Online Calculator | Scholarships Work Great On Reducing Costs Of College

Scholarships Work Great On Reducing Costs Of College

 

Throughout the United States, 16,000 high school students are to vie for scholarships obtained by the likes of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Amazon.com founder, CEO and chairman of the board Jeff Bezos and former first daughter Chelsea Clinton. These students, National Merit Scholarship semifinalists for 2011, came away with some of the highest standardized test scores of 1.5 million students.

To be eligible for National Merit Scholarships, students must be recommended by their high school principles. In addition to scoring well on Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Tests, they must achieve solid academic grades during their entire time as high school students, rather than only at a certain point in their graduating years. This is, perhaps, one of the reasons National Merit Scholarships are considered among the most “elite” of merit scholarships.

Past National Merit Scholars include Microsoft founder Bill Gates; former first daughter Chelsea Clinton; “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer; CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer; Amazon.com founder, CEO and chairman of the board Jeff Bezos; Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke; Actress Felicia Day (Vi in “Buffy and the Vampire Slayer”); and Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s. This esteemed group enjoyed their online scholarship with the problem of paying for college slightly eased; they didn’t all start off rich.

The next steps for 2011 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists include writing essays, completing scholarship applications and testing well enough on the SAT exams.  Some of the areas that scholarship judges consider are leadership, involvement in community and school activities and the potential that students have for success as part of demanding college and university studies.

By the time the National Merit Scholarship finals roll around, 2,500 of 15,000 finalists are to be provided $2,500 scholarships. An additional 5,900 finalists are expected to receive merit scholarships sponsored by other organizations. By April 2011, the winners should be announced.

Many colleges and universities rely on scholarships for merit as a means of drawing academically talented students. According to a 2002 report in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, merit scholarships can serve as motivation for students to place greater emphasis on their studies and can improve the quality of education. The report gave the example of Georgia’s Lottery-funded HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) scholarships and noted that African-American high school students with 3.1 grade point averages in core courses saw their average SAT scores rise by more than 20 points. These aspiring students with a little help were able to see the benefits of their free online college degree while working on their degrees.

The privately funded, Illinois-based National Merit Scholarship Corporation awards National Merit Scholarships. This non-profit organization, through a National Achievement Scholarship program, recognizes African-American students specifically based on merit. National Achievement Scholarships typically involve 1,600 semifinalists from a pool of more than 160,000, with 700 $2,500 awards provided and an additional 100 merit scholarships provided through outside corporation sponsors. Semifinalists for National Achievement Scholarships are expected to be announced on September 29.

Scholarship money doesn’t have to be repaid. Students can find scholarship information in libraries and through Internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo! and free, scholarship-specific search engines, including those from the US Departments of Education and Labor and the non-profit College Board. Students should make sure their scholarships is properly vetted as many scholarships require accreditation.

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