Scholarship Information
The biggest part of tracking down and securing scholarship funds is knowing where to look. This page is set up to help you identify places to look for scholarships and will point you to a number of useful resources. Scholarship hunting consists of several major steps:
- Identifying where to look
- Learning the details about the scholarship eligibility requirements
- Completing the scholarship application requirements
Scholarship hunting is a very labor intensive process but can pay great dividends since scholarship funds are generally "free" and do not require repayment. Remember, however, that scholarships are a form of financial aid and, therefore, any scholarships received may cause existing financial aid packages to be adjusted. You are required to notify the Office of Student Financial Aid (OSFA) if you receive or are going to receive a scholarship. You should provide the OSFA with a copy of the letter from the scholarship donor detailing the name of the donor, the amount of the scholarship, and how the funds will be paid. Specific questions about scholarships that are not answered by the pages that follow should be directed to your financial aid counselor in the Office of Student Financial Aid.
The following list details several sources of information about scholarships for which you may wish to apply:
FREE On-line Scholarship Searching - GMU's Office of Student Financial Aid is also pleased to be able to provide FREE on-line scholarship searching through several WWW facilities.
Office of Student Financial Aid Bulletin Board - The bulletin board, located outside the Office of Student Financial Aid (OSFA) in the South Chesapeake Module, has information about some private scholarships. Application materials for these particular scholarships are available through the OSFA.
GMU Office of Admissions - Merit-based scholarships are awarded to new incoming freshmen based on review of Admissions applications submitted by December 1st.
GMU Athletic Department - Questions about athletic scholarships should be directed to the appropriate Intercollegiate Athletics Coaches.
GMU Major Department - The academic department for your major program may have information for you about scholarships related to your field of study.
Fenwick Library - Fenwick Library contains a number of research resources related to financial aid and scholarships.
Public libraries - Public libraries often have many college financing resources available in their reference sections.
High School Guidance Counselors - If are a graduating high school senior, your high school guidance counselor is an excellent source of information regarding scholarships which are generally restricted to graduating high school seniors.
Bookstores - Bookstores, like public libraries, often have large sections of materials dedicated to financing a college education and many of these references contain valuable scholarship information.
Internet Resources - The amount of information about financial aid and scholarships on the Internet is growing rapidly. There are some World Wide Web sites in particular that contain very extensive financial aid/scholarship resource information.
Employers - Quite often your employer or your parents' employer may have scholarships available for employees or dependents of employees.
Churches, civic, public service organizations - Check with your churches or any of the various civic organizations (e.g. ELKS, MOOSE, MASONS, ROTARY, LIONS CLUB, etc) to find out if they have any scholarships available. (Note: most of these groups may require some sort of family affiliation with the organization)
Private Scholarship Search Services - The are many services available that will perform a scholarship search for you for a fee. Because the amounts of fees charged and the level of service provided vary, you should exhaust all "free" resources first and you may wish to read the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warning about potential scholarship scams about scholarship search services.