How to Search for Scholarships

The scholarship process may vary depending upon the type of scholarship for which you are applying. Examples of scholarship types include university or college, regional, national, and study abroad. Your strategies may also differ depending upon whether you are a high school senior, undergraduate, or graduate.

It is helpful to view the scholarship search as an ongoing process. Develop a continuous year-by-year calendar, and place a scholarship on the calendar noting the due date, requirements, etc. Review scholarship requirements and locate areas where you can strengthen your application, even if you missed the deadline for the current year. This will help to develop a strategy for scholarship application well in advance. If you do not have enough experience or a high enough GPA, use this as an opportunity to strategize on how to improve your competitiveness. Perhaps you cannot or do not wish to take the actions necessary for a particular scholarship or scholarships in general. That is okay—just be realistic and informed.

For a typical search, start with the university or college scholarships. There is no standard process within universities or colleges and it may require persistence to locate all the scholarships for which you qualify. At the University of Colorado Denver the scholarships are located on the Scholarship/Resource Office website.

University or college scholarships usually require an application that will be reviewed by an individual committee. In some schools, university scholarships can be completed on line. The University of Colorado Denver is working toward the goal of having a standard application process for all scholarships but each college has a separate process at this time.

The next place to look is for scholarships are local and regional scholarships. They can often be difficult to locate because they are organized by local groups and deadlines and scholarship chairpersons change often. Contact organizations with whom you or your family are affiliated. Monitor local newspapers and magazines. The Scholarship/Resource Office identifies regional scholarships on the scholarship lists.

The last place to look is for national scholarships. They are usually highly competitive and a student must be sure to meet at least the minimum requirements. These should be reserved for students who are highly qualified and have time to complete a more lengthy process. National scholarships can be located through various searches. It is suggested to have an email address just for scholarship searching because once you begin searching on many of the sites you will receive a lot of spam and scholarships unrelated to you. The Scholarship/Resource Office identifies many national scholarships on the scholarship lists and sites for additional research.

For information on study abroad scholarships please go to our Study Abroad website.

For assistance on Fulbright, Jack Kent Cook, Truman, Goldwater and Udall, and other national scholarships such as these, please contact the Scholarship/Resource Office.