Top 10 Scholarships Every College Student Should Know About

Besides free food or a canceled class, there’s nothing college students crave more than money. With the soul sucking costs of tuition, rent and textbooks, our wallets and bank accounts feel permanently light. Don’t you miss the days when you didn’t have to worry about money? That’s where ScholarshipOwl comes in, designed to help students like us. They have dozens upon dozens of scholarship opportunities. Your next burrito bowl depends on it.

1. You Deserve it Scholarship

That’s right-with all the hard work you put into your classes, internship or part time job, you deserve this and so much more. You don’t even have to lift a finger. To enter the sweepstakes to receive this $1000 scholarship, all you need to do is register at ScholarshipOwl. Even better? This will also give you the opportunity to apply to many other scholarships using ScholarshipOwl’s automated application tool.

2. Barbizon College Tuition Scholarship Program

What’s more appealing than $100,000? Practically nothing. With Barbizon Modeling and Acting School’s scholarship sweepstakes, all you need to do is enter in your contact info and you’ll be instantly entered. Unlike those pesky essays/personal statements that force you to humble brag about your (rather awesome) accomplishments, applying for Barbizon’s 100 grand really can’t get easier than this. This scholarship will only cover your tuition and not those horribly expensive textbooks or your room and board, but with the most expensive part of college taken care of, your life will feel 100 times easier.

3. SWISSGEAR.com Ultimate Backpack Scholarship

Besides your phone, your backpack is definitely your best friend. How else are you supposed to cart around your all-important snacks, wallet, laptop and everything else you need to survive a day full of classes? With all the time you spend together, your backpack’s got your back. Because of this close relationship, you already know exactly how to answer Swiss Gear’s essay question “what makes a good backpack” and you’ll be $5000 richer in no time.

4. Dietspotlight.com Scholarship

Have you ever gotten into a political argument with someone over Facebook, or maybe with an irritating relative at Thanksgiving where you just know you’re right? Put your kickass debate skills to good use with Diet Spotlight Scholarship Program. You’ll have to write a 900-1500 word essay about your views on “fat discrimination” AKA the way Obamacare allows employers to affect their employees’ health insurance coverage based on the employees’ weight or BMI. If the idea of writing on such a sensitive topic freaks you out, keep in mind that you’ve written much harder essays for your classes. You’ve got this.

5. Logomaker Scholarship Program

Many scholarship applications require some sort of essay, but what if you’re more artistically inclined? If so, this scholarship sounds perfect for you. You’ll still have to write an essay, but it’s about the impact of art and design in commerce. Logomaker encourages students to write about how a logo represents a brand or how a design serves as a marketing strategy. You can even submit your own artwork with your essay and let that speak for itself. Once you win their $2500, you’ll have the last laugh next time those pesky relatives tell you your art will never get you anywhere.

6. Albertson & Davidson, LLP Scholarship

Remember that 20 page final paper you scrambled to finish and totally aced last semester? Besides getting A’s, why not use your writing skills to help you land some money? You’ll have to write about whether or not you think it should be legal for courts to change wills and if people should have the ability to disinherit their spouse/children. This sounds like a pretty serious topic, but keep that $2500 prize in mind and your fingers will fly over your keyboard faster than the weekend disappears.

7. Paymaster.co Sharing Economy Tips Scholarship

You know that old saying “sharing is caring?” You may want to keep that in mind for this scholarship’s essay question, which asks you to think about what it’d feel like to live in a shared economy. Winning money for talking about something you learned about in kindergarten sounds easy enough, right? Best of all, their website has video with cute little illustrations to explain the basics of a shared economy to help you out. It’s like they want you to win.

8. Ronald D. Weiss College Scholarship Contest

Besides the fine art of procrastination, college students are very familiar with loans and the looming future of repaying those loans until we die. But I bet you didn’t know that damn loans stay with you even if you file for bankruptcy. Yikes, am I right? Now that you’re all fired up about this, take those thoughts and pour your heart out into a nice essay, where you’ll talk about the pros and cons of allowing student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy. Just make sure your essay contains between 500-1000 words and you’ll find yourself one step closer to winning some tuition money.

9. USAttorneys.com Immigration Scholarship Essay Contest

As their website details, attaining the “American Dream” feels more and more like an impossible feat. For anyone who’s an immigrant or comes from an immigrant background, this rings especially true. What if there was a way you could learn more about making it as an immigrant and earn some money for school? Cue this scholarship where you’ll need to write about immigration reform, how to apply for a work visa, the importance of having an immigrant lawyer or how to apply for asylum. Yes, they all sound like scary topics but keep in mind that researching and writing about this can help you with your pricey tuition. You know you need it.

10. USAttorneys.com National Scholarship Essay Contest

This scholarship requires you to talk about divorce law, child custody or divorce meditation. If you have divorced parents and have been shuffled back and forth between houses, you probably know much more about this than you think. Although this may bring up some particularly horrible memories you’d rather forget, keep in mind that everything happens for a reason. Maybe your parents’ nasty divorce and your subsequent Parent Trap obsession happened so that you’d crush this essay. Ok, probably not, but just tell yourself whatever you need to hear to help you land this much deserved scholarship money.

Ready to get applied to even more scholarships automatically? Sign up at ScholarshipOwl.com and take advantage!