Students graduating from high school who are planning on going to college are often very interested in finding ways to help them pay for their college expenses. Some students are athletic, and may wonder if they can pursue athletic scholarships; other students have excelled academically and are looking for ways to be rewarded for that work; finally, some students may not fit into either category, and so need scholarships that reward more unusual characteristics. All students can make use of free online scholarship matching services, most of which even provide email alerts when a scholarship is found that meets a student's given profile. You should never have to pay for a scholarship matching service, so never sign up for a service that makes you pay money to find money. Besides online services, students can look at local college and university bulletin boards for scholarship announcements, and high school guidance counselors are also excellent resources for finding scholarship opportunities. If you know that you are interested in finding athletic and/or academic scholarships, there are several ways to go about finding a funding source to fit your personal needs.

Athletic Scholarships

While many students attain an athletic scholarship by being seen by college recruiter, some students may find that they are not achieving the exposure necessary. If you find that you are not being seen by enough recruiters to get the scholarship you are looking for, you may want to become your own athletic marketer. Have a family member tape you during practices, to demonstrate your training; and especially tape you competing during important games or meets, to demonstrate your focus and ability to perform. Many college athletic departments will view personal recruiting videos, and will follow up promising videos with personal recruiting trips. You also need to make sure that your high school coaches and counselors are aware of your desire for an athletic scholarship, because many coaches and counselors have contacts with university athletic departments and can help you make some initial contact. In short, if you are determined to attain an athletic scholarship, do not wait to be seen by college recruiters. Become your own marketer, and enlist any and everyone around you to help you become visible to as many college athletic departments as possible.

Academic Scholarships

In order to be awarded academic scholarships, you will need to work hard throughout all of your high school experience to keep your grades and test scores as high as possible. Some academic scholarships are based on grade point average alone, while others are determined by your class ranking; so keep both of these factors in mind when choosing upper-level high school courses. Some advanced courses will give you additional points on your overall average as well as helping you move up in your class ranking. Taking the S.A.T. or A.C.T. as early as you can will help you to score higher on subsequent tries, so take these test as early as you can if you want to excel-many students begin taking them as early as the fall of their junior year. While some academic scholarships, especially the scholarships that cover full tuition expenses, are reserved for students who do extremely well academically, there are many other partial scholarships reserved for those students who are marginally more average academic students. Many private scholarships require students to perform only adequately academically, as long as they qualify under other specifications. Do not sell yourself short on academic scholarships simply because you feel you are not outstanding academically. Make use of scholarship matching services and your college financial aid office to keep informed of available scholarship opportunities.