Sources of Money for College You Do Not Have to Pay Back

I will share a variety of sources for money over the course of this blog

A father approached me after a meeting. He told me that he and two of his daughters had attended a scholarship workshop four years before. One daughter was a freshman in college, the other a sophomore in high school. He told me that the older would graduate that year and the younger one had just started college. He then gleefully reported that the only money he had to send any of them for college, since the workshop, had been in their Christmas cards as presents.

Various Sources to Find Money for College

You can find money to pay for college from hundreds of places. Each Tuesday, I will spotlight a different source. For now, I would like to lay a framework to help you categorize the sources I will share.

You may get several kinds of money to pay for college:

• Grants
  • Basic grants usually award money based on the economic need of the student and their family
  • Research grants provide funds to study academic areas of interest to the sponsors
• Scholarships typically reward someone for achievements, merit, membership, ethnic background, personality traits or other subject criteria
• Loans (direct, indirect, guaranteed or unguaranteed) give money with an expectation that the student or family will pay it back
• Educational Reimbursements involve employers reimbursing employees, after course completion and based on grades received, a portion of the tuition for courses they feel will make the student a better employee.
• Student Work Program reimburses colleges for tuition, housing, or more based on the student working at the school for what they receive
• Savings of the student themselves of family members possibly using a 529 student savings plan
• Working your way through college, while increasingly unpopular by both students and colleges, provides money for college and a resume of experience upon graduation
• Miscellaneous other financial aid including

 Where to Find Money

• Internet search engines
• School guidance counselors
• Books and other publications
• Community organizations

Saturday we will caution you about deceptive traps that appear to offer financial aid