Web-Sweepstakes

Note, if you are looking for a quick and easy scholarship to apply for that’s not GPA based, we recommend looking at the web sweepstake giveaway Scholarship 4 Working Adults. But this is certainly not the ONLY scholarship out there. In fact, there are literally thousands of different scholarships you can round up. However, you’ll likely be limited to a handful, based on your area of study and your GPA. It’s worth spending the time apply for scholarships, however, as you can really reduce your dependency on student loans.

One question I get asked quite often by students is “What’s the difference between scholarships and grants?”

Grants

• Based on financial need not merit
• Federal grants, institutional grants, and private grants
• Non repayable
• Available for wide range of interests such as business, education, and community

Scholarships

• Merit based
• Comes from institutions (colleges), businesses, or organizations
• Non repayable
• Varying repayment benefits
• Almost always educational in nature

Grants for Single Mothers

Grants are gifts of goods, services or cash that you will never have to worry about paying back. In some cases these grants are even tax-free. The United States government has 26 different grant making agencies and there are thousands of organizations across the country that offer even more opportunities. Here is a list of a few of the most popular ones. Mind you the application process is usually a long one and though nothing comes with a guarantee of approval as a single mother you are do fit into several of the prime categories for recipients of these grants.

Pell Grant: The Pell grant is given for education al pursuits. The application is free and available from any educational institution. This includes online schools as well as the local Jr. College. Filing a Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application is the first step to getting any other federal grants for education. You must first qualify for this one and after that the others are a little easier to qualify for. The grant is based on need and the offering is between $400.00 and $5,350 for eligible recipients. Filing for the FHFSA should be done as soon as the New Year is in as possible for the fall term.

ACG the Academic Competitive Grant: The ACG is available to college students during the freshmen and sophomore year. The grant is awarded based on merit to students who have performed at certain GPA levels in high school. The freshman gets $750.00 and in the sophomore year is awarded $1300.00. This is one of those that you must have already been approved for the Pell grant to receive.

The Federal Student Education Opportunity Grant: This grant, commonly referred to as the FSEOG is also awarded based on the needs of the applicant. The grant is designed for students with the greatest needs and can range from $100.00 to $4000.00. It to can be applied for at the same time as the FAFSA grant.

State Grants: The problem with this type of article is that it is would take hundreds of pages to cover all of the states and the grants that they offer. There are a few websites online that do offer state grant searches. You can also just do a google search for your state’s grant funding — if any. For example,  New York State Residents can get up to $5000.00 through a program called (TAP) Tuition Assistance Program. The state of Kansas awards from $100.00-$1100 to eligible residents through the Kansas Comprehensive Grants program. New Mexico Student Incentive Grant awards $200.00 and $2500 every year to residents.

Many private organizations both locally and state wide offer grant programs the Admissions Financial aids offices at the school you are planning to attend should have a listing of who these area and how to apply. A lot of employers offer tuition reimbursement programs you can investigate this possibility by talking to a human resource worker at your place of employment.

Scholarships

Scholarships are almost always based on your academic performance. They also change quite often. The best way of getting a scholarship is visit your local college financial aid office. You should be able to obtain an up-to-date list of various scholarship programs that you can apply for. The requirements for each scholarship will vary. You might find scholarships that contain extra requirements besides grades. For example, you may find scholarships offered to minority  groups, gender (single mom scholarships, for example), religion, etc.

Web-based Sweepstake Scholarships: There are also a variety of sweepstake scholarships you can apply for.   You simply fill out a 5 minute form and get entered into a monthly draw for $10,000. The money, if you win, can be used for any educational expenses you might have.  I’ve compiled a list of 6 different web scholarships you can apply for:

1. Scholarship 4 Working Adults
2. 10k Scholarship for Moms
3. $10k Scholarship Zone
4. $10k Scholarship for Dads
5. 10k Scholarship for School
   

General Scholarships: You can find various scholarships online to apply for. As stated, this might be given on the basis of gender, religion, school year you are in (upper or lower level studies), subject field (biology, law, computer science scholarships, etc), and so on.

