(RepublicanView.org) – College education is expensive. While it’s hard to put a price tag on your success and upward mobility, the rising costs of education are impossible to ignore. If you hope to embark on a high-paying career in most industries, you’ll need a college degree to get your foot in the door. If you have limited means or are from a low-income family, college can feel like a major barrier to success due to the excessive costs and predatory loans associated with higher education.
Fortunately, there is another way: federal grants. You can find money for college using a site called Grants.gov, which is a centralized location for grant information.
Details About Grants.Gov
If you’re looking for more information about how and where to apply for grants for college, Grants.gov is the place to go. This is one central location — and it’s searchable — helping you or your student/child locate grants that fit their needs. Grants listed here can be based on a student’s abilities, demographics, goals, field of study, or other situation, and the search methods are simple.
What will will you find on Grants.gov? Opportunities that you might miss were you only looking elsewhere. Additionally, this site isn’t limited to grant opportunities for freshman undergraduates, but for students in all years. In short, grants at Grants.gov suit many purposes and types, and you should never count them out when searching for ways to pay for college, no matter what your situation.
Find Grants for Higher Education on Grants.Gov: How to Navigate and Search
- To find a grant opportunity that might work for your situation:
- Head to the Grants.gov homepage, then click the tab that links to “Search Grants.”
- Once you’re on the Search Grants page, you’ll see a search box appear in the top right corner. The default keyword there is “education.”
- Look at the listings to search for grants applicable to your situation, possibly available via a specific university or college.
Prior to searching, consider writing down a list of search options that could help you. For example: first-generation college student, Black student, woman student, or the name of a specific academic institution.
What Types of Student Grants May You Qualify For?
After completing your search, you should know about these other ways to qualify for grants. Regardless of situation, all students should try these — even those who are financially privileged. However, those in need will find more opportunities for grants specifically reserved for them.
Conventional government education grants are available via Studentaid.gov. These have more stringent requirements than some of the grants you’ll find on Grants.gov, but if you qualify, you should take advantage of these grants. After all, grants are not required to be repaid like loans are, and taking them can help you avoid predatory loans.
As long as the borrowing student meets and maintains all requirements as stated, students can qualify for aid that requires no repayment. The main types are:
- Pell Grants: Pell grants are dependent upon the family’s ability to contribute to a student’s education and they are quite common.
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FESOG): These are grants that are distributed from schools to the students with the greatest needs.
- Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grants: If the student is enrolled in a program eligible for TEACH Grants, and they maintain a certain grade point average (GPA), they may apply for this grant.
Even if you don’t qualify for these common types of grants, there’s likely one or more opportunities for you over at Grants.gov. No student should hand over tuition money or borrow student loans without checking Grants.gov first.
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