Scholarship application essays often ask how winning an award could change your life. It’s hard not to just think about the ways money could help with college costs.
A $10,000 scholarship, for example, could help you bridge the gap between your savings and a college‘s cost of attendance. It also could help you avoid student loan debt.
But you might ace your essays and increase your chances of winning scholarships if you remember that their benefits extend beyond dollars and cents. Here are three unique benefits of scholarships.
[Get tips on how to fund college with scholarships.]
1. Networking opportunities: When you win a local or national scholarship, you’ll likely have peers who won the same award.
If as an undergraduate you won a $5,000 scholarship from the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation, for example, you’d meet other second- and third-year journalism students from more than 30 colleges.
Scholarships with this kind of benefit give you a great opportunity to build long-lasting connections with students at your school or across the country.
You could also benefit from applying for an alumnus-funded scholarship specific to your college major, department or school’s financial aid office. If you win, you could network with a graduate who has gone on to bigger and better things.
For example, Arizona State University‘s Armstrong Family Foundation Scholarship , which provides Arizona residents up to $8,000 per year, includes regular contact with the family to ensure student recipients reach their goals.
[See three ways to turn a scholarship into a Silicon Valley internship.]
2. Ongoing support: Some scholarships come with the built-in benefit of an adviser to ensure you make the most of your winnings.
The UNCF/Koch Scholars Program, for example, offers mentorship support to undergraduate African-American students interested in entrepreneurship. This is in addition to the monetary awards: up to $20,000 in undergraduate scholarships over four years.
If you’re a prospective freshman or transfer student, you might find value in a scholarship that offers at-school support. You also could look for these opportunities at your school’s financial aid office.
The George A. Miller Scholars Program at the University of California–Berkeley, for example, provides one-on-one support for a year for community college transfers. Up to 12 low-income, first-generation students are selected each year for the scholarship, based on academic, leadership and community service excellence, and receive an $8,000 stipend over two years.
3. Real-world experiences: Some scholarships offer students the benefit of gaining real-world experience.
The Golden Key International Honour Society, for example, connects its scholarship winners with nonprofit organizations for volunteering opportunities. Golden Key chapters at universities can decide on the focus of their service.
Volunteering or working as part of a scholarship could give you the experience you need to decide on the best major or career path for you. At the very least, your service would be worth adding to your resume.
Additionally, you could take advantage of study abroad scholarships, such as the Boren Scholarship, to learn a new language and culture while experiencing a different part of the world.
[Review these 10 sites to kick off your scholarship search.]
How to Find Scholarships With Extra Benefits
Whether you’re interested in networking, mentorship or other benefits, be sure to search for and apply to scholarships that offer more than a monetary reward.
In some cases, you might find it helpful to search by scholarship organization rather than using a search engine. If you stumbled upon the GEICO Life Scholarship on Unigo, for example, you might think it awards $1,000 and not much else.
But by becoming a member of the awarding organization, Golden Key, you could also benefit from its online library of leadership training materials. The organization also offers a portal of resources for students considering graduate school. To be a Golden Key member, you must be among the top 15 percent of students at your current school.
While it’s easy to search for scholarships online, it’s often more effective to start at your college. Ask your financial aid office about school- or state-based scholarships that come with extra perks.
At Texas A&M University–College Station, for example, the Regents’ Scholars Program awards up to $5,000 per year for up to four years to first-generation students. It also includes an academic success program that pushes scholarship winners to sign up for activities and receive mentoring.
You also can build a rapport with the donor responsible for your scholarship. Give them updates on how you’re doing in school and how you’re using your scholarship money. They might award you additional funds or connect you with someone in their network who can help you along your journey.
If you won a scholarship without a built-in mentor program, contact past winners of the scholarship. Building connections with graduates and professionals who won the same award in prior years could go a long way.
Similarly, you could form a Facebook group with current students who won the same award you did. That’s a good way to network with peers as you progress through college and enter the workforce.
No matter what you do, don’t think of scholarships as merely money. Although that might be the most important benefit of winning a scholarship, it’s not the only value you can gain.
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3 Reasons to Apply for Scholarships That Offer More Than Money originally appeared on usnews.com
