Sources of Money 39: StudentAwards Your Student Platform for Canadians

Tuesdays we review a source of financial aid to help you pay for college

Alyson came to the United States from her home in Calgary, Canada. She introduced our staff to StudentAwards. She earned more than $39,000 in scholarships and other awards from the site. The site only provides money to Canadian students, which we will deal with later in this post. She was able to use much of the money from Canada for her education in the United States.

Characteristics of StudentAwards

The web site for StudentAwards explains

“StudentAwards helps Canadian high school, college and university students get ahead. We offer Canada’s leading student platform, providing the money, support and connections they need to better manage student life. StudentAwards partners with top organizations who share our passion of helping make the lives of students better.

With $78 million in financial awards available to StudentAwards members, students from across Canada come to us to find money for school. We have scholarships, bursaries, contests, specialized student offers, giveaways and other financial assistance to help students win, earn and save the money they need for their education.”

The site offers

• A search engine for scholarships, grants, and other sources of financial aid
• Articles with some of the following titles
  • 5 Tips for Students Living Away From Home
  • Beating the February Blahs on A Budget
  • 10 Ways to Get “Geared Up” for School
  • Questions to Ask College/University Reps
  • How Do I Pay for University/College?
  • Tips for Negotiating Bank Loans
  • How Do I Estimate My University/College Costs?
• Newsfeeds containing announcements about new offerings, deadlines, and more
• A blog or chat site called Conversations
• An online store selling textbooks, and funny shirts (yes, funny shirts!?)

 

Disadvantages of StudentAwards

The most obvious disadvantage remains the restriction to only Canadians. Others include:

• The site encourages students to participate in contests, surveys, and other
• It also sells email addresses and other information
• You cannot access very many of the resources without registering and creating a free account
• Read the privacy contract carefully especially their ability to share your information

Thursday we answer general questions about several reusable materials

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