Scholarships for College Students

There are thousands of scholarships available for college students that can be narrowed down based on background, major and financial need. Use our guide to sort through scholarship opportunities based on eligibility and check out our resources for more information on how to pay for college.

College Scholarship Opportunities

$2,00 Sallie Mae Scholarship

$2,000 Sallie Mae Scholarship

Sallie Mae cares about providing you the resources needed to successfully navigate financing college. That's why we're offering you the opportunity to earn a $2,000 scholarship. We know that college is a big step forward in achieving your goals and we want to help you get there using all the tools Sallie Mae has to offer.

College scholarship database

College Scholarship Finder

Search our database of hundreds of college scholarships, filter by criteria that apply to you. You can narrow down your results based on your background, area of study and financial need.

 

College Scholarship Guides for 2024

Expand your scholarship search by exploring these scholarship programs open to high school seniors and current college students. Each of these pages includes a list of scholarships that is automatically updated as more come into our scholarship database. 

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Scholarships for Women

Women have been fighting for gender equality for centuries leading up to female-led scientific discoveries, technological advances and more. Explore hundreds of scholarships for women and narrow down options based on field of study, award amount and need-based aid.

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Scholarships for Minorities

Colleges are more diverse every year, but with rising cost of tuition it’s important for students of every race to have the means to enroll. Find scholarships for students of African American, Alaska Native, Asian American, Hispanic, Native American and Pacific Islander descent.

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Scholarships for the Disabled

Although opportunities exist for students with a wide range of disabilities, the cost of college can still deter high school graduates from pursuing higher education. To help you finance your degree, sort through all the national scholarships available for students with disabilities.

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Scholarships for Veterans

If you’re a veteran who has served in the U.S. military, you and your family qualify for a number of scholarships and grants that will help cover the cost of higher education. Sort through the many national scholarships available to find an opportunity that will help pay for your degree. 

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Graduate School Scholarships

To help fund your graduate degree, follow our guide and use the interactive tool to sort through the scholarship opportunities for graduate students based on your field of study and award amount.

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Scholarships for Undocumented Students

Despite undocumented students inability to receive federal funding, there are still many options available to receive support. Use our guide to sort through all scholarship opportunities for undocumented students.

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Scholarships for Single Mothers

If you’re a single mother or father looking for ways to help support your college education, use our scholarship guide to find specific scholarships created with you in mind.

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African American Scholarships

Millions of dollars are donated annually to privately funded institutions, scholarships, grants and awards targeted specifically towards students of color. Help finance your degree by sorting through many scholarships available for African Americans.

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Native American Scholarships

Many opportunities exist for Native American students to receive support towards the pursuit of higher education. Use our interactive guide to sort through the many scholarships and resources available for Native Americans.

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Scholarships for Hispanic Students

Massive amounts of opportunities exist for Hispanic and Latino students when it comes to financial aid. To learn more about how you can pay for college, use our guide to sort through resources and all scholarships available.

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Scholarships for Nursing Students

Use our guide to learn more about how you can qualify to be a nurse and how you can fund your college education with financial aid opportunities and nursing scholarships.

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Scholarships for Teachers

If you're working towards a degree with a goal of becoming a teacher, use our interactive guide to learn how you can qualify, and sort through all the scholarship opportunities to help fund your college education.

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Scholarships for Asian Americans

If you’re an Asian-American student looking for ways to help fund your college education, use our resources and scholarship guide to find funding opportunities catered towards Asian-American students regardless of their field of study or socio-economic status.

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Engineering Scholarships

Many opportunities exist for students pursuing an engineering degree. Our interactive guide will help you find the appropriate funding that matches your financial needs to bring you steps closer to pursuing your educational goals.

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Law Scholarships

Current and aspiring law students can use our interactive tool to find and apply to law school scholarships based on award amount, financial need and concentration. Whether you're a pre-law student or in law school, we've pulled together an extensive list of scholarships to help finance your degree.

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LGBTQ Scholarships

Students of the LGBTQ community face unique challenges in their personal lives and academia, but financing college shouldn’t be one of them. We’ve put together a list of scholarships to help ally and identifying students better achieve their educational goals.

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Computer Science Scholarships

Computer science has quickly become one of the fastest growing industries and highest-paying career paths in the U.S. economy. To help students take advantage of these opportunities, we’ve compiled scholarships geared specifically for students pursuing a degree in computer science.

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Athletic Scholarships

While athletic scholarships are some of the most popular and competitive financial awards, many opportunities exist outside the traditional realm. This interactive guide allows student-athletes to find scholarships offered by a wide variety of public and private benefactors based on athletic discipline, award amount, region and more.

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Merit Scholarships

Merit scholarships are some of the most generous financial awards for college students and unlike need-based aid, merit awards can go to any student regardless of socioeconomic status. For students who stand out in scholastic and personal achievement, there are many scholarship opportunities available that can help pay for college.

