These days, it’s incredibly difficult to enter the professional job market without an undergraduate degree and hundreds of thousands of students enter college degree programs each year. Because of this, undergraduates have the widest range of scholarships available to them. Most students will need to get some kind of financial assistance in order to be able to afford their education and instead of getting loans many can get the help they need through scholarships and award programs.

Students looking to get undergraduate scholarships will generally need to excel in at least one facet be it leadership in the community, academic success, athletics, or the fine and performing arts. Many scholarships are also available to those who can demonstrate that they would be otherwise unable to afford college without assistance. Students should expect to have to submit grades or testing scores to scholarship committees as well as complete a variety of other requirements that can include writing an essay, creating an original work of art, or submitting a personal statement.

Undergraduate scholarships come from a wide range of sources. Students who perform well academically or athletically will often be offered scholarship money from the school they are planning to attend. Many private organizations are also willing to help students fund their educations and students can check with their local Elks Lodge, Rotary Club, Scouts and Lions Club to find out if the local chapters offer any assistance. These type of scholarships are often based on merit and leadership within the community.

Larger, nationwide scholarships are also available and many large companies like Coca Cola offer students the chance to compete to win generous scholarships. Students may also be able to embrace their majors through scholarship programs, as many special awards are given out to students that excel fields like writing, drawing, engineering and math.

• Radio and Television News Directors Foundation Scholarships: $10,000 given out to Communications and Journalism majors.
• Neuroscience Nursing Foundation Scholarship: $1,500 to Nursing students with an interest in neuroscience nursing.
• Student Loan Network Scholarship: $10,000 to undergraduate students.
• Walt Disney Company Foundation Scholarship: Up to $50,000 to undergraduate students pursuing a degree in Business Administration or the Fine Arts.
• Microsoft Full Tuition Scholarships: Varies depending on student‘s tuition. Students must demonstrate financial need, be enrolled in a computer science program and be of a minority group.
• Phi Kappa Tau Scholarship: $1,000 to $2,250 awarded to 20-25 male undergraduate students.