Harrisburg – November 25, 2013 – State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione today urged students to take some time to research often overlooked college scholarship opportunities.

 

“You don’t have to be able to dunk a basketball or graduate at the top of your class to get help with college tuition,” she said. “There are numerous opportunities for students with focused interests or a record of volunteer work.”

 

Scholarships can be awarded to students who demonstrate or show high-achievement in areas such as academics, athletics, music, art and many other fields. They can be offered by federal or state governments, schools, civic organizations like the Rotary or Lions Clubs, religious institutions, businesses or trade associations and private foundations.

 

Students should ask school counselors if they are aware of scholarships that may be available, in addition to exploring the free scholarship search engines and databases on the Internet.

 

“Researching scholarships should be part of every student’s college preparation,” Tartaglione said. “It’s possible to cut years off student loan payments.”

 

The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) produces a career and college-planning website (www.educationplanner.org), which has links to FastWeb, a free national scholarship  search engine.  Once students complete their profile, the FastWeb search engine provides links to the awards that match their profile. Each award links-out to the application for the scholarship.