I just want to thank everyone for their encouraging emails and comments. I really appreciate your support and your prayers!

So, this is the time of year where I start filling out applications for scholarships and grants. I am not a huge fan of loans (because you have to pay them back at a not-so-great interest rate), so I would like to find as many scholarships as possible.

Here are a couple of helpful hints in searching for scholarships:
1. Know your due dates. They are usually around the end of March-beginning of April; Mid-June, Early September, and December.

2. Know what you bring to the table. There are lots of scholarships for those who belong to a specific group: women, African Americans, Latinos, Social Work Students, Grad Student, Older Student. I would just go to google and begin searching for scholarships under your specific categories.

3. Utilize scholarship search engines. There are several scholarship search engines that you can use for FREE! The catch is that they will show you something from their advertisers each time you log in, but you don't have to accept it...you can simply click off and it will take you right to the scholarship page. I like fastweb.

4. Finally...the school offers small scholarships (but anything is better than nothing!) in the amount of $500-$1,000 for rising 2nd year students. The only negative thing about this is that they are usually specific to your concentration. So, the bulk are given to SWCOS and those in the Families and Children Concentration. If you are a 1st year student, do not be discouraged...a little birdie told me that the school also has small scholarships available for 1st year students...some are based upon merit, other are based upon need. Again, some are only available to residents of Baltimore City.

Last word of advice...don't get discouraged. For every 20 scholarships you apply for, you may only receive one...and it may only be worth $500. But, that is $500 less that you have to pay back when you graduate!

Email me with any questions about scholarships! Happy searching!