Types of Scholarships

Do you like free money?

Then you're going to love scholarships.

You have to apply, but if you get one of these suckers, you don't have to pay the money back. Scholarships range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars, but as you well know, every penny counts.

There are literally thousands of scholarships out there, but here are a few varieties to get you acquainted.

Sports Scholarships

Are you the best of the best at baseball, volleyball, or, uh, rifle? Then you're in a good position. Colleges spend a lot of money on their sports teams—mainly because those teams bring in a ton of cash—and they're willing to pay a lot to help their teams win big.

Academic Scholarships

Are your SAT scores the crème de la crème? Does everyone come to you for homework help? If you've ever been called a geek or a nerd, it's your turn to laugh. Colleges love smart students and are willing to offer them loads of cash. If your grades are really high, you might have colleges knocking on your door and begging you to attend—with scholarship offers galore.

Special Interest Scholarships

Do you belong to a specific community or come from a particular ethnic background? There are probably scholarships made just for you: everyone from Hispanic students to cancer survivors. The more specific you can get, the better chance you have of finding a scholarship that you and only you are eligible for. Now those are some great odds.

Employer Scholarships

Your boss (or your parents' boss) might offer scholarships for workers and their families. The business gets to write off the scholarship on their taxes and you get to pay for college. Win-win.

Private Association Scholarships

Churches, religious groups, private groups, and corporations all offer scholarships. If you or your parents belong to any unions, organizations, associations, or groups at all, it's worth checking to see whether or not they offer scholarships. Worst case scenario: they don't.

Military Scholarships

If your mom or dad is or was a member of the U.S. military, you might qualify for military scholarships. You can find out more at the U.S. military scholarship website.

Your College

The college you decide to attend probably has a bunch of bursaries and scholarships made available by rich alumni and their families. Head on over to your college's website and you should be able to find an extensive list: some will be need-based, some will be merit-based, and some will be are-you-related-to-the-guy-who-donated-the-money-based.

Your High School

Some fancy high schools send their students off to college with scholarship money. It's worth asking your college counselor if that's an option and what you'd have to do to be eligible.

Need-Based Scholarships

Need-based just means that you, uh, need the money; i.e., you can't afford college otherwise. To apply for these types of scholarships, you'll have to submit a lot of financial information to prove that you don't have the dough for pay for it yourself.

Talent-Based Scholarships

Do you have a secret or not-so-secret talent? Other than your incredible Elmo impression, we mean. There are scholarships out there that recognize young talent and help you get even better at your skill when you go to college. Win-win.

Weirdo Scholarships

No, these aren't scholarships for weirdos. (Although, that's probably a thing, too.) We're talking about the scholarships that are pretty…out there.

  • Are you great at duck calling? There's a $4,000 scholarship for that.

  • Feel like making a statement at prom? There's a scholarship for whoever creates the best prom dress entirely out of duct tape.

Scholarships, Scholarships Everywhere

With thousands of scholarships out there, how can you track down the ones that you might want to apply for? Shmoop's here to help, and Google is, too.

No matter who you are, where you want to go to college, or how much you hate filling out forms, you're going to want to apply for scholarships until you're blue in the face.

This is free money, people.

Just do it.