There are thousands of scholarships. There are thick College Board books just filled with them, with more than one on each page. If you tried to list all of them, the list could grow inaccurate from year to year, because their contents are constantly changing. New foundations are springing up, while old ones are disappearing due to lack of funds, a problem that has increased in today’s economic recession. This has made getting funds for college especially important.

It seems that there is no way to accurately categorize scholarships. There are hundreds of different kinds, some of which overlap each other. However, some categories include those that are based on athletic excellence, merit, community service, ethnicity, minority status and essay-writing.  There are also those created by corporations for the children of employees, and others still for high school cancer survivors, children of cancer survivors, children of war veterans and more. There are Maryland Senatorial and Delegate Scholarships, also, for people who plan on attending college in Maryland.

Former college and career coordinator Bryna Blaine says scholarships even exist for left-handed, blue-eyed people. However, whatever the scholarship may be, the only way to receive any money is to try. People who complete a lot of applications win more money than those who don’t. Blaine explains that the many students who visit her, wondering about scholarships, are discouraged that most require written essays.  But she easily justifies the logic for this: one to two hours of essay writing for a $2,000 scholarship would be the equivalent of getting paid $1,000 to $2,000 an hour for your work. To make your life easier, these already short essays can be slightly tweaked or partially rewritten from one application to the next.

Although there is no way to list the top ten scholarships, there are certainly some significant ones available right here in the halls of WJ, with loads of information about them in the college and career office.

• The Broad Scholarship is a very special scholarship that WJ seniors have a chance to apply for this year. There are only five counties in the country whose 2011 graduates are qualified to apply, and Montgomery County is one of the school districts with great performance and achievement. Prize winners can earn up to $20,000 to attend a four-year college and $5,000 to attend a two-year school. The deadline is March 1, 2011.
• Another scholarship available is the Violet Richardson Award for Honoring Young Women, awarding young women with accomplishments in volunteering. Those to whom the award applies can expect less competition, making their work of applying more worthwhile.  This scholarship applies to people between the ages of 14 and 17. 28 $1,000 awards are available, along with contributions to those winners’ volunteer organizations. The deadline was January 10, 2011, but similar awards to this exist, but keep this one in mind for next year.
• The STAR (Stand Tall and Reach) Scholarship is available to African American students. It is unusual in that it applies only to students in grades 9, 10, and 11, as opposed to most other senior-only scholarships. Students with grades that are above average and volunteer and responsibility efforts who write an essay are eligible to win a $1,000 grant-in-aid scholarship. If won all three years, a student could earn $3,000 toward paying his or her college tuition.
• The Maryland Farm Bureau Scholarship awards seven $2,000 scholarships to agricultural curriculum majors and three scholarships to non-agricultural majors.
• A NAACP scholarship for African Americans honors seniors with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

To receive word of more scholarships, apply to fastweb.com. It provides people with a free college search, and emails them about scholarships that may fit their interests. There are other ways to find scholarships as well; however, Blaine warns to beware of scholarship scams. Companies should not charge you for scholarship information. Scholarships are not supposed to cost money, so one that does is very likely a scam.

In any case, it is best to visit the college and career center for all your scholarship questions.

It is important to note that many scholarships send prize money straight to colleges. And don’t forget that essays need to be written in order to get money. Scholarships, while arguably worth the effort, do not come free of charge.

“There’s money out there. You have to apply in order to win,” said Blaine. A number of years ago, a student came into her office repeatedly during lunch to type up applications for a wide range of scholarships. By the end of the year, this dedicated student had enough money to pay her college tuition.