who was born in Scotland, or (c) have demonstrated a significant commitment to Scottish dancing, piping, drumming, Celtic harp or Highland fiddle.

Verl and Dorothy Miller Native American Vocational Scholarship

• Description For Native American residents of Oregon who are seeking vocational training or certification.
• Type Native American

PDK Educational Foundation Scholarship

• Deadline April 2, 2024
• Offered By Educators Rising
• Description Educators Rising is powered by PDK International. One of the many ways that PDK supports Educators Rising and fulfills its vision of cultivating great educators for tomorrow is through the PDK Educational Foundation. The PDK Educational Foundation awards more than 30 scholarships each year to prospective educators who have a connection to PDK through membership in Educators Rising.

Lloyd M. Johnson Jr. Scholarship Program

• Deadline April 3, 2024
• Offered By Minority Corporate Counsel Association
• Description The LMJ Scholarship is a diversity pipeline program that seeks to nurture the academic and professional careers of outstanding law students. The scholarship is open to women and diverse students who have: been accepted to an ABA-accredited law school on a full-time basis; an outstanding or promising academic record; an interest in corporate law; demonstrated community service and leadership qualities; a financial need; and a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity.
• Major Legal Studies

Alexander Cervone Scholarship

• Deadline April 5, 2024
• Offered By Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley
• State New York
• Description Established in memory of gifted guitarist and musician Alexander Cervone, this scholarship is available to graduating high school seniors of Our Lady of Lourdes High School and Spackenkill High School who have demonstrated a passion or aptitude for music or history. The scholarship will be awarded to individuals who will be full time students at any accredited college or university in the United States. It may be used for tuition, books and fees.

Christopher M. C. Ulanmo Memorial Scholarship

• Description The Christopher M. C. Ulanmo Memorial Scholarship honors Chris' life by making a scholarship available to high school seniors from John Jay High school who plan to enter college. Chris was a kind, happy, fun loving, giving and intelligent person who had a positive influence on everyone he knew. He was generous, loved family and community and had many friends. Chris was a teenager with a promising future and the ability to become anything. He aspired to become a doctor because he believed in service to others. The scholarship has been established to help others who exemplify generosity, intelligence, goodwill, and a love for life.

Cosimo DiBrizzi Culinary Arts Scholarship

• Offered By Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce
• Description Established by the family of Cosimo DiBrizzi and the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce to honor his memory, this scholarship is available to any resident of the Mid-Hudson Valley who is pursuing a career at the Culinary Institute of America. (Mid-Hudson is defined as Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam and Ulster counties.)
• Type Culinary Institute of America

David Jagaciewski Scholarship

• Description Established by family and friends in memory of David Jagaciewski who passed away on November 29, 2006. David was a teacher of technology education at Poughkeepsie High School for 33 years. This scholarship is established to assist students in receiving a post-secondary education. The scholarship shall be applied to tuition costs at an accredited college or university in the United States.

10 Unique Scholarships for The 2021-2022 School Year

College tuition seems to be increasing every year, and financial aid never seems to be enough. At Colleges of Distinction, we’re always looking for different ways to help students pay for college. Scholarships and grants are some of the easiest ways to find extra funds for school. That’s why we’ve rounded up the latest unique scholarships for the 2021-2022 school year. We’re constantly updating our scholarship pages , so keep an eye out for more opportunities. Want even more scholarships? Check out our partner, Bold.org , for new and exclusive scholarships and grants.

Our top pick: “Be Bold” No-Essay Scholarship

Deadline: Aug 31, 2021

Award Amount: $25,000 

Overview: The $25,000 “Be Bold” Scholarship is a no-essay scholarship that will be awarded to the applicant with the boldest profile. To us, boldest does not mean “best”, or “most accomplished”. Being bold means being: earnest, determined, moving. The scholarship will be awarded to the student whose profile is most bold, according to these characteristics. While the scholarship will be awarded on November 30, 2021, the scholarship will have rolling monthly application deadlines. Students applying within earlier application windows will have a greater chance of winning the award.

The WatchBox Scholarship

Deadline: September 30th, 2021

Award Amount: $2,500 

Overview: Calling all watch-loving college students across the United States! WatchBox wants to support watch enthusiasts and collectors pursuing their college educations. One student will be chosen based on their essay submission and meeting of all scholarship requirements.

To enter, write an essay telling us about your favorite luxury watch brand sold at WatchBox and why it’s interesting to you. Is there a specific model that catches your eye, like a GMT-Master II from Rolex or Royal Oak from Audemars Piguet? Was your first watch a vintage Jaeger-LeCoultre timepiece passed down through your family? Or, maybe you appreciate the horological masterpieces from Patek Philippe, the last family-owned independent watch manufacturer in Geneva.

The Osmosis Raise the Line Scholarship

Award Amount: $5,000

Overview: To help “Raise the Line” and strengthen our global healthcare capacity, Osmosis will award 6 students like you with funds that can help pay your rent, ease your tuition fees, or help finance costs when paying for exams. This way, you can focus on your studies and become the best healthcare provider you can be. You’ll be able to help “Raise the Line” to meet the demands of the coming decade and beyond.

The application is made up of a few questions and a short video. For the questionnaire, responses to each question should be no longer than 350 words. For the video, we estimate a response should take only about 3 minutes, but it should not exceed more than 5 minutes.

David JC Cutler Grant

Deadline: December 31st, 2021

Award Amount: $1,000

Overview: David JC Cutler is eager to assist the poor students of the US, pursuing advanced studies in America. These students have financial challenges. David is associated with several philanthropic activities in the country, helping the middle-class or poor-income students who cannot pay for expensive college tuition fees in America. That is the reason why David has started the David JC Grant program to let students study in an accredited college or university in the US without worrying about money.

Howley Financial Group Scholarship

Deadline: December 15, 2021

Overview:  Jack Howley, Founder and President of Howley Financial Group is pleased to offer a $1000 scholarship to one bright and creative student. Jack Howley of Howley Financial Group empathizes with the financial difficulties that many students pursuing a higher degree face. In order to lift this burden and help such students, he has initiated the Howley Financial Group Scholarship, which will be awarded to talented and driven student.

The winner of the Howley Financial Group Scholarship will receive a financial aid of $1000. The award winner will have written an original, creative and thought-provoking essay of 700-850 words on the following prompt:

“Describe a moment in your life or background story that has shaped you into who you are today”

The Florin|Roebig Scholarship Essay Contest

Deadline: December 1, 2021

Award Amount: $1,500

Overview:  The law firm of Florin|Roebig knows how valuable higher education can be, not only in shaping society but in helping young people reach their long-term academic and professional goals. For this reason, we’re proud to announce a scholarship contest awarding $1,500.

Using your personal experience as a student living through a pandemic, what long term impacts will social distancing have on the overall culture of college students? What positive and negative changes can students expect to see when it comes to social interactions on campuses in the future? If social distancing, mask wearing and online events becomes the campus culture, is that good or bad? And why?

The Nancy Etz Scholarship

Deadline: February 1, 2022

Overview:   To support and encourage students pursuing higher education, Nancy Etz awards this annual scholarship to those currently enrolled as full-time undergraduate or graduate students in the U.S.

The Nancy Etz Academic Scholarship was created to recognize an outstanding student and provide them the resources needed to advance in their disciplines and eventually pursue their dream careers.

Paul Haarman Scholarship

Overview: Paul Haarman understands the difficulties that students seeking their university degree experience. For this reason, and many others, he has established the Paul Haarman Scholarship. The award will help three talented students cover the high cost of tuition…

The three deserving winners of the Paul Haarman scholarship will see a deduction in their tuition accounts of $1000 each. The award winner will have written a creative essay of 700-850 words addressing the following questions: “Describe a background story that is essential to who you are”

North Spore Scholarship

Deadline: December 17, 2021

Award Amount: $2,500

Overview: North Spore scholarship provides a one-time reward of $2,500 to pay for tuition, books, computers, accommodation, and any other educational expenses.

We’re in search of students committed to academic excellence and the pursuit of better education, who are currently enrolled in any mycology program, a postgraduate study in mycology, or other related studies. As a way of giving back to the community, we’ve decided to support individuals working toward their future through education.

