Women older than 35 who need to return to school might not have enough money to cover the costs of college. To find scholarships to pay for your tuition, living expenses and books, look at both traditional and nontraditional scholarship sources. Federal and state government agencies, foundations and organizations all have scholarships for older women.
Sallie Mae
The federal government's college funding website, Sallie Mae, is a gateway to information and links to educational grants for students of all ages. Many federal grants have no upper age limit for applicants. Each person must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to be considered for federal funding. Many colleges also use the financial data from the FAFSA to make need-based scholarship awards.
Top Federal Grants
The Pell Grant is a scholarship for first-time undergraduate degree seekers only. Based on need, the 2009 limit for awards was $4,731. Full and part-time students can apply for a Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant. This award requires you to demonstrate financial need. Scholarship amounts range from $100 to $4,000. Apply for the $4,000 TEACH grant if you plan to enroll in a full-time undergraduate or graduate degree teaching program.
Women's Organizations
The American Association of University Women is an organization interested in increasing the number of women in underrepresented career fields. Many of the scholarships the group provides are for older women. Deadlines for each scholarship vary annually. You can get application forms at the organization's website. In 2009, the AAUW offered scholarships and fellowships for women in the United States and citizens of other countries. Their funding opportunities are for undergraduate and graduate students, career development and travel. The AAUW also has a clearinghouse that provides information about state and university undergraduate scholarships.
Foundations
Many foundations have grants for individuals that women older than 35 can use for educational purposes. The Foundation Center publishes an annual directory of these grants. You can find it in Foundation Center libraries in New York, Atlanta, Cleveland, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The Foundation Center's Cooperating Collections sites in every state also have this directory. Use the website's "Locations" link to find the directory in nonprofit resource centers or public and university libraries near you. You can search the directory online for a small fee.
The Anti Aging website is also a good resource for foundation scholarships for older women. The website has summaries and links to grants for older women. Women older than 35 will find information about scholarships specifically for them from the AARP Foundation Women's Scholarship and the Jeanette Rankin Foundation. Links to other resources include grants for women over 45 at the University of Wisconsin and grants for nontraditional students at Abilene Christian University.
Free Scholarship Research
Many entrepreneurs promise to find scholarships for students for a fee. Most of the scholarship information that they "find" for you is public information. To avoid these scholarship scams, conduct your own research. Use the free search function on the Sallie Mae website to identify additional scholarships for specific career fields, from specific employers, national membership organizations and corporations. Sallie Mae also has links to state and local government scholarship resources.
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