9 Different Types of Scholarships You Could Apply to, If You Want to Go Back to School

Planning to go back to school and continue your education but don’t have sufficient funding? Don’t despair, you could try to get scholarships. Do you know there are about