Tag Archives: college grants for single parents

Free Student Grants and Scholarships For Single Parents

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Are you looking for a good job? Then you will need to go to college. You will need at least an associate degree in today’s economy, regardless of whether you are a man or a woman. This is especially important if you are a single parent and have children to support. After all, how will you feed your family if you only earn a minimum wage?

Of course, trying to juggle your job, your studies and your kids together is… tough. To say the least. At least finding money for college is not going to be a problem. You should be able to find student grants for single parents, especially those funded by federal government grants.

What do I mean? Well, government grants for single parents like the Pell Grant are fairly generous to low-income students, even adult students like yourself. You can get up to $5550 (for the 2010/2011 award year) as long as you are a US citizen taking up your first college degree. In fact, if you qualify for the Pell Grant and are in the lowest income bracket, you can potentially get another $4000 from the FSEOG. These two together should cover most of your college tuition fee (given that the low-end of tuition is around $9000). Even if these two grants do not cover the whole of your college expenses, your state government may have its own awards. For example, Nebraska has its Nebraska Opportunity Grant, which it awards to residents studying in local colleges as long as they have qualified for the Pell Grant. Many other states have similar grants for their residents. Any outstanding amount remaining can easily be borrowed from the government-subsidized Stafford student loan.

If you are a single mother, you can get even more college grants for single parents from women’s charities. Women are still considered to be disadvantaged in both college and the economy, and quite a number of organizations continue to provide financial assistance to help them get their undergraduate education. Among those which focus on helping mothers are the Philanthropic Educational Organization and the Jeannette Rankin Women’s Foundation. Of course, these are just two out of many. The others are not exactly difficult to find, you just need to spend enough time looking for them.

But let’s say you are a single father and for various reasons you still need more money to cover your tuition fees. Maybe the government (i.e. FAFSA) decided that you are not in enough financial need (for example, you may be a door-to-door salesman and your travel expenses gets counted as part of your income) to give you more money for your Bachelors degree. What can you do?

In such a situation, looking for other needs-based scholarships is probably a waste of time. You may have to consider going into teaching or nursing. The good point about these two fields is that they have a persistent shortage of local staff, which means you have a job waiting for you once you graduate. Not only that, but these are both considered critical fields and there are federal and state-level education grants available. The federal TEACH grant is offered by the US Department of Education, and the state grants by their corresponding state Departments of Education. The federal Nursing Scholarship Program is offered by the Health Resources and Services Administration and the state scholarships would likely be awarded by the corresponding state-level Health Boards.

Looking for free grants for single parents to go to school is not exactly difficult. Once you know that the free money exists, and if you are willing to be flexible in your future career choice, finding all these scholarships is just a matter of keeping your eyes and ears open (as well as effort).

Author: Katherin T.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Finding Single Parent College Grants and Scholarships

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Those who have the responsibility of raising their children on their own have very busy lives and because of this they often find it difficult to go back to school. Not to mention that the costs of raising children is so expensive that it can be impossible to afford an education. According to Raise the Nation, roughly 38% of all single mothers live in poverty, making returning to school an impossible feat. However, having a bachelor’s degree gives them a much greater chance of doing better in life. There are many single parent college grants and scholarships that can make the dream of returning to school a reality.

If you find yourself wanting to return to school, but know you can’t afford it, then it is time to start doing a little research to see if you qualify for any of the many single parent college grants and scholarships which have been designed to help people just like you go back to school. This is the best way to secure a financially sound future for you and your children and you will be setting an excellent example for them as well. The following are a few of the better college grants for single parents that you may want to apply for.

One of the better known college grants for single parents is The Jeanette Rankin Foundation Scholarship Program which was founded in 1978. Since then it has helped over 500 women go back to school by providing them with much needed scholarship funds. If you are interested in applying for this opportunity, forms are available between November and February of each year. Although the fund is targeted to single women who are at least 35 years of age, many single parents fit this criteria.

The Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund is an excellent place to start if you happen to live in the state of Arkansas. Most counties in the state participate in this program and it is one of the better single parent college grants available if you qualify.

Another foundation that offers grants for single parents is Patsy Takemoto Mink Education Foundation for Low-Income Women and Children which was formed in 2003. The organization specializes in providing access to education, support, and opportunities for women, especially mothers, who come from low income households.

The R.O.S.E. scholarship is another route to take that was established for women who come from a background of domestic abuse to help them improve their lives. This fund is provided mostly to women who live in the New England area of the United States and to qualify you typically must have completed at least one year of undergraduate studies already. These are just a few examples of the many single parent college grants available that can help you realize your dream of getting your degree.

Author: Pieter West
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Single Parent College Grants – Fake Or Fiction?

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Yes, there are scholarships and college grants for single parents available but you will have to dig down to find some of these opportunities.   If you have ever wanted to know more about single parent college grants then this article will help clear up some of the mystery.

COLLEGE GRANTS FOR SINGLE PARENTS ARE REALLY AVAILABLE

To tell the truth, you will not find any grants that is actually entitled, “Single Parent College Grants”. But what you will find is an interwoven network of grants and financial aid packages that are targeted towards certain groups of students. And of course a good number of these packages will overlap to cover the needs of many parents that are single.

The first step any parent wanting to return school, needs to do is to apply for a Pell Grant. Pell grants are completely needs based and don’t have to be repaid. Since 1965 the Pell program has been the top choice for many single parent college grants. 

Designed for financially troubled and low-income college students, this type of grant for single parents will not only help pay for tuition and books, but also some basic living expenses.

Since these grants are based on your income, you must provide the college a very detailed statement of your current finances and proof of your being a head of household. These single parent college grants not only cover single mothers, but any adult parent who has been divorced, abandoned or left as a sole parent by the disability, death or imprisonment of the other parent.

You must fill out a fairly standard form called the FAFSA or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. All colleges and universities use this same form, so if you can use if to apply for more than one college grant for parents at different schools if you need to.

Once you have applied and been awarded a Pell Grant, the world of scholarships and single parent college grants, is wide open for you. Almost all private and public college grant organizations use the FAFSA and the Pell Grant as the first stepping stone to giving way other college grants for single parents.

There are other “needs-based” grants such as the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG). While not designed especially as a parent college grant, the FSEOG is made to help students with exceptional financial needs.

But because this grant is awarded to the applicant with the lowest expected family contributions, it is quite often given to a single parent as a college grant. EFC (expected family contributions) are the amount of money that a family can afford to put in towards a parent’s education. And like a Pell grant, this program doesn’t have to be paid back.  Now that you know the truth about single parent college grants, you will in a better position to learn more about these excellent ways to pay for a college education.

Author: Pieter West
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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College Grants For Single Parents

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College grants for single parents do exists and you can get one if you know how. These days with a terrible economy if full swing, it’s hard for people to afford college. Hardest hit are single parents who are raising a family on a single income. Fortunately it is possible for single parents to actually go to college because of the single parent financial assistance that’s available for people who need it.

Now what exactly are college grants for single parents? These are special grants given out to parents who are raising children alone. It’s tough enough just to raise children as a single parent, but to pay for college is impossible for many parents who don’t have high income jobs.

While you will have to sacrifice a lot of time as a single parent going to college, various grant programs will help with the financial aspect of college.

The first thing you need to do if you want to pay for college is look at what sort of free funding is available. There are several ways to pay for college: loans, grants, and scholarships. Usually, you may have to have a combination of these different funding sources.

Now, in regards to grants and scholarships, there are plenty of these out there. The problem is how to find them. The best away is to start looking online. There are special websites that do list different grant programs that you can apply for. You want to find these sites and see what sort of college single parent grant programs are available and then apply for them.

Author: Tim Jamson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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