CouponPromo Scholarship

Deadline: December 31, 2021

Award Amount: $3,000

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From the Heart to Higher Education: The 2021 College Essays on Money

Each year, we ask high school seniors to send us college application essays that touch on money, work or social class. Here are five from this year’s incoming college freshmen.

Credit... Robert Neubecker

Supported by

By Ron Lieber

• June 18, 2021

When the most selective — or, even better, rejective — schools in the United States are accepting under 10 percent of the people pleading for a spot in the next freshman class, it eventually becomes impossible to know why any one person receives an offer, or why a student chooses a particular school.

So in this particularly unpredictable season — as we publish a selection of application essays about money, work or social class for the ninth time — we’ve made one small but permanent change: We (and they) are going to tell you where the writers come from, but not where they are headed.

Our overarching point in publishing their essays isn’t to crack the code on writing one’s way into Yale or Michigan, as if that were even possible. Instead, it’s to celebrate how meaningful it can be to talk openly about money and write about it in a way that makes a reader stop and wonder about someone else’s life and, just maybe, offers a momentary bit of enlightenment and delight.

One writer this year helps her mother find a new way of bringing joy into the world, while another discovers the cost of merely showing up if you’re a female employee. A young man reflects on his own thrift, while a young woman accepts a gift of ice cream and pays a price for it. Finally, caregiving becomes a source of pride for someone young enough to need supervision herself.

Each of the writers will make you smile, eventually. And this year in particular, we — and they — deserve to.

“She began to cry and told me it was too late for her. I could not bear to watch her struggle between ambition and doubt.”

New York — Bronx High School of Science

My mom finds a baffling delight from drinking from glass, hotel-grade water dispensers. Even when three-day-old lemon rinds float in stale water, drinking from the dispenser remains luxurious. Last year for her birthday, I saved enough to buy a water dispenser for our kitchen counter. However, instead of water, I filled it with handwritten notes encouraging her to chase her dreams of a career.

As I grew older, I noticed that my mom yearned to pursue her passions and to make her own money. She spent years as a stay-at-home mom and limited our household chores as much as she could, taking the burden upon herself so that my brothers and I could focus on our education. However, I could tell from her curiosity of and attitudes toward working women that she envied their financial freedom and the self-esteem that must come with it. When I asked her about working again, she would tell me to focus on achieving the American dream that I knew she had once dreamed for herself.

For years, I watched her effortlessly light up conversations with both strangers and family. Her empathy and ability to understand the needs, wants and struggles of a diverse group of people empowered her to reach the hearts of every person at a dinner table, even when the story itself did not apply to them at all. She could make anyone laugh, and I wanted her to be paid for it. “Mom, have you ever thought about being a stand-up comedian?”

She laughed at the idea, but then she started wondering aloud about what she would joke about and how comedy shows were booked. As she began dreaming of a comedy career, the reality of her current life as a stay-at-home mom sank in. She began to cry and told me it was too late for her. I could not bear to watch her struggle between ambition and doubt.

Her birthday was coming up. Although I had already bought her a present, I realized what I actually wanted to give her was the strength to finally put herself first and to take a chance. I placed little notes of encouragement inside the water dispenser. I asked my family and her closest friends to do the same. These friends told her other friends, and eventually I had grown a network of supporters who emailed me their admiration for my mom. From these emails, I hand wrote 146 notes, crediting all of these supporters that also believed in my mom. Some provided me with sentences, others with five-paragraph-long essays. Yet, each note was an iteration of the same sentiment: “You are hilarious, full of life, and ready to take on the stage.”

On the day of her birthday, my mom unwrapped my oddly shaped present and saw the water dispenser I bought her. She was not surprised, as she had hinted at it for many years. But then as she kept unwrapping, she saw that inside the dispenser there were these little notes that filled the whole thing. As she kept picking out and reading the notes, I could tell she was starting to believe what they said. She started to weep with her hands full of notes. She could not believe the support was real, that everyone knew she had a special gift and believed in her.

Within two months, my mom performed her first set in a New York comedy club. Within a year, my mom booked a monthly headlining show at the nation’s premier comedy club.

I am not sure what happened to the water dispenser. But I have read the notes with my mom countless times. They are framed and line the walls of her new office space that she rented with the profits she made from working as a professional comedian . For many parents, their children’s careers are their greatest accomplishment, but for me my mom’s is mine.

Adrienne Coleman

“The intense Saturday night crucible of the restaurant, with all the unwanted phone numbers, catcalls and wandering hands, jolted me into an unavoidable reckoning with feminism in a professional world.”

Locust Valley, N.Y. — Friends Academy

“Pull down your mask, sweetheart, so I can see that pretty smile.”

I returned a well-practiced smile with just my eyes, as the eight guys started their sixth bottle of Brunello di Montalcino. Their carefree banter bordered on heckling. Ignoring their comments, I stacked dishes heavy with half-eaten rib-eye steaks and truffle risotto. As I brought their plates to the dish pit, I warned my female co-workers about the increasingly drunken rowdiness at Table 44.

This was not the first time I’d felt uncomfortable at work. When I initially presented my résumé to the restaurant manager, he scanned me up and down, barely glancing at the piece of paper. “Well, you’ve got no restaurant experience, but you know, you package well. When can you start?” I felt his eyes burn through me. That’s it? No pretense of a proper interview? “Great,” I said, thrilled at the prospect of earning good money. At the same time, reduced to the way I “package,” I felt degraded.

I thought back to my impassioned feminist speech that won the eighth-grade speech contest. I lingered on the moments that, as the leader of my high school’s F-Word Club, I had redefined feminism for my friends who initially rejected the word as radical. But in these instances, I realized how my notions of equality had been somewhat theoretical — a passion inspired by the words of Malala and R.B.G. — but not yet lived or compromised.

The restaurant has become my real-world classroom, the pecking order transparent and immutable. All the managers, the decision makers, are men. They set the schedules, determine the tip pool, hire pretty young women to serve and hostess, and brazenly berate those below them. The V.I.P. customers are overwhelmingly men, the high rollers who drop thousands of dollars on drinks, and feel entitled to palm me, a 17-year-old, their phone numbers rolled inside a wad of cash.

Angry customers, furious they had mistakenly received penne instead of pane, initially rattled me. I have since learned to assuage and soothe. I’ve developed the confidence to be firm with those who won’t wear a mask or are breathtakingly rude. I take pride in controlling my tables, working 13-hour shifts and earning my own money. At the same time, I’ve struggled to navigate the boundaries of what to accept and where to draw the line. When a staff member continued to inappropriately touch me, I had to summon the courage to address the issue with my male supervisor. Then, it took weeks for the harasser to get fired, only to return to his job a few days later.

When I received my first paycheck, accompanied by a stack of cash tips, I questioned the compromises I was making. In this physical and mental space, I searched for my identity. It was simple to explore gender roles in a classroom or through complex characters in a Kate Chopin novel. My heroes, trailblazing women such as Simone de Beauvoir and Gloria Steinem, had paved the road for me. In my textbooks, their crusading is history. But the intense Saturday night crucible of the restaurant, with all the unwanted phone numbers, catcalls and wandering hands, jolted me into an unavoidable reckoning with feminism in a professional world.

Often, I’ve felt shame; shame that I wasn’t as vocal as my heroes; shame that I feigned smiles and silently pocketed the cash handed to me. Yet, these experiences have been a catalyst for personal and intellectual growth. I am learning how to set boundaries and to use my professional skills as a means of empowerment.

Constantly re-evaluating my definition of feminism, I am inspired to dive deeply into gender studies and philosophy to better pursue social justice. I want to use politics as a forum for activism. Like my female icons, I want to stop the burden of sexism from falling on young women. In this way, I will smile fully — for myself.

Hoseong Nam

“I feel haunted, cursed by the compulsion to diligently subtract pennies from purchases hoping it will eventually pile up into a mere dollar.”

