Caveat Emptor or Buyer Beware 22: Scholarship Books in a Digital World

Saturdays we share tips or cautions to facilitate getting scholarships or avoid problems

Brooke worked every method she knew to get money for college—except taking out a loan. She studiously avoided going into debt. In fact, she did not go to school one semester because of a lack of funds, rather than take out a loan. She worked a part-time job. She applied for a Pell Grant. She applied for scholarships. She got involved in a student work-study programs. She found a paid internship during both summers between her sophomore/junior and junior/senior years of school. She spent only $4,500 of her own money during the entire course of her Bachelor of Arts program.

Are Scholarship Books Effective in Today’s Digital World

Many people wonder if hardcopy books of information remain relevant in a digital world. They list several reasons, some valid and some invalid:

• Printed books become obsolete before they even get published
• Publishers do not update books as frequently because they lose money on them
• Most of what you find in scholarship books are already listed on the Internet
• Internet sources remain more current, cost less, and are easier to access
• Search engines and search fields are easier to use than looking through a book
• Very few scholarship books are available as e-books or Kindle versions

Nevertheless, we encourage you to use all sources to find financial aid—including scholarship books. You will waste time, however, using scholarship books that were published more than three years ago.

Recommended Books

College Scholarships.org and SavingforCollege.com provide an excellent list of books with summaries about each one. We’ve used many of the books on their list, but especially recommend the following:

• How to Go to College Almost for Free outlines great methods for applying for scholarships. We used this book to research our methods when we began offering scholarship coaching years ago.
• The Scholarship Book by Daniel J. Cassidy
• Scholarship Handbook by College Board
• Peterson’s Scholarships, Grants and Prizes by Thompson Peterson’s (We don’t recommend this book anymore. They stopped updating it)

Tuesday we share the American Heart Association Undergraduate Student Research Program

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