5 Tips to Prepare Your Application for Non-Traditional Student Grants

A non-traditional student is one who chooses to postpone college and higher education because of lack of resources or will. Later in their lives, if at any point in time, they wish to continue their education and expand their knowledge and chances to get better job opportunities, they might face a lot of competition.

In other cases, there are some students who had to leave their education mid-way due to lack of financial resources or family responsibilities.

Non-traditional students and returning students have the chance of continuing their education goals by applying for scholarships. A group of associates, universities and advocacy groups support non-traditional student grants.

Some examples of non-traditional student grants are

• American Legion Auxiliary Non-traditional Student Scholarship
•   Walmart Associate Scholarship  
• Association for Non-traditional Students in Higher Education  
•   Osher Reentry Scholarship Program
•   Adult Students in Scholastic Transition Scholarship

If you are a non-traditional student looking for non-traditional student grants, then there are a few tips that you might want to consider to prepare your application for the same.

1. KEEPING TRACK – Apply for scholarships more frequently and as early as possible. The fast and easy rule for applying for scholarships is that the earlier you apply for scholarships, the better. The process of reading your application and accepting it is long and slow. So, you have to keep calm and have patience. Keep applying for grants while you wait to hear back from the previous ones. Also, make sure that you keep a track of deadlines. It is always better to make a schedule and stick by it.
2. CATEGORIES – Do not limit yourself to one type of scholarship category. Apply in all scholarship categories that you qualify for and try your luck. Some scholarships are merit-based, athletic based or a combination of merit and extracurricular activities. Other scholarship categories are based on age, single parent or women scholarships.
3. RECOMMENDATION LETTERS – Letters of recommendation give an extra edge to your application. Make sure the letter of recommendation glorifies your student activities but not too much. Give a copy of your student activities to the person writing the letter for you so that he or she has an idea of what all to write about. A lousy recommendation letter will be a downfall for your application, so make sure you have proofread it before attaching.
4. SCHOLARSHIPS THAT REQUIRE ESSAY – Don’t forget to apply for grants that require essays. If you are strong and focused writer and you know how to play with words and win minds and hearts of the readers then, such scholarships are the best opportunity for you. You can always edit and reuse the same essay with multiple grant application forms. In this way, your hard work doesn’t go waste, and you save a lot of time on writing essays.
5. LOWER AWARD AMOUNTS – It is preferable that you apply for all scholarships and grants no matter how much award amount they offer. Lower award amount scholarships have less competition and your simple application will stand an equal chance of winning the grant. Since there is no limit to how many scholarships you can apply for, so if you win many small amount awards you will be in benefit.

Lastly, it is important to familiarize yourself with the financial aid you are applying to. Make sure it is not a scam. Here are some signs that your scholarship program is a scam:

• They are asking you to pay a small amount of money in the name of the application form or security etc. Scholarship and grants only offer money and not ask for them.
• They are asking for your personal information like your social security number.
• If they deny contacting you at any point of time or the application form doesn’t have any contact information of the sponsor.
• You are declared the winner even though you didn’t apply for that particular grant.