Hanoi, Vietnam — British Vietnamese International School

Despite the loud busking music, arcade lights and swarms of people, it was hard to be distracted from the corner street stall serving steaming cupfuls of tteokbokki — a medley of rice cake and fish cake covered in a concoction of hot sweet sauce. I gulped when I felt my friend tugging on the sleeve of my jacket, anticipating that he wanted to try it. After all, I promised to treat him out if he visited me in Korea over winter break.

The cups of tteokbokki, garnished with sesame leaves and tempura, was a high-end variant of the street food, nothing like the kind from my childhood. Its price of 3,500 Korean won was also nothing like I recalled, either, simply charged more for being sold on a busy street. If I denied the purchase, I could console my friend and brother by purchasing more substantial meals elsewhere. Or we could spend on overpriced food now to indulge in the immediate gratification of a convenient but ephemeral snack.

At every seemingly inconsequential expenditure, I weigh the pros and cons of possible purchases as if I held my entire fate in my hands. To be generously hospitable, but recklessly drain the travel allowance we needed to stretch across two weeks? Or to be budgetarily shrewd, but possibly risk being classified as stingy? That is the question, and a calculus I so dearly detest.

Unable to secure subsequent employment and saddled by alimony complications, there was no room in my dad’s household to be embarrassed by austerity or scraping for crumbs. Ever since I was taught to dilute shampoo with water, I’ve revised my formula to reduce irritation to the eye. Every visit to a fast-food chain included asking for a sheet of discount coupons — the parameters of all future menu choice — and a past receipt containing the code of a completed survey to redeem for a free cheeseburger. Exploiting combinations of multiple promotions to maximize savings at such establishments felt as thrilling as cracking war cryptography, critical for minimizing cash casualties.

However, while disciplined restriction of expenses may be virtuous in private, at outings, even those amongst friends, spending less — when it comes to status — paradoxically costs more. In Asian family-style eating customs, a dish ordered is typically available to everyone, and the total bill, regardless of what you did or did not consume, is divided evenly. Too ashamed to ask for myself to be excluded from paying for dishes I did not order or partake in, I’ve opted out of invitations to meals altogether. I am wary even of meals where the inviting host has offered to treat everyone, fearful that if I only attended “free meals” I would be pinned as a parasite.

Although I can now conduct t-tests to extract correlations between multiple variables, calculate marginal propensities to import and assess whether a developing country elsewhere in the world is at risk of becoming stuck in the middle-income trap, my day-to-day decisions still revolve around elementary arithmetic. I feel haunted, cursed by the compulsion to diligently subtract pennies from purchases hoping it will eventually pile up into a mere dollar, as if the slightest misjudgment in a single buy would tip my family’s balance sheet into irrecoverable poverty.

Will I ever stop stressing over overspending?

I’m not sure I ever will.

But I do know this. As I handed over 7,000 won in exchange for two cups of tteokbokki to share amongst the three of us — my friend, my brother and myself — I am reminded that even if we are not swimming in splendor, we can still uphold our dignity through the generosity of sharing. Restricting one’s conscience only around ruminating which roads will lead to riches risks blindness toward rarer wealth: friends and family who do not measure one’s worth based on their net worth. Maybe one day, such rigorous monitoring of financial activity won’t be necessary, but even if not, this is still enough.

Neeya Hamed

“In America, we possess all the tangible resources. Why is it, then, that we fruitlessly struggle to connect with one another?”

New York — Brooklyn Friends School

Sitting on monobloc chairs of various colors, the Tea Ladies offer healing. Henna-garnished hands deliver four cups of tea, each selling for no more than 10 cents. You may see them as refugees who fled the conflict in western Sudan, passionately working to make ends meet by selling tea. I see them as messengers bearing the secret ingredients necessary to truly welcome others.

On virtually every corner in Sudan, you can find these Tea Ladies. They greet you with open hearts and colorful traditional Sudanese robes while incense fills the air, singing songs of ancient ritual. Their dexterous ability to touch people’s lives starts with the ingredients behind the tea stand: homegrown cardamom, mint and cloves. As they skillfully prepare the best handmade tea in the world, I look around me. Melodies of spirited laughter embrace me, smiles as bright as the afternoon sun. They have a superpower. They create a naturally inviting space where boundless hospitality thrives.

These humble spaces are created by people who do not have much. Meanwhile, in America, we possess all the tangible resources. Why is it, then, that we fruitlessly struggle to connect with one another? On some corners of Mill Basin, Brooklyn, I discovered that some people don’t lead their lives as selflessly.

I never imagined that the monobloc chair in my very own neighborhood would be pulled out from under me. Behind this stand, the ingredients necessary to touch my life were none but one: a friendly encounter gone wrong. While waiting for ice cream, a neighbor offered to pay for me. This deeply offended the shop owner glaring behind the glass; he resented my neighbor’s compassion because his kindness is reserved for those who do not look like me. The encounter was potent enough to extract the resentment brewing within him and compelled him to project that onto me.

“I guess Black lives do matter then,” he snarked.

His unmistakably self-righteous smirk was enough to deny my place in my community. It was enough to turn a beautiful sentiment of kindness into a painfully retentive memory; a constant reminder of what is to come.

Six thousand three hundred and fifty-eight miles away, Sudan suddenly felt closer to me than the ice cream shop around the corner. As I walked home, completely shaken and wondering what I did to provoke him, I struggled to conceptualize the seemingly irrelevant comment. When I walk into spaces, be it my school, the bodega or an ice cream shop, I am conscious of the cardamom mint, and cloves that reside within me; the ingredients, traits and culmination of thoughts that make up who I am, not what I was reduced to by that man. I learned, however, that sometimes the color of my skin speaks before I can.

I realized that the connotations of ignorance in his words weren’t what solely bothered me. My confusion stemmed more from the complete lack of care toward others in his community, a notion completely detached from everything I believe in. For the Tea Ladies and the Sudanese people, it isn’t about whether or not people know their story. It isn’t about solidarity in uniformity, but rather seeing others for who they truly are.

Back in Khartoum, Sudan, I looked at the talents of the Tea Ladies in awe. They didn’t necessarily transform people with their tea, they did something better. Every cup was a silent nod to each person’s dignity.

To the left of me sat a husband and father, complaining about the ridiculous bread prices. To the right of me sat a younger worker who spent his days sweeping the quarters of the water company next door. Independent of who you were or what you knew before you got there, their tea was bridging the gap between lives and empowering true companionship, all within the setting of four chairs and a small plastic table.

Sometimes, that is all it takes.

“I was the memory keeper, privy to the smallest snippets that go forgotten in a lifetime.”

Lafayette, Calif. — Miramonte High School

I was the ultimate day care kid — I never left.

From before I could walk to the start of middle school, Kimmy’s day care was my second home. While my classmates at school went home with stay-at-home moms to swim team and Girl Scouts, I traveled to the town next door where the houses are smaller, the parched lawns crunchy under my feet from the drought.

At school, I stuck out. I was one of the few brown kids on campus. Both of my parents worked full time. We didn’t spend money on tutors when I got a poor test score. I’d never owned a pair of Lululemon leggings, and my mom was not versed in the art of Zumba, Jazzercise or goat yoga. At school, I was a blade of green grass in a California lawn, but at day care, I blended in.

The kids ranged from infants to toddlers. I was the oldest by a long shot, but I liked it that way. As an only child, this was my window into a sibling relationship — well, seven sibling relationships. I played with them till we dropped, held them when they cried, got annoyed when they took my things. And the kids did the same for me. They helped as I sat at the counter drawing, and starred in every play I put on. They watched enviously as I climbed to the top of the plum tree in the backyard.

Kimmy called herself “the substitute mother,” but she never gave herself enough credit. She listened while I gushed about my day, held me when I had a fever and came running when I fell out of the tree. From her, I learned to feed a baby a bottle, and recognize when a child was about to walk. I saw dozens of first steps, heard hundreds of first words, celebrated countless birthdays. Most importantly, I learned to let the bottle go when the baby could feed herself.

And I collected all the firsts, all the memories and stories of each kid, spinning elaborate tales to the parents who walked through the door at the end of the day. I was the memory keeper, privy to the smallest snippets that go forgotten in a lifetime.