How do you find any of these? You might find a general scholarship search site such as Scholarships.com helpful. Personally, my favorite way to find and apply for scholarships is through the federal student website scholarship search here: http://studentaid2.ed.gov/getmoney/scholarship/v3browse.asp

Financial Aid and Child Care

One of the reasons a lot of single mothers give for not working or going back to school is lack of childcare. The government has heard of this need and they have a few programs that can help you finance the high cost of childcare as well as the other programs for financial aid. In our society today a lot of Single Mothers are unfortunately teens who have not even finished their high school education. There are a some Federal, State and Local programs that are designed to help all Single mothers pursue their education or return to the workforce.

Your local Aid to Families with Dependent Children can assist you with your childcare needs. The following website will also point you to agencies in your area that offer childcare assistance http://www.childcare.gov/.  You will find various links on this site to all types of information including how to start your on business. This blog is one of the best online resources for finding childcare: http://www.whattoexpect.com/forums/single-moms/topic/child-care-assistance

There are some websites that will offer you free stuff if you are a mother. FamilyPlanning.com is one such. If you sign up for their free membership, you have access to free baby stuff, grocery coupons, and parenting articles — quite useful.

Here you can find moms just like you who are searching for the same information and the ones who find great information are more than willing to share it. It doesn’t matter what state you live in you just say where you are and what you are seeking and chances are great someone has been there, done that and can offer you valuable insight into not only where to go but the process involved as well. Another such web site is http://www.singlemothergrants.net/government-daycare-assistance-for-single-moms.html

This site offers links to other sites that offer grants for single mothers for education and childcare. President Barack Obama has set aside monies to help Single mothers interested in going to college to actually do so and have the childcare necessary so that they can study without stress. You can apply for this program if you live in the State of Georgia at www.compass.ga.gov. The site takes you step by step through the process including eligibility assessment. Sure getting back to the work or school will take a lot of time and effort on your part. There is help available to those willing to seek it out and put in the time. You have to be willing to do whatever is necessary to get the education that will make your future a brighter place.

All states have a form of the Aid for families program in the state of Florida you may apply for most assistance programs online by clicking on this link http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/ess/tanf.shtml. for other states it as easy as Googling a keyword search for Depart of children and families include your state name and you will be directed to the pages.

Employment While at School

It is important to realize that the economic crisis this country is now in does not leave much room for optimism on the employment front. The lines at Job Fairs and the employment offices are getting longer as days go by. There are thousands of qualified candidates for every one job opening announced. Even college graduates are not finding employment hard to find.

Freelancing

Freelance writing and other jobs are open for bidding on several websites. RealWritingJobs.com,oDesk, GoFreelance.com and other similar websites offer you the flexibility to set your own hours and stay home with your precious little ones. You can sign up on these sites and immediately begin bidding on work projects. Most of the work revolves around article writing. That is, you write content for web masters or companies who need that content for their we sites. You don’t have to be an amazing writer, but simply competent and fluent at English — if you are a college or university student (or have even only graduated from high school), you should have no problems doing the work.

Survey Filling

This is another job that’s cropped up the past couple years. It’s not a glorious job — you spend your time filling out surveys for companies that will pay you per each filled out — but it can bring in some part time income to help pay for school.

Web Design

It’s possible to learn how to become a web designer. This is not just some skill you pick up on the weekend, however. If you are willing to self learn or even take a web-based course for a few months, you can make a part time income as a web designer. And you can work from home.

There are also more than just writing gigs available. You may find work in a variety fields such as writing, programming, web design, blog posting, advertising, marketing and many many more.