STEM-scholarships

STEM Scholarships

STEM scholars determine our nation’s capacity to innovate which is why private and public benefactors donate millions of dollars annually to help students receive an education and become leading professionals within STEM industries. Explore this tool to find STEM Scholarships based on award amount, need and concentration.


Scholarship data provided by Peterson's Data

College Scholarship FAQs


Do most college students get scholarships?

The good news is, yes, most college students do get some scholarships. According to Sallie Mae’s most recent “How America Pays for College” report, 56% of students used scholarship awards to pay for part of their college costs — on average, about 16% of their expenses.

But just because only half of students used scholarships, it doesn’t mean the other half of students can’t get them. In fact, three-fourths of those students never applied for any scholarships.

Why? They probably think that their academic achievement isn’t enough to win a scholarship. But not all scholarships require a 4.0+ GPA or that you be an elite athlete.

So if you want your fair share of the scholarships available, make sure you spend some time seeking out the awards you do qualify for.

What are the easiest scholarships to get?

What makes for an “easy scholarship” to get depends on a few factors, including what you care about and where your strengths lie. Some scholarships are very easy to apply for — just fill out a form. But they may also have a lot of competition.

Other scholarships require you to meet certain requirements, including a minimum GPA threshold, relatively high SAT scores, generally good academic performance, and time spent on extracurricular activities such as sports, community service, etc. Others require an essay or other These scholarships weed out some of your potential competition, but you may also not qualify for some. You can find a selection of easy to apply for scholarships (no essay requirements in sight) here.

Still other scholarships are aimed at narrower groups of students — that can include anything from visual artists, members of certain religious or ethnic groups, or even people who are very tall or fly drones as a hobby. You’ll qualify to apply for fewer of these scholarships, but if you meet the criteria, you have a much better chance of actually winning it.

Check out this partial list of oddball scholarships to see the potential variety of awards available to you.

What is the best website for college scholarships?

There are no shortage of places on the web where you can find student scholarship information — but especially for easy-application scholarships, you want to make sure they’re legit. (Most are, but there are exceptions.)

You already have a lot on your plate getting ready for college, so we’ve got an extensive database of scholarships of all kinds: essay, no essay, local and regional scholarships, awards for students pursuing specific careers or who belong to certain minority groups. Whatever kind of scholarship you’re looking for, we’ve got a few!

How do you get a full ride scholarship?

Full-ride scholarships exist — but they’re very competitive. Roughly 1% of undergraduate students manage to snag one, and typically, they’re extraordinary students and/or athletes or have some other remarkable achievement under their belts.

If you’re an excellent student (or student-athlete) it’s worth applying for these kinds of scholarships. Just make sure you have a Plan B. Even incredible students don’t always manage to win full-ride awards.

Of course, you can graduate college debt-free even without a full-ride scholarship. The key is getting a lot of smaller scholarships to fill the tuition gap between your financial aid awards (grants, work-study, etc.) and the cost of attending your school.

For most college students, that means applying for a lot of smaller scholarships so you can maximize your chances of winning some of them. Getting a $1,000 award here, $500 there, a textbook stipend from a local civic group, etc., eventually adds up to some serious money you can put toward your college expenses. And every dollar you can pay now, is a dollar you don’t have to borrow as part of a student loan later.

Are scholarships only available to full-time students?

You don’t have to be enrolled full-time to win scholarships, but it helps. Virtually every scholarship opportunity is open to full-time students; only some accept applicants who are part-time students.

If your enrollment status may change — say, you’re planning to transfer, or switch to part-time status partway through the academic year — double check that you’ll still be eligible for any scholarship you’re applying for. The last thing you want is to win a scholarship and then end up giving half of it back because you no longer qualify.

Am I eligible to apply for the Nitro Scholarship?

One scholarship that almost any college student — current, prospective, or recently graduated — can apply for is ours. (And so can their parents!)

The Nitro No-Essay scholarship is open to anyone who is a student (aged 17 or older) currently enrolled in an accredited U.S. high school, college or university; a graduate of a U.S. undergraduate school who is currently paying back a student loan; a parent of any of the above enrolled students; or a parent of a recent graduate who is paying back a parent loan for their child’s education.

The award provides $2k in scholarship funds with a rolling application deadline every month.

Apart from scholarships, how can I pay for my education?

Scholarships are a great way to get (relatively) easy money for your college education, but it’s not your only option. You can get a significant amount of financial aid from student loans, state and federal grants, school grants, college work-study and more.

But to do that, you have to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Filling out the FAFSA automatically qualifies you for consideration for a ton of different kinds of aid. But true talk: It’s not a fun form to fill out. To make it easier, check out our guide to filling out the FAFSA.

A FAFSA application covers the application for federal and most state aid as well as some school-based aid. But it doesn’t cover all options. You should still check with your school’s financial aid office to see if there are other opportunities you should explore. They may know about local organizations or school-based grants and scholarships that are also available.