Finance Your Education

Looking for ways to pay for your education can be a daunting task. As you investigate funding options keep the following in mind:

 

  • Start early! Applying for scholarships, grants, and loans can be a time-consuming process. Plan wisely so that you can truly take advantage of these opportunities.
  • Ask the program that you would like to attend if they have any support available to students. Sometimes teacher training programs have special funding available that can come in the form of graduate assistantships, special grants/scholarships, or student support stipends.
  • Check with your local school district and with your state department of education. If your region is in need of certified teachers of the blind, they may pay for some or all of your education.
  • If you are blind, approach your state's vocational rehabilitation office, and apply for scholarships through various blindness organizations.

Here are a few of the top scholarship search engines to get you started:

Fastweb.com is a well-known scholarship search engine that offers students a quick and easy way to find financial assistance in their specific area of study. At this site, you will find a list of organizations that offer scholarships to undergraduates majoring in education and to graduate students in the education field.

 

You can also visit scholarships.com Use this tool to find financial assistance based on your specific needs and qualifications. Just fill out a profile, and the site will generate a list of scholarships and financial aid options that you are eligible to receive based on your major, ethnicity, special qualifications, or group affiliations.

 

StudentScholarshipSearch.com contains over 1,000 scholarships that are updated daily. You can also find information on student loans, grants, and other assistance here. You can search specifically for undergraduate or graduate scholarships, or simply browse through a robust database of scholarship sources. If you know the name of a certain scholarship and you would like more information about it, you can also find those details on this site.

 

The College Board Web site offers timely and useful information about scholarships. The site asks you to fill out a short questionnaire and generates a list of awards for which you could apply. The site is unique in that it provides a few facts about each scholarship, not just the name of the award.

 

Good luck with your search!