The decision to continue your college education can be exciting and stressful at the same time. The exciting part is the idea of being able to further your education and have more career opportunities. However, the stress mounts from the growing costs of college tuition all over the world. When it comes to paying for college it can feel like it’s the end of the road. The inability to pay for a college education is one of the leading reasons that many students don’t attend or perhaps don’t complete their college education. Therefore, the acquirement of scholarships and grants have become one of the best ways to afford a college education these days.

There is nothing simple about winning a scholarship award or receiving a grant but the process of applying is one that almost everyone can complete if interested. There are things that one needs to know before submitting the application. The more knowledge you have about the scholarship and grant, the greater your chances are at being awarded at least one of the many that you should apply for.

There are several types of grants and scholarships available:

Merit-based: These scholarships are awarded based on merit strength. This classification is mostly related to one’s talents and skills in many areas such as sports, art, and other activities. One with multi talents and many awards from winning some competitions are likely to be easily accepted for the scholarship.

Need-based: As mentioned briefly above, a financial issue is the most common reason that stops one from trying to apply as a student at the university. Therefore, need-based scholarships are given to those who deal with the issue. One of the common requirements to prove that one is from a poor family is the family’s financial record. It could be in form of a bank statement, the parents’ letter of pension, a list of most valued belongings, or a list of previous financial supports ever received.

Student-specific: This category is based the most on individual student. It could be the gender, race, age, height and weight, nationality, language(s) spoken, or other specifics.

Grants are an ideal supplemental funding source for those students who have been awarded scholarships for college but may still have a lingering balance. It helps to have additional funding to offset all or a portion of the remaining balance and grants can help in this area of course.