Free Money

             Blinn College offers many different scholarships to its students that have much less competition than most outside scholarship opportunities. These scholarships are available to Blinn students only and are divided into areas of study. The application process is simple and the requirements are basic. All you’ve got to do is finish the application for the scholarships that best apply to you. The most interesting part of it all is most students aren’t even aware of the many opportunities at their fingertips—last year several endowed scholarships were not awarded simply because nobody applied.

              If you are interested in some free, easy college money (who isn’t?) then hurry up and fill out your scholarship application before April 7^th. Simply go to the Blinn College scholarship website (www.blinn.edu/finaid/scholar.htm) and follow the instructions to apply for available scholarships. The process is free, simple, and can be completed in an afternoon. The best part about these scholarship opportunities is that your competition is limited to only other Blinn students, not the rest of the nation. In fact last year, according to Tina Holzer, Financial Aid Advisor, the following scholarships didn’t have a single student apply for them:

                  Accounting

·         Eugene Janner Memorial Scholarship

·         Otto Q. Lehrmann Scholarship

Education

·         Harry M. and Macey Hodges Reasoner Scholarship

English/ History

·         Betty Cantrell Plummer Memorial Scholarship

Mathematics

·         Susan Burkhart Memorial Scholarship

Nursing

·         All nursing scholarships see little attention! Several weren’t awarded last year.

Science

·         Phillips, Sharpe & Winkler Scholarship in the Natural Sciences

             If you have trouble navigating through the site, don’t worry—you aren’t alone. The scholarship website can be quite confusing. Perhaps that is part of the reason why some scholarships see minimal applicants. This could also be due to the lack of advertisement. The scholarship office periodically sends out e-mails to advertise some scholarships and encourage interest in the scholarships that didn’t receive applicants last year. The only problem is, these e-mails are being sent to a select group of professors and ask the professors to “encourage students to apply”. The professors seem to be forwarding the e-mails to each other, but only a few mention the scholarships to their students. And just hearing about a scholarship in class doesn’t always help the student understand how and where to apply.  It seems like a simple fix could be for the Financial Aid Department to send these scholarship updates directly to the students.

  Regardless, the fact remains that there is only one week left to apply and many spaces are still available! Fill out your application online and wait for the free money to come in for the fall or summer semester of 2010. The application itself is due April 7th, but you have until April 14th to submit at least one letter of recommendation.

  To see the complete list of available endowed scholarships available pick up a brochure in the Financial Aid Office or go to this URL-www.blinn.edu/finaid/endowed_schol.htm. If you have any questions or need assistance in the application process, call or visit the Financial Aid Office or contact Tina Holzer at (979) 830-4154. The office is slow this time of year with little to no lines (especially in the mornings). Good luck!