I remember when Alyssa asked me to put plum tree flowers in her pigtails, and the time Arlo fell into the toilet. I remember the babies we bathed in the kitchen sink, and how Kimmy saved Gussie’s life with the Heimlich maneuver. I remember the tears at “graduation,” when children left for preschool, and each time our broken family mended itself when new kids arrived.

When I got home, I wrote everything down in my pink notebook. Jackson’s first words, the time Lolly fell off the couch belting “Let It Go.” Each page titled with a child’s name and the moments I was afraid they wouldn’t remember.

I don’t go to day care anymore. Children don’t hide under the table, keeping me company while I do homework. Nursing a baby to sleep is no longer part of my everyday routine, and running feet don’t greet me when I return from school. But day care is infused in me. I can clean a room in five minutes, and whip up lunch for seven. I remain calm in the midst of chaos. After taming countless temper tantrums, I can work with anyone. I continue to be a storyteller.

When I look back, I remember peering down from the top of the plum tree. I see a tiny backyard with patches of dead grass. But I also see Kimmy and my seven “siblings.” I see the beginnings of lives, and a place that quietly shapes the children who run across the lawn below. The baby stares curiously up at me from the patio, bouncing in her seat. She will be walking soon, Kimmy says. As will I.

Ron Lieber has been the Your Money columnist since 2008 and has written five books, most recently “The Price You Pay for College.” More about Ron Lieber

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U.S. News Scholarship Finder

Looking for scholarships and other financial aid options? Use the Scholarship Finder to narrow your search by stats like test scores, location, type of award and school type. For more information, read our guide on how to find and secure scholarships for college or search the best private loan options available .

Dorn Family Endowed Scholarship

Auburn University

What You'll Need

• Application Form

Description

Must be enrolled in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, with preference given to female students although gender of the applicant shall not be the controlling factor in awarding the scholarship.

Scott Haygood and Stefanie Sigler Haygood Endowed Scholarship

• Demonstrated Financial Need

Must be enrolled in the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business, with preference to residents of Alabama or Georgia who demonstrate financial need

College of Education Barbara Toner Non-Traditional Student Scholarship

Troy University

• Merit-based Aid

The College of Education Barbara Toner Non-Traditional Student Scholarship is awarded to students attending the Southeast Region of Troy’s Global University and are in the Parent Degree Program with a GPA of 2.5.

2020 Opportunity to Grow Scholarship

Williams Law Group, LLC

• Need-based Aid

The scholarship is open to any current high school senior, college student or graduate student who is a legal resident of the United States residing in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia and who is enrolled in a two to five year post-secondary institution A minimum GPA is not required

Ron Morford Memorial Scholarship

California State University, Sacramento

This scholarship is intended to support CSUS students in Business Administration with a concentration in Accountancy or Accounting Information Systems.

Warren G. Bender Scholarship

To support students studying at Sac State majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in the Finance concentration and Risk Management and Insurance track, MBA Finance concentration or Entrepreneurship Global Business concentration.

The Anhelo Project Dream Scholarship

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)

The Anhelo Project is a Chicago based non-profit organization that works to support undocumented students pursuing a post-secondary education within the State of Illinois. Since 2011 The Anhelo Project has awarded over $200,000 to more than 60 recipients pursuing their dream to achieve an education beyond high school. Students do not need to have DACA status, and we strongly encourage undocumented students from all racial/ethnic backgrounds to apply. The 2021 Anhelo Project Dream Scholarship will be awarded to eligible high school seniors, undergraduate, graduate and/or vocational training students who demonstrate leadership, academic competitiveness, community involvement, and financial need.

PRSA Foundation Scholarships

PRSA Foundation invests in the next generation of public relations practitioners by awarding scholarships and grants to students active in PRSSA campus chapters, as well as other deserving undergraduate and graduate students in the U.S. and around the world.

Point Foundation

Region: National

Norman Illges Memorial Scholarship

Columbus State University

Awarded to students enrolled or accepted into a health science program, undergraduate or graduate, for educationally related expenses. Must have a minimum undergraduate gpa of 2.5 or graduate gpa of 3.0 and demonstrate financial need.

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

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34 No Essay Scholarships to Save Thousands on College

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What’s Covered:

Are “no-essay” scholarships worth it, where to focus your scholarship search.

• 34 No-Essay Scholarships  

Scholarships play a large role in many students’ plans for how to pay for college, but completing the applications for some scholarships is time-consuming—especially for students who are busy taking challenging courses and involved with extracurricular activities. Luckily, some scholarships are easier to apply for than others, like the no-essay scholarships listed below. 

No-essay scholarships are easier to apply for than other, more involved scholarships, so it doesn’t cost you much in time or effort to apply. However, because they’re easy to apply for, they receive a lot of applications, which means more competition and lower odds of winning. It is also less clear how no-essay scholarship recipients are selected without an essay to set your application apart.  

If you choose to apply for no-essay scholarships, just know that they are just a part of a strategy for winning awards to college and are best-suited as a supplement to local and more niche scholarships. If you don’t like the idea of writing an essay, look for a scholarship with an equivalent task, like making a video or creating a piece of art instead. 

Outside scholarships garner a lot of attention, but colleges and universities are actually the best place to look for scholarships—schools themselves grant $175 billion in scholarship money annually! It’s also worth noting that college awards are often larger than outside awards; 80% of external scholarships are less than $2,000, which looks great on paper but will only put a small dent in the cost of most colleges. 

You have the best chance of winning a merit-based scholarship from a college or university. While super-selective schools with applicants fighting for admission often don’t offer merit-based scholarships—for example, none of the Ivy League colleges do—less selective colleges are often anxious to attract strong applicants. This makes applying to a college where your profile is particularly strong a smart strategy for getting a merit scholarship .

34 No-Essay Scholarships 

1. “be bold” no-essay scholarship.

Amount: $25,000

Deadline: December 31 

Eligibility: Students of any education level, school, field of study, and GPA considered

This scholarship is for bold students who are determined to change the world one step at a time. No essay is required to win this eye-popping award. Instead, create a bold profile highlighting your earnestness, determination, and how you’re moving toward your goals for a chance to win.

2. Scholarships360 No-Essay Scholarship

Amount: $1,000

Deadline: September 30 

Eligibility: All students—including high school students, community college students, undergraduates, and graduate students

No essay is required to win this generous award. Simply sign up for Scholarship360—a scholarship newsletter—for your chance at $1,000 for college. 

3. $2,000 “No-Essay” College Scholarship

Amount: $2,000

Deadline: Monthly  

Eligibility: All high school and college students

The name says it all: no essay is required to receive this $2,000 college scholarship. Simply create an account for a chance to win this substantial award. A winner is chosen monthly and the money can be used to cover tuition, housing, books, or any other education-related expenses.

4. $2,000 Nitro Scholarship

Deadline: Monthly 

Eligibility: 

• Age 17 or older
• A parent with a child enrolled in an accredited college or university in the U.S. 
• A student enrolled in an accredited college or university in the U.S. 
• A parent with a high school senior in the U.S.
• A high school senior located with the U.S. 
• A student or a parent who has graduated from an accredited undergraduate school and is paying back debt from educational expenses

No essay is needed to win a $2,000 Nitro Scholarship. Applicants only need to complete a short application for this chance to win this award and to take a step to control the cost of college. 

5. The Student Loan Hero Smart Money Giveaway

Eligibility: Legal U.S. residents in the contiguous U.S. and Washington, D.C., 18 years of age and older

This scholarship wants you to take control of your college finances so you can focus on your future. Entry is easy—just fill out a short online application. 

6. College Board “Complete Your FAFSA” Scholarships

Amount:   $500

Deadline: October through February 

Eligibility: Current high school seniors in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and U.S. territories

The College Board—the organization that administers the SAT—provides scholarships to students for simply filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The College Board will give out 500 awards every month from October through December and 100 awards in both January and February.

7. College Board “Complete Your Journey” Scholarships

Amount: $40,000

Deadline: February 

Complete the College Board’s six steps of college planning for your chance at one of 25 $40,000 scholarship opportunities. The program is open to students from all financial backgrounds, however, at least half of the scholarships will go to students from families who earn less than $60,000 annually. 

