Author: Going Merry

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the U.S. Department of Education accredited nearly 4,000 colleges and universities in 2020. With so many options, picking a school can be daunting — especially when you consider how much your choice of alma mater could impact your future. The best way to make this process easier is to break it down into bite-sized steps. So, before you make your list of schools, ask yourself these 17 questions to narrow down your options and determine which college is right for you.

Scholarships are an incredible source of financial assistance for college students. Unlike loans, scholarship funds are free money. That means you don’t have to pay them back over time — an assurance that can vastly reduce financial stress and help you focus more on your studies. In fact, recent reporting from Forbes has shown that private scholarship recipients are more likely to graduate from college than those with just student loans. Financial aid and student loans are excellent sources of support, but college scholarships are one of the best ways to reduce the debt burden associated with pursuing higher education. If you’re on the fence about applying, here are a few more reasons to make scholarships part of your financial aid strategy.

The cost of college has soared over 180% in the past forty years. With tuition, room and board, books, and other education-related expenses, it can feel like expenses are never-ending. Thankfully, there are numerous scholarship programs to help you afford higher education. If you’ve applied to any of them, you’re probably wondering: Can I use scholarship money for anything? The answer is a bit complicated. But we’re here to help you make sense of it all. It’s worth noting that many awards will be paid directly to your college or university. For the others that come straight to you, check out the tips below to help decipher different scholarship rules.

A lot of students assume that if you’re not a straight-A, gold-star, super athlete, you won’t qualify for college scholarships. Fortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Colleges need all kinds of students — which means there are scholarship opportunities that cater to a vast range of interests and backgrounds. Going Merry is one of the most comprehensive and user-friendly scholarship platforms out there. To give you a sense of that variety, we’ve put together this guide to the 18 different types of scholarships we offer.

For single-parent families that only have one income, educational costs can represent an especially significant burden. Fortunately, there are a number of high-quality scholarships that provide financial assistance to students raised by single moms, dads, or other single guardians. To qualify for many of these single-parent scholarships, you’ll need to complete the free application for federal student aid (FAFSA®) and calculate your expected family contribution (EFC) to your college education. Not sure how to begin? Use our custom tools to figure out your EFC and answer the FAFSA®’s trickiest questions. Then sign up for Going Merry to find even more scholarships specifically for you.

While scholarships are most popular among incoming freshmen, they’re an important source of funding for all collegians, up to and including seniors and graduate students. Still, many students find themselves uncertain about where to begin. How do scholarships work? Where exactly does that money come from? How do you know which scholarships are worth applying to? To help you understand the details, we put together this guide. Give it a read to start off your scholarship search on the right foot.