You can also sign up for online employment agencies such as  and jobs.com, hotjobs.com to name a few. It may also be worth the effort to apply with local “Temporary Employment” agencies. A lot of companies are doing their hiring through temp agencies now a days. This way they get to “test drive” the potential employee before investing in them. Temporary jobs are an excellent source of income and most often lead to full time employment for the right candidates. Agencies like Manpower, Adecco, Kelly services and others are listed online and in the Yellow Pages of your local telephone books. If you want even more information about scholarships for single moms, grants, and financial help, consider looking at singlemotherassistance.net.

The critics that say day care is a lifeline for lazy parents are totally wrong. Day care offers your child a fun environment to grow up in and they will also have the chance to learn things at a very early stage in their mental development. Your child will also benefit from the fact that they will be around other children of a similar age, which will provide them with a unique interacting experience that you as a single mother will not be able to give them.

This article will focus on day care for single mothers and look at some of the benefits and help you can get as a single mother. It is important to remember that the best day care programs do not come on the cheap, but do not be put off by this, there are many bodies who can help you financially to cover a number of areas.

For single mothers on a very low income there are grants available that will allow you to pay for day care. The government will commission these based on proof of income and circumstance. Some will even be offered on the condition that you are employed and earning money while your child is having fun and learning in the earliest stages.

This should excite you and make you want to develop your independence all over again. Day care can give you the chance to study or revitalise any career aspirations that you may have once had. You do not have to worry about who you are leaving your children with either because the government makes sure that the people working at day care facilities are thoroughly checked out before they are employed to make sure they do not have a dark or worrying criminal background or history.

You should talk to a social worker about something called the Head Start Program. This is a day care option that will allow your child to interact and learn before they go onto the first stages of school. It will often cost more because of the extra services but the benefits of learning at an early age have been proven to lead to later success.

Daycare help for single mothers is designed to make your job as a single mother a lot easier. The common worry for single mothers will be leaving the child alone for a long time, away from the environment that up until now you have let the child develop in.

College aid for single mothers is required to create educational opportunities and provide funding for single moms. Assistance for single mothers is available through federal and state funding bodies as well as direct financial assistance form a college or university.  With over $91 billion a year granted by the US Department of Education, it is an easy task to find financial assistance for single moms.

The US Department of Education reports that over $91 billion dollars in financial aid is granted every year to over 15 million students, including financial aid for single mothers. Seventy-five percent of undergraduate students receive financial aid, and fifty percent of graduate students receive grants for their post-secondary education from Federal grants. Ninety-one percent of undergraduate students earning less than $32,000 a year receive federal grants. With these numbers it is easy to see that if you are persistent you will also be able to access college aid for single mothers.

Most Federal higher education grants can be accessed by using the FAFSA form, which is the application system for this type of financial aid. You can also consult a financial aid advisor or a student financial consultant for single moms to get pertinent advice for your situation. One such option is at the John Hopkins University which has over 40 consultants and processes over $65 million dollars in financial aid.

There are many other grants provided by the government as financial aid for single moms such as the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grant, the Federal Pell Grant, the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG),  the Academic Competitiveness Grant and institutional grants. For loans you can also contact Stafford Loans (FFELs and Direct Loans).

There are also non-profit private organizations whose sole purpose is to help people advance their education and get better jobs. Each state has many such institutions with similar general guidelines but some do have more specific criteria therefore it would be wise to check beforehand with each organization to establish whether or not you qualify. If you do not, you can still place a call as they may be able to guide you to an organization better suited to your particular circumstances. Such agencies are founded especially to help people so don’t worry about calling up as these are wonderful people who have dedicated themselves to helping others.

On the other hand, you should be wary because as a single mom it can be easy to fall for different scams, so you shouldn’t trust everyone. Try to keep a level head and work only with respected and accredited institutions. Colleges and universities are the best places to get advice and consultations. You should try and do your homework before going to any institution for help so that you are eligible for any programs they offer.

College aid for single mothers is available from many higher education institutions through programs that will help you decide the best course of action as well as providing funding to follow your dreams.

For today’s video, I’ve posted one that deals with finding college aid.