8. ScholarshipPoints Scholarship Program

Amount: $10,000

Deadline: Quarterly 

Eligibility:   

• Age 13 or older
• U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident 
• Attending or planning to attend college in the U.S.

No GPA, no essay, and no hassle! To enter for an opportunity to win one of these impressive awards, simply fill out an online application. In addition to the quarterly $10,000 scholarships, ScholarshipPoints also draws three $1,000 scholarships monthly.

9. Christian Connector Scholarship

Amount: $2,500

Deadline: May 31

Eligibility:  

• Age 13 or older 
• Must enroll for the first time as a full-time student at a Christ-centered Christian college, university, or Bible college

Sign up to receive information about Christian colleges—and for a chance at winning this handsome scholarship award for college. The scholarship is only open to students planning to attend a Christ-centered Christian college, university, or Bible college. The funds are sent directly to the winner’s school of choice. 

10. No Essay ‘You Deserve It’ Scholarship

Amount: $2,222

Deadline: December 29

• Age 16 or older 
• Legal resident of the U.S. or its territories (Rhode Island and Michigan applicants are ineligible)
• Enrolled in a qualified high school, college, or university in the U.S.

Sign up for ScholarshipOwl (a scholarship service) and you’re simultaneously registered for a chance to win a $2,222 award. Your odds of winning are about 1 in 140,000—not too bad considering there is no essay required and sign up is quick. 

11. CollegeXpress $10,000 Scholarship Contest

• Legal U.S. resident 
• Must enter a CollegeXpress member college as a full-time freshman, transfer, or graduate student for the fall term 

Just create a CollegeXpress profile for a chance at $10,000 to use at a CollegeXpress member college . Winners of this no-essay scholarship are selected at random. 

12. Annual Catholic College Scholarship

Amount: $1,500

• Must enroll for the first time as a full-time student at a Catholic college

Sign up to receive information about Catholic colleges—and for a chance at winning this handsome scholarship award for college. The scholarship is only open to students planning to attend a Catholic college, university, or Bible college. The funds are sent directly to the winner’s school of choice. 

13. Discover Student Loans Scholarship Award 

Amount: $5,000

• Resident of the U.S. or its territories
• High school seniors, college students, students who’ve earned a General Education Development (GED), or parent/guardian of an aforementioned person

Sign up to receive emails that provide helpful college tips and useful resources and get entered to win one of 12 annual $5,000 awards. Complete a survey after registering for emails for an additional entry for the scholarship. 

Discover your chances at hundreds of schools

Our free chancing engine takes into account your history, background, test scores, and extracurricular activities to show you your real chances of admission—and how to improve them.

14. Lounge Lizard Web Design Scholarship  

Deadline: Semi-annually (spring and fall)

Eligibility: Attending an accredited school in the U.S. or accepted to an accredited school and set to begin within six months of application

Show off your creativity for a chance to win this no-essay scholarship. To enter, fill out a short application and either submit a web design or attach a link to a webpage. In addition to a scholarship, winners also receive a critique session with Lounge Lizard’s founder and CCO. 

15. Create-a-Greeting-Card Scholarship

Deadline: March 3

• Age 14 or older 
• Legal U.S. resident or international student with a student visa 
• High school, college, or university student 

While you don’t need an essay to win this generous scholarship, you are required to submit an original photo, artwork, or computer graphic for use on the front of a greeting card. Entries are limited to one per person, so send in your best work! 

16. Frame My Future Scholarship Contest 

Amount: $6,000

Deadline: April 1

• Legal U.S.resident
• Planning to enroll at a U.S. college or university in the fall

Show how you frame your future through photography, illustration, painting, or mixed media art for a chance at this ample award. Although no essay is required, applicants are asked to submit a brief overview of their piece (no more than 500 characters). 

17. Annual Faith-Based College Scholarship

• Must enroll for the first time as a full-time student at a faith-based college

Sign up to receive information about faith-based colleges and for a chance at winning this handsome scholarship award for college. The scholarship is only open to students planning to attend a faith-based college, university, or Bible college. The funds are sent directly to the winner’s school of choice. 

18. Sallie Mae $5,432 Sweepstakes

Amount: $5,432

Deadline: December 31

Entering for this scholarship is easy, all you need to do is complete an online registration for your chance at this $5,432 award. 

19. Ascent Scholarships 

Amount: Varies 

• Age 18 or older 
• Legal U.S. resident or DACA student
• Enrolled at least half-time in a degree program or technical skills training program 

Ascent Scholarship giveaways are designed to help students cover school-related expenses such as tuition, books, rent, groceries, parking, and transportation. No essay is required, all you need to do is register for a chance to win one of these awards. 

20. The “No Sweat” Scholarship

• Between 8th and 12th grade 

Create an account and complete a portfolio for your chance at this super scholarship which you can use for any educational purpose—from books to summer camp. The more complete your profile is, the better your odds of winning are. 

21. Too Cool to Pay for School Scholarship

• U.S. residents, DACA and undocumented students, and international students currently studying in the U.S.
• Current high school, college, and graduate students

Paying for school is stressful which is why this scholarship is intentionally low pressure. Complete the online registration to enter. Follow Access Scholarships on Instagram for an extra entry. You can use the scholarship for any educational expense—including tuition, textbooks, housing, and technology. 

22. Cappex Easy Money Scholarship

Eligibility: Current high school or college student 

No need to stress about your GPA or an essay when entering this scholarship contest. Simply answer a few simple questions for your chance at one of these awards. 

23. Scholarships4Moms 

Deadline: December 15

• Age 18 or older
• U.S. legal resident
• Mother or expectant mother 
• Enrolled in a college or university in the U.S. or will enroll in one within three months 

The Scholarships4Moms award is designed to help mothers meet their educational goals. Founded by a group of moms, who understand how busy moms are, signing up is quick and easy. All you need to do is complete a short entry form. 

24. College Survey Scholarship

Eligibility: College undergraduate or graduate student and undergraduate or graduate alumni who graduated within the last four years

All it takes to enter this running for this scholarship is to fill out a college survey on Niche, a ranking, and review website. Your responses are anonymous and are displayed on Niche to help other students to find the right college for them. 

25. Easy Scholarships

• Age 25 years or younger
• Living in the U.S. or Canada (or a citizen of either country but living abroad)

No GPA requirements or essays are required to participate in this scholarship contest. For a chance to win, you simply must sign up for a campaign, complete it, and take a photo to document your participation. Campaigns are quick and completed in under five minutes!  

26. SuperCollege Scholarship

Eligibility: High school, college, or graduate student, or adult planning to go back to school

Just fill out the application and answer a few simple questions about your college plans for the opportunity to win this award. You can use the scholarship to pay for any education-related expenses. For example, tuition, books, computers, or room and board.

27. Debt.com Scholarship For Aggressive Scholarship Applicants

Amount: $500

Deadline: Every other month 

Eligibility: Actively applying for scholarships

This scholarship rewards students with the drive to earn scholarships and the willingness to fight for financial independence. In order to win, you need to send confirmations from all of the scholarships you’ve applied to. Also, while there is no essay, you are required to submit a short biographical letter.

28. MyMozaic Monthly Scholarship Contest

Deadline: Every month 

Eligibility:

• U.S. citizen or legal resident
• Enrolled in high school or college in the U.S.

Simply create a profile at MyMozaic.com and answer a few simple questions—like your graduation year, your GPA, and the major(s) you’re interested in—for the opportunity to win one of these monthly, no-essay scholarships. 

29. WayUp Dream Job No-Essay Scholarship

Deadline: Jun 1 

Eligibility: Current college student

Create a profile at WayUp—a jobsite for college students and recent college graduates—for a  chance of winning a $1,000 scholarship. The stronger your profile and the more internships and jobs you apply for, the better your odds are to receive an award.  

30. College Ave Scholarship Monthly Sweepstakes

• U.S. citizen or permanent resident 
• Enrolled in high school or a post-secondary educational institution or are the parent or legal guardian of a person enrolled in a high school or a post-secondary educational institution 

Earning this $1,000 simply requires filling out a very short entry and a little luck. Winners are chosen monthly!  

