Most of the students who are getting ready to begin their college studies spend too much time and energy by searching for the scholarships to get the funding to pay for their tuition fees. There are many misunderstandings and myths regarding scholarship in their minds such as if a scholarship is a real thing or not, can they obtain a scholarship, or how hard is it to win a fully funded scholarship in best-ranked colleges of top-ranked US State etc.
What is a Scholarship?
Scholarship: Most of the students when looking for some financial aids to meet their studies will definitely think of “Scholarship”, which is the free cash sponsored by private sectors and governments to the students who meet their eligibility standards.
What is Full Ride Scholarship?
Full Ride Scholarship: A full-ride Scholarship covers the full cost of college expense of a student — such as the cost of textbooks, room, full tuition fee, school materials and monthly stipend including study abroad expenditures. Some colleges may provide additional benefits to the winners of the full-ride scholarship award. A list of 86 colleges with full-ride scholarships was published that is considered as a handy guide for the students interested to apply for the scholarship.
By doing a study on the college expense, you will surely realize that apart from the tuition, you will have to find the budget for the board, room, transportation, textbooks, and personal expenses. For completing a bachelor degree, the total sum of all these expenses will come roughly around $ 200000.
Full Ride Scholarships for US Students and Full Ride Scholarships for International Students:
The full ride scholarship covers all your above-said expenses. The Full-Ride Scholarships are generally awarded by the college themselves, a private source or by the federal government for the most brilliant students. The full ride scholarships are generally awarded to the US students, but there are some universities/colleges offering the full-ride scholarship for international students considering their SAT score. So, instead of worrying about these expenses, you can concentrate on your studies.
Here in this article, I am trying to clear the general doubts regarding various scholarships.
All you need to know about Full Ride Scholarships – Full Tuition Scholarships – Merit Scholarships
Today, most of them do not know where to start trying for these awards so that they can attend the college of their choice. Grants are definitely a good method to achieve this goal, but the better choice is getting a full ride scholarship.
What is Full Tuition Scholarship?
Full Tuition Scholarship: As the name suggests, full tuition scholarships cover the tuition cost incurred at the college. Most of the colleges’ award full-tuition scholarships as a method to attract skilled students. Usually, this scholarship is limited to the tuition published but sometimes may include books, laboratory or some other student fees also.
This scholarship is awarded to the new students or for the students transferred from other colleges who achieve high academic standards like scoring certain range in the ACT or SAT or gaining required GPA (Grade Point Average). In some colleges, this scholarship is guaranteed automatically for the students who meet their requirements.
Some of the colleges in the US are Tuition-free colleges that means all the students being admitted to such colleges are not required to pay the tuition fee. The list of 20 tuition-free colleges includes all the US colleges that offer degree programs without tuition-free.
Difference between Full Ride & Full Tuition Scholarship
Full ride scholarships generally cover all college costs which include tuition, textbooks, meals, room and perhaps they even pay a stipend for personal expenses. But these scholarships have strict requirements and guidelines.
In full tuition scholarships, they cover only the cost of attendance and generally no extra fees arising in the study term will be included.
How many years a Full Ride Scholarship covers?
Primarily your full-ride scholarship will be awarded for one year. From the second year onwards, every year, your performance will be evaluated and if found eligible, will be automatically renewed. So, in general, once you are awarded and you keep on with the performance, it will last for all the four years.
Does a full ride Scholarship include housing?
Full ride scholarship not only includes fees and tuition, but also board, room, and book and at times it covers even living costs.
How many students get Full ride scholarship?
Amongst the students enrolled in the college as a full time for four years, around 1-3% gets a full-ride scholarship that covers the full cost of their studies.
What is merit Scholarships?
Merit Scholarships: As the name indicates, merit scholarship is awarded to the students on the basis of their performance without considering their financial status. Usually, this merit scholarship will be awarded to the students who achieve the high level in some particular areas such as academics, arts or athletics. So, for getting a merit scholarship, the reported income on your child’s FAFSA is not considered during the evaluation process.
Can you use Scholarship Money for anything?
Some scholarships clearly detail the limit of spending the money on. For instance, you will be able to spend to the scholarship only for tuition, fees or for the expenses directly billed by the college and not for books, board, room or other supplies.
Can I use Scholarship Money to pay off loans?
Scholarships are intended to help the students to pay for school and so one can only use the scholarship money as detailed while availing it. Actually many organizations that pass scholarships send the money straight to the college financial support office so that the money cannot be used for any other needs except for what it is proposed.
Can I cash a scholarship check?
One cannot cash the scholarship check if it is written in the name of the school or is directly paid to the school. You can only cash the scholarship check made out to you.
How do you receive Scholarship money?
Receiving money depends on the scholarship. If you’re awarded a scholarship, you’ll get an offer letter to your student account and in that, they will mention all the details regarding the scholarship and payment conditions.
Normally, if the scholarship is made out to you, then the payment will be deposited into your bank account within 14 days of the offer. Again, if it is a scholarship for free tuition, then the amount will be paid to your student account in the college directly prior to its due date.
Do Scholarships have to be paid back?
Scholarships are mostly offered by big corporations, schools, religious groups, communities, and social and professional organizations. Mostly, these are rewards that don’t require to be repaid. These scholarships can range from small to big amounts and are awarded considering the merit in academics, athletic or cultural excellence.
Even though most of the scholarships need not be repaid, some might have some exceptions. If you could not keep up the scholarship conditions agreed while accepting this award, you might lose the award and will have to repay the amount.
Please keep in mind that if students admitted in a certain college attempts to violate college laws and regulations then colleges reserve the right to revoke their admissions.
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