2 Steps To Designing Your Own College Grant

The only way (that we know of) that you can design your own college grant is to combine two ways (one old and one new) to make college and university that much lighter on your wallet. This is a powerful, yet simple way of getting the best for the least. We believe students need to really focus on getting as many grants and scholarships that they can. But sometimes the competition for some grants is way too tough, or you don’t meet certain criteria, or you just don’t get the one you’re hoping for, and the list goes on and on.

Whatever the case may be – you need to use a two-pronged approach. Lets say you are in the 1st year or are just starting out, your first step is to consider junior colleges or community colleges that are close by. These are going to be relatively inexpensive and you won’t carry and debt. As long as you’re enrolled in classes, many of these colleges also offer jobs to enrolled students, and that’s an easy, no-hassle way of earning some money to pay for the classes. The most important thing is that you can focus on taking general courses, prerequisites and so on right here, close to home for the lowest possible cost. So our 1st approach has 3 main advantages:

1.) Low Cost
2.) Stress-free, Hassle-Free Jobs available to enrolled students
3.) Time to think about your major/degree.

The last one is very important. Why would you want to fritter away two years at an expensive, private university when you are not sure about your major? Even if you are sure what degree you are going for – you should continue looking at it from all angles. The world economy is changing very fast. Is what you’re doing, going to be in demand or will it be obsolete by the time you graduate? By going to a community college you can delay that major decision and keep an eye on the economy, where the jobs are, and have a solid decision when the times comes to transfer to a private university.

Let’s now look at the disadvantage. Your main problem will be that you won’t get the “same level of teaching” that higher standard university might provide. That’s where are two pronged approach comes in. Many universities (ivy league and others) are offering lots of courses free online. One of the best is iTunes U. Basically you have literally 350,000+ lectures from top-rated universities and other institutions at your fingertips. For FREE! That’s right. The software to download is FREE. The classes are also FREE.

As an example, lets say you’re taking an organic chemistry class at your local community college. You can supplement that with an Organic Chemistry lecture from Yale.

Perhaps you want to become a psychologist – you can supplement your for credit classes with “Introduction to Psychology” from MIT.

I could give you many more examples but I hope you see the learning tools at your disposal. You have the capability to basically design your own scholarship.

So we combine our two step process you have a low cost way of getting your prerequisites while continuing to reinforce learned material and new courses from top instructors. You get the credit for the courses you take at your community college and you get the learning you need from top ivy-league schools. Result? You just designed your own custom college grant.

Art School Grants

If you’re the creative type, you have probably thought about a fun and rewarding career that will give you the opportunity to put your artistic talents to work each and every day.

Even if you have a knack for art, you’ll still want to get an education that will help you to hone those skills, work with current and advancing technology, etc.

An art school education will arm you with the knowledge you need to land a job at a firm where you can really put your creativity to use or to work as a freelance artist.

Art education is important and paying for it can present a real dilemma. Everyone knows that higher education doesn’t come cheap. The good news is that there are art school grants available to help you build and develop your skills. This is free money. No strings attached. No need to worry about future repayment.

Simply apply for the money and when you receive an award, use it to pay for your education so you can get started on the path to a career in art!

So, just where do you look to find art school grants? A good first step is to fill out the FAFSA. This is the form you use to apply for government financial aid. Check the box that lets them know that you are interested in government grant money, and they will send you a report which tells you what you are eligible for.

This is a valuable way to help pay for your education and a realistic way to help you realize your dreams of being an artist. However, grant money from the government alone is not likely to pay for your entire art school education; you will want to look into and apply for other art school grants as well.

There are a number of other places which offer art school grants. Two great sources to apply are The National Endowment of the Arts – Grants Section and The Smithsonian Institute Fellowships. Of course, if you have chosen a reputable arts college, they may also have a special grant program as well.

If you are pursuing a particular medium of art, it is a good idea to look into foundations which offer grants in support of education in these fields. Another alternative is to practice your skill and enter you projects into contests.

You have nothing to lose! You could win cash that you can use to pay for your education and some of these competitions even award you with grant money specifically for art school!