31. Give Me Liberty Easy Scholarship

• U.S. citizen 
• High school senior or enrolled in an accredited institution in the U.S.

The intention of this scholarship is to provide every student with an equal opportunity to experience freedom from the burden of tuition and loans. Recipients are selected through a lottery which gives every applicant the same chance of winning—regardless of their academic performance, extracurricular achievements, and essay writing skills. 

32. Because College is Expensive Scholarship

Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors, along with current college students and anyone else looking to attend college or graduate school

If you’re planning to attend college you’ll want to look into this scholarship—all it takes is completing a short application to enter for a chance to win. Only one entry per quarter is allowed. 

33. Return 2 College Scholarship Program

Deadline: January 31

• U.S. citizen or legal resident 
• Starting a program of higher education—either undergraduate or graduate—within the next 12 months or are currently full or part-time students 

While this scholarship doesn’t require an essay it does ask you to compose three sentences answering the question why are you getting your degree? Have a lot to say? Perfect, more than one entry is allowed, but more than a dozen are discouraged. 

34. Project Yellow Light Create a Billboard Scholarship   

Deadline: March 1

• Legal U.S. residents 
• High school juniors and seniors, along with undergraduate and graduate students 

Design a billboard to promote safe driving to a broad audience and draw attention to this important topic. In addition to a scholarship, winners may see their design grace a billboard or used on the web and other digital platforms. 

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

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How to get scholarships for college in high school.

Your goal is to attend the college of your dreams, but you’ve started to discover all the expenses you’ll be responsible for when you do . College tuition, living expenses, books, supplies, the list can go on and on and can be overwhelming.

Scholarships are essentially gifts. For the most part, they don't need to be repaid. Many of them are out there, offered by schools, employers, individuals, private companies, nonprofits, local community organizations, religious groups, and professional and social groups.

And there are many scholarships for students to apply for as early as their freshman year of high school.

Read on to learn more about how to get scholarships in high school.

Can high school students apply for college scholarships?

Many scholarship opportunities are available for high school students to start applying for to help pay for college. A scholarship might cover the entire cost of tuition, or it might be a one-time award of a few hundred dollars. Either way, they’re worth applying for, because any amount will help reduce the cost of your education.

Most scholarship deadlines are between September and May, although some scholarships allow you to apply throughout the year. This makes applying on breaks and off time easier so it doesn’t interfere with homework and studying.

Making the scholarship search a part of your high school routine will go a long way as far as possibly securing scholarships and will help to ensure you don’t miss deadlines.

College scholarships for high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors

There are many college scholarships sophomores, juniors, and seniors in high school are eligible to apply for. Here’s how to begin your search:

Online scholarship databases

There are plenty of online scholarship databases you can use to begin your search. We recommend exploring several as a starting point for your search. Use them to narrow down the scholarships that are out there so that you can then research a list of scholarships further.

School counselors

Contact your high school and college counselors and let them know you’re looking for scholarships. They’ll help you narrow down what kind of scholarships you may qualify for and where to look for them.

Teachers and coaches

If you’re interested in continuing any specific academic or athletic pursuits in college, reach out to teachers and coaches at your high school for help. Even if they don’t know of any specific scholarships, they’ll be able to help you present yourself well on scholarship applications.

Special interest organizations

Organizations that serve specific hobbies, pursuits, or demographics will also have information about relevant scholarships. A huge number of scholarships are available nationwide for specific interests, activities, and communities.

State scholarships

Contact your state’s education agency for more information about their merit and need-based scholarship programs.

Never hesitate to do a web search for a specific scholarship you’re hoping may exist. You’ll be surprised at the depth and breadth of what you’ll find.

Scholarship application tips

Every scholarship has a different application process, but many of the requirements overlap. While some local organizations may ask that you fill out a physical application, most applications are filed online.

Typical academic-based scholarships will require proof that you meet the eligibility conditions and an essay based on a given topic or prompt. Athletic and talent-based scholarships will also often ask you to provide evidence of your skill, which could mean a live performance, a portfolio, or a video of your athletic achievements.

Scholarship essay writing tips

When writing a scholarship essay, it’s best to start early. Make sure your essay fits the requested topic and do plenty of research. Ask a teacher you trust to look at your essay and offer critiques.

The essay is your chance to set yourself apart from the rest of the candidates. Do everything you can to make sure it stands out.

Final thoughts

The earlier you start applying for scholarships, the better your chances of receiving aid. Stay ahead of deadlines to ensure you’re putting your best foot forward when applying for scholarships. Good luck with your search!

18 Essay-Free Scholarships to Apply for in 2020-2021

Scholarships are a fantastic way to save money on your college tuition and avoid taking on too much  student debt. But, let’s face it, the process of applying for scholarships can be time-consuming and, sometimes you just want something a little easier.

The good news is that easy scholarships–in particular, scholarships without essays–do exist. Some require as little effort as simply entering your name and email address (a scholarship “sweepstakes”), while other scholarships without essays require you to submit something else (like a short video, social media post, or illustration) rather than an essay. These second group of scholarships rewards effort and creativity. 

Avoiding Scholarship Scams

5 sweepstakes-style scholarships with no essays, 3 easy scholarships with short answers, 10 creative, essay-free scholarships, ready to apply for your own scholarships without essays, it’s important to keep in mind two things about the easiest scholarships without essays:.

• Your chances of winning a scholarship award are much lower than with traditional scholarships. This is because often way more people apply for these easier scholarships. 
• You run the risk of being spammed with loads of emails. In fact, many scholarship sweepstakes are created with the sole idea of getting your email address in mind. We therefore recommend using easy scholarship sweepstakes as a secondary option for paying for college. Consider using the majority of your time applying for scholarships with essays that you find on reputable scholarship sites.

And if you’re mostly worried about saving time, consider using Going Merry to apply for scholarship bundles , which combine multiple scholarships with the same essay prompts into one application. Sign up for Going Merry today to begin applying.

Another thing to keep in mind is that some easy, no essay scholarships are actually scams.  Follow the tips below to avoid getting scammed.

Scam Tip #1: Say “No” to Upfront Fees!

A scholarship shouldn’t cost anything at all to apply for (except postage). Be wary of any company or scholarship provider who requires you to pay an upfront fee in order to apply. Chances are they have nothing to offer you!

Scam Tip #2: Do The Paperwork Yourself

Some scammers will try and lure you in by telling you that they’ll take care of all the scholarship paperwork for you, including answering all the questions. You can just sit back, relax, and wait for the money to start rolling in. It almost seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? We hate to break it to you, but that’s because it is. Doing your own applications will save you loads of trouble!

(Psst – You can, however, save on some of the paperwork and the repetitive form filling by using Going Merry , which auto-fills your scholarship forms with information from your profile. You’ll still need to answer any scholarship application-specific questions yourself though!)

Scam Tip #3: Guaranteed Scholarships Don’t Exist

If scholarships were guaranteed, student loans would be a thing of the past. Avoid any company claiming to offer you a guaranteed scholarship. It’s a guaranteed scam.

Scam Tip #4: Avoid Dodgy Offers

If you receive an email from an unknown and unprofessional-looking company claiming to offer an amazing scholarship if you enter personal information on their site, it’s best to avoid it. If you’re unsure, simply do a quick Google Search and see if others have reported it as a scam before , and talk to your guidance counselor to see if he or she has information or experience working with the company.

Scam Tip #5: Do Your Research!

Doing a quick search (on Google or snopes.com ) can save you tons of trouble in the end.  Unfortunately, easy scholarships are too good to be true a lot of the time.

Get matched to scholarships

See how much money you qualify for. Personalized matches . Click below to get started.

Match me to scholarships

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here’s our list of 27 scholarships without essays:

These are scholarships that require almost no effort.

1. Going Merry Seasonal Scholarships ( Spring, Summer )

Amount: $1000 per year (one $250 winner each season)

Provider : Going Merry

When you create a free profile on Going Merry, you’re automatically matched with thousands of scholarship opportunities, including the Going Merry No Essay Scholarship, offered four times a year in the Spring , Summer , Fall , and Winter . Simply click “Start application,” and then “Submit application” to apply. It’s that easy!

