Education Grants
American’s are now eligible for government grants that will pay for them to go to college and get a degree. You can request these education grants on your own by writing a grant proposal (We’ve provided instructions below), but that is a very complicated and time consuming process.
However, there is grant software available that you can use that will do all the work for you. Some of these grant writing programs are even offered for a free trial (which is what we recommend). Normally you’ll have to cover the cost of shipping which is between $2 – $3, but it will be money well spent, to say the least. The 3 best programs we’ve found are in the table below. You can also read more about each of these programs towards the bottom of this page.
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Website
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Cost
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Rating
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| US Grant Assist ™ |
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| Grant Approval Network |
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| National Grant Secrets |
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If you want to save yourself the $2, and would rather write the proposal yourself, follow these instructions. If you’d rather pay the $2 and save yourself the time and hassle of the grant writing process, skip to the bottom.
College Grants: A Life-Saver and a Life Changer
Only a few students nowadays are able to pay their college tuition without looking for part-time jobs. Fewer still are those who would not have to worry about their college education. But a lot of other students need to have their own part-time jobs just so that they can pursue their dreams of having a college degree.
Costs of College Tuition: A hefty sum
In the U.S., the average cost of a good private college would be well over $20,000.00 every academic year. $10,000.00 would be the average tuition if it is a public university. Divide this figure in half and you would have the average for a community college tuition.
College Grants: The Saving Grace for Students
Fortunately for a lot of us, college grants are available to reduce the burden of paying for education, especially for the financially strapped students. With the on-going economic downturn, these students may begin their search either by student-types or subject-specific types of grants.
Distinguished from Scholarships
Grants, unlike student loans and some other scholarships, need not be repaid. They are basically free gift money, as well as primarily need-based.
Who funds these grants?
The Federal and State Governments are mostly the proprietors of these grants. Colleges and universities also give these types of grants to deserving students, as well as some public and private organizations willing to give a helping hand.
Categories of Grants
Grants are usually divided into certain categories, they are:
• Career-specific
• Student-specific
• Need-based
• Merit-based
Career-specific Grants:
These types of grants are given according to the specific field of study the student would be willing to go into. Usually, they are awarded to students pursuing careers in the high-need areas of society, such as education and nursing. The latter careers, for example, are in high demand, and most often a lot of schools would give these future nurses full scholarships so they would enter the field and to encourage them to work in high-need communities.
Student-specific Grants:
The student-specific grants are those types of grants where the applicant is qualified according to his or her race, gender, religion, family and medical history, and other such factors. Certain grants and scholarships such as Minority scholarships are the most common examples for this kind of category. Students may also be outside of the United States, where foreigners may qualify for a number of aboriginal scholarships, either by studying at their own country or abroad.
Need-based Grants:
These types of grants are based on the student and his or her family’s financial records. Usually, the student is required to fill out a FAFSA if he or she wants to qualify for the scholarship or grant. A need-based grant is a federal grant. But there are private need-based scholarships and grants that also require FAFSA to calculate the student’s financial needs and the expected family contributions as well as costs, attendance, and other factors at the intended school of the student.
Merit-based Grants:
The most common of the grants, these types of grants look into a student’s academic, artistic, athletic, and other factors. These grants recognize the student’s achievement/s in any of these factors, such as high scores on standardized tests or athletic prowess.
Examples of Grants:
Grants, fortunately, are offered in almost any college or university, and by all states. Acquiring these grants can be easy, if you know where and when to look. Listed here are some examples of grants.
The Pell Grant
A Federal Grant existing since 1972, it remains one of the staples of good federal funding for millions of financially strapped students. It is a valuable source of funding despite being under the whims of the government’s budget control.
The SMART Grant
The National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant, otherwise known as the SMART grant offers about $4,000 for juniors and seniors who are studying in the fields of engineering, mathematics, computer science, or other such sciences. They must be eligible for the Pell Grant before being eligible for this one.
The AC Grant
The Academic Competitiveness Grant is a merit-based grant available for freshmen and sophomores with excellent academic records as well as a demonstrated aptitude for service and leadership. They must also be Pell Grant eligible before they can have the AC Grant.
Minority Grants
Minority Grants may be acquired more commonly nowadays, with a booming increase of such grants within the last decade alone. There are a dozens of African American colleges, for example, that offer top-notch programs as well as administer grants for African Americans the same way as the typical colleges and universities.
There are also a lot of grants targeting many African American women, especially for specialized fields of study. One such college giving the grant, the Spelman College, devotes itself to nurturing the needs of these African American women.
Hispanic students should not be feeling left out. In fact, Hispanic grants in a lot of States, such as California, Florida, Arizona, and Texas, have Hispanic serving and Hispanic specific colleges, where the student bodies are about at least a quarter-Hispanic.
Although they constitute the lowest number as a minority group, the Native American students also have special Native American grants to dissuade them from considering that only a high school diploma is enough.
To make it all easier, we’ve reviewed the best products for doing all this for you, so you can concentrate on using that money to do good things.
THE REVIEWS:
Our #1 choice – US Grant Assist ™ is truly the cream of the crop. This organization has been around forever, and for good reason. We gave them 5 stars just for their grant information, before we realized just how great their customer service was. This program comes with grant writing software and templates (just fill in a few fields such as name, and address of where you want your check mailed) and it prints out a ready made grant application. Their grants database is updated daily, so you’ll always have access to the latest info.
Grant Approval Network is another long running program. This program does not require credit checks, collateral, security deposits or co-signers. Even if you have declared a bankruptcy or currently have bad credit, as a tax payer and U.S. citizen or resident, you are entitled to apply for this money! Take advantage of this free trial offer by paying a small $2 processing fee. You may be eligible to receive up to $50,000 in grant money that you never have to repay, but they are only offering this deal on their grant kit for a limited time so be sure to reserve yours now.
National Grant Secrets is different from the other two programs. It’s more expensive with an up front cost of $47, but this is the only negative thing we saw about this product. This automatic grant writing software has the advantage of being reusable as often as you like. You just fill in your basic info and it searches for grants that you qualify for and automatically fills them out for you. If you can afford it, you’ll likely get back many times this amount with the grants this thing will crank out for you. Super easy to use & has really good info on grants for women, minorities and people who have recently lost a job.