Bonus: When you first register, we’ll prompt you to apply for our bundle of four no-essay, seasonal scholarships for the next year. This way, you won’t even have to think about submitting a new application each season. It’s our way of welcoming you to our platform! Sign up today to take advantage.

2. Christian College Scholarship

Amount: $2,500

Provider: The Christian Connector Inc

If you’re planning on attending a two- or four-year Christian college, you’re eligible to enter the drawing for this $2,500 Christian College Scholarship . Simply fill out a short online survey and you’re good to go!

Loving these scholarships, but need help applying for your government financial aid? We can help you fill out your FAFSA and state aid.

3. AFSA High School Senior Contest

Amount: $2,000

Provider: AFSA Scholarships

If you’re ready for an extra $2,000, simply fill out the online entry form on the AFSA website and be registered to win one of 10 prizes. The AFSA High School Senior Contest is open to high school seniors during the school year and deadlines change on a yearly basis, so head to the scholarship website for the most up-to-date information.

4. AFSA Second Chance Scholarship

Amount: $1,000

If you didn’t have the luck of winning the AFSA High School Senior Contest, try your luck again after graduation with the AFSA Second Chance Scholarship . This $1,000 award is awarded to five high school graduates during the summer months. Deadlines change on a yearly basis, so check out the scholarship website for the most up-to-date information.

5. Scholarship4Moms

Amount: $10,000

Provider: Scholarships4Moms

The Scholarship4Moms scholarship and its organization was created by a group of mothers who wanted to help bring financial relief to moms who are seeking to further their education. Simply register with your first name, last name, and phone number, and you’ll be entered to win!

Want more scholarships? Get 20 new scholarships delivered to your inbox each week.

These are scholarships that don’t require essays (you know, those longer 500-word type ordeals), but  do  require you to answer a few questions or to write a short piece (e.g. letter, caption, tweet).

6. C.I.P. Scholarship

Provider: College is Power

While the C.I.P Scholarship technically has an essay, it’s only a short 150 words, so we’re adding it in! To apply, just fill out the super short application form and write a mini-essay about the goals you have for your university education.

7. $5,000 Course Hero Scholarships

Amount: $5,000

Provider: Course Hero

In order to win one of the $5,000 Course Hero Scholarships , simply answer a short prompt in 150 words or less, such as “How do you prepare and study to feel confident for your final exams?” If you have more than one college class you’d like to review, you can improve your chances by leaving as many reviews as you’d like!

8. The Customized Girl Annual Scholarship

Provider: Customized Girl

Amount: $500

Submit: An Instagram post

Customized Girl prints bold statements on customized shirts. Naturally, they know an eye-catching quote when they see one. To apply to the Customized Girl Annual Scholarship , post your statement as a caption on Instagram to be chosen as one of two winners, and your statement may be featured on a customized shirt! Check out past winners on the scholarship page for inspiration.

These are scholarships that require you to submit videos, drawings, business plans, etc. instead of essays. Get creative!

9. Two Ten Higher Education Footwear Design Scholarship

Provider: Two Ten Footwear Foundation

Amount: Up to $3,000

Submit: Three design drawings

Sneakerheads can show-off their inner hypebeast/hypebae for th e Two Ten Higher Education Footwear Design Scholarship ! Students studying design with a focus on footwear are encouraged to apply. Provide three design drawings from your portfolio for consideration.

10. MUD Makeup Scholarship

Provider: Beauty Changes Lives, Make-up Designory (MUD)

Submit: A video, a storyboard, or an essay

This glam scholarship allows you to avoid an essay by providing submission options! Students pursuing beauty and wellness careers can apply to win one of 5 prizes from Make-up Designory (MUD). You can ignore the essay and choose between a video or storyboard submission. For the MUD Makeup Scholarship , you need to be a student attending an accredited Cosmetology and/or esthetics school with MUD makeup in their program.

11. Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship

Provider: The Gallery Collection

Amount: $10,000 (+$1,000 prize for the school)

Submit: An original photo, art, work, or graphic design

If you have a knack for art and sentiment, apply for the Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship with your original art. You can use all art forms. Just upload an example as a JPEG (.jpg) for the application. Students 14 years or older are eligible to send their ideas.

12. Axon Optic’s ‘Migraine Story’ Scholarship

Provider: Axon Optics

Submit: A video, an image, or an essay

Share your story of dealing with migraines or light sensitivity. All full-time students of accredited two- or four-year American universities may apply. Choose from a video (less than 1 minute in length) or an image (photo, drawing, etc.). To qualify for the Axon Optic’s ‘Migraine Story’ Scholarship , the submission must be posted on at least one of the following social media platforms: YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

13. #YouAreWelcomeHere Scholarship

Provider: U.S. Higher Education (Led by Temple University)

Amount: At least 50% of tuitio n

Submit: A video or an essay

First-year international students at participating American universities can cut down the cost of education with the #YouAreWelcomeHere Scholarship . The #YouAreWelcomeHere campaign gained nationwide support in creating a scholarship awarding two students per university. The video submission must express ideas of advancing intercultural learning. Check the list of participating universities on the campaign’s scholarship page .

14. “Create Real Impact” Contest

Provider: Impact Teen Drivers

Amount: $500- $1,50 0

Submit: A video, music, creative writing, or graphic design

Students between 14-22 years old may apply to the “Create Real Impact” Contest . The contest seeks original work about a solution and strategy regarding reckless and distracted driving. Choose either video, music, creative writing, or artwork. There are many submission options and contest categories, so make sure to visit the scholarship page for details!

15. GoSkills Scholarship

Provider: GoSkills

Submit: An application and business plan

Calling future girl bosses: Here is your time to debut your online business ambitions. The GoSkills Scholarship (Fall) and (Spring) is open to female high school and college students. There are open-ended questions on the application, but it’s more like a friendly conversation. The questions ask you about your concerns and your role models. Besides the application, you need to provide a link to your business plan (GoSkills provides instructions for your business plan right above the area for the link). Try your hand at mapping a business plan to be your own boss in the future.

16. GloFX Scholarship

Provider: GloFX

Submit: A 3-minute video, a PowerPoint, a PDF,  your own creative measure, or an essay

GloFX wants to hear from students like you with your own creative project. Simply answer their prompt in the format of your choice. The prompt: “Every person has failed at some point in his or her life, and dealing with the outcome is rarely an enjoyable experience. However, failure is how we learn, and it allows us to see our mistakes and make changes. Describe a time in your life you tried your best and still failed. How did this shape your thinking moving forward?” The GloFX Scholarship encourages applicants to post the project on their own social media accounts (this is optional, not required). Applicants must be a current or incoming student at a university in the United States.

17. Live Bearded Academic Scholarship

Provider: Live Bearded

Submit: A video

The Live Bearded team is focused on lending a hand to those building their future through higher education. While the company Live Bearded focuses on grooming products for men, their Live Bearded Academic Scholarship opportunity is open to males, females, high school students, college students, undergraduate, and graduate students. Send a 90-second video sharing your goals, facts about yourself, and why you deserve the scholarship. Upload your video to a social media platform, fill out your application with a link to your video, and you’re good to go!

18. HeadSetPlus.Com College Scholarship

Provider: HeadSetPlus.Com

HeadSetPlus.Com wants to help you pay for college with the HeadSetPlus.Com College Scholarship …no essay needed! Be creative and create a video with a maximum length of five minutes detailing why you deserve the scholarship and what inspired you to pursue a degree in your field.

You can find and apply for scholarships without essays right on our website. You can request letters of recommendation, upload your resume, and apply for scholarships. Sign up for free today .

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Ready to find scholarships that are a match for you?

Brevard students vie for scholarships. But it's not an easy feat, even for top performers

Getting scholarships can be difficult. here's how brevard students are getting their tuition covered..

It was 2020, during the early days of the pandemic. With hopes of earning a degree in public health, Karly Hudson applied for more than 100 scholarships. Some required 1,000 to 2,000-word essay responses to even be considered.

She never heard back from any of them.

"You pour your heart out for this essay to hope to get a thousand-dollar scholarship, and you're just ghosted," she said.

It's not unusual. While a university may offer scholarships, students often need to be accepted before they can be considered. Scholarships from outside sources often require essay responses and may get hundreds to thousands of applicants, generally with no real response ever sent to those not chosen to receive funds.

These opportunities outside of a college or university can be hugely helpful, said James Almasi, Florida Tech’s director of financial aid. But they can also be extremely time-consuming.

"They take a lot of work," Almasi said. "It's sort of like a part-time job, applying for these things."

So what are some of the ways students can try for scholarships?

That depends on many factors.

Many chosen based on merit, though other factors considered

Hudson, a Melbourne resident, considers herself lucky: Though she didn't get scholarships from the numerous places she applied, University of South Florida, now her alma mater, awarded her a scholarship.

It was a scholarship based on merit, meaning the school took Hudson's high school grade-point average, SAT scores and other factors into consideration before awarding her a certain amount of money.

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It's not an unusual kind of scholarship to get. Students looking into the Space Coast's various local postsecondary education opportunities — whether that be at a private institution like Florida Tech, or a two-year college like Eastern Florida State College, or University of Central Florida — have opportunities to earn scholarships based on their grades and testing scores.

Most students accepted at Florida Tech qualify for a partial scholarship, Almasi said. That amount may vary based on their SAT or ACT scores, as well as their high school GPAs.

"If you're admitted, you'll tend to get something," he said. "The better performer you are, the more you will get."

The true is same for both UCF and Eastern Florida State College students.

And those aren't the only types of scholarships available. The Eastern Florida State College Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation that helps provide financial support for EFSC students, also offers other types of scholarships, working with sponsors and donors to lay out the parameters of each kind of scholarship. While some may be awarded based on test scores, others are given out based on need, degree programs or to first-generation students.

"Donors get to select the criteria and the name of their scholarship," said Tonya Cherry, executive director of the foundation. She added that donors do not select the recipients of scholarships.

"We have a few scholarships that want the average student — the 2.0, the 3.0 — to get the scholarships because they feel like they are the ones that really need it," she said.

The likelihood of receiving a scholarship at any of these schools — and the amount awarded — is highly dependent on how many students apply.

"The competitiveness of scholarships is dependent on a variety of factors including the funding source; the funding amount; the scholarship requirements; and the applicant pool," said Karemah Campbell Manselle, interim director of UCF's office of student financial assistance.

In-state vs. out-of-state tuition struggles

In addition to the scholarship from USF, Hudson also received a partial scholarship from Bright Futures, a program through the state department of education and Florida Lottery that provides funds for eligible students seeking a postsecondary education.

The website boasts that the program has helped more than 950,000 students receive a postsecondary education and provides multiple opportunities for students looking to apply for scholarships: the Florida Academic Scholarship, Florida Medallion Scholarship, Gold Seal Cape Scholarship and Gold Seal Vocational Scholarship. All by the GSC scholarship require a certain GPA and a minimum ACT or SAT score, as well as additional criteria like a certain number of service hours or paid work hours.

While many top-achieving Floridians qualify for Bright Futures, the funds can only go toward in-state schools. Figuring out funding for out-of-state schools can be a challenge.

That's what the Cenker family of Rockledge discovered when Gabe Cenker, now a junior at the University of Oklahoma, graduated from high school in May 2021. Cenker hopes to work in radar/meteorology. His career goals played a big role in his college choice — and in the price tag that came with it.

While he was offered free ride scholarships at Florida State and Embry Riddle, their meteorology programs didn't appeal as much as OU’s, which has a top-flight weather center research facility and is located in the center of "Tornado Alley," said mom Jennifer Cenker.

“We’re not well off, but we do have it slightly better than some others,” Cenker said. “But we are struggling with paying Gabe’s out of state tuition, and have not found many scholarships for families in the upper lower-class or lower middle-class range.”

Outside scholarships, grants supplement university scholarships

Grants are also a way students can access funding. While Florida Tech's current scholarships are merit-based, they'll offer students a chance to receive the Brevard Boundless Opportunity Grant in the fall of 2024. It's a way to make the university more accessible to local students, Almasi said, with eligible students owing the university no money for tuition and fees.

To be eligible, a student must live in Brevard, complete the FAFSA and be federal Pell Grant-eligible, qualify for the Florida Academic Scholarship or the Florida Medallion Scholarship through Bright Futures and apply and be admitted to Florida Tech by May 1.

There are also scholarships awarded to individuals of certain races, gender identities or other marginalized experiences.

Hudson is currently attending Cooley Law School in Tampa, where she won a scholarship through an ambassador program for diversity, equity and inclusion. It's a dream come true, and something she wouldn't be able to do if she hadn't gotten scholarships during her undergraduate schooling.

"I have no debt from undergrad," she said. "So I was like, 'Well, taking out the debt for law school isn't going to be so bad,' because I had all of my undergrad paid for."

As for Gabe Cenker, he won an Award of Excellence Scholarship from the University of Oklahoma, which pays $64,000 spread over the course of four years. Additionally, he was awarded a $1,000 scholarship just this past month in honor of Paul Samaras at the National Storm Chaser Summit.

“He probably spent half of his Christmas break filling out scholarship applications. I lost track of how many he applied to,” Cenker said. “He got word that he won that Paul Samaras one, and then got one from the OU Honors College for $2,000 to be used for his summer abroad at Oxford.”

Scholarships can help prevent life-long debt

Scholarships are one way to keep students from incurring massive debt through loans.

While President Joe Biden had canceled about $138 billion in federal student loan debt as of this month, according to the U.S. Department of Education, the total federal student loan debt still equals about $1.6 trillion.

The Cenkers “never in a million years” thought it would be so hard to find scholarship money for a young man who is in an honors program and an honors scholars fraternity and currently has a cumulative 3.81GPA. Even with his scholarships, the cost for an undergrad living on campus still comes out to about $53,000 a year. This meant his parents needed to co-sign loans for him.

It’s worth all the struggle, Jennifer Cenker said, and the search for scholarships continues.

“I can’t imagine the number of kids who are missing out because of the high costs and then not being able to earn a scholarship,” Cenker said. “So he is lucky in that we will figure out how to cover everything, even if we have to sell our home and downsize or whatever.”

For many Eastern Florida students, scholarships are the reason they can attend school, Cherry said.

"They all apply for federal financial aid, but not everybody qualifies for that, and even if they do ... tuition and books are not the only cost associated with going to college," she said, adding that many EFSC students have families and may struggle to go to school full-time. "I think that our scholarship program benefits the community at large because it empowers them to pursue their dreams ... to ensure that we are building a community that is successful."

Hudson is attending law school with no debt from her undergraduate schooling thanks to the scholarships she received. She felt comfortable taking out loans for law school because of that lack of debt, and because she believed she would receive scholarships once she enrolled.

What fees aren't covered by the ambassador program scholarship — and the merit-based scholarship she was awarded based on her class rank that covers 40% of her schooling — she'll pay back through the federal public service loan forgiveness program. The program forgives the remaining balance on a student's direct loans after they make 120 monthly payments while working in a qualifying job.

"I graduate in 2025; I'll be 24," Hudson said. "So what? (I'll be) 34, and I was a public defender for 10 years. All of my loans will be forgiven; I'm debt-free by 34."

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at   321-290-4744  or   [email protected] . X:  @_ finchwalker .

The Limits of White Privilege Pedagogy: A Reflective Essay on using Privilege Walks in the College Classroom

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The privilege walk is a pedagogical tool used to teach students about often-ignored aspects of privilege. Despite their popularity, privilege walks are under-examined in the scholarship of teaching and learning. This leaves open questions about the efficacy of the walk, and whether, and to what extent, the walk yields different results among students from different backgrounds. This paper critically examines the privilege walk by reflecting on our experience of teaching the walk and analyzing student learning reflections about the exercise. We draw on critical race theory to interpret our data and also to help introduce the concept of slippage. We use slippage as shorthand for systematic issues long described by critical race theorists, such as meritocracy, that are reframed as individual responsibilities. We conclude by discussing how educators might prioritize teaching about structural power by integrating ideas from critical race theory, and abandon intellectual traditions that center Whiteness or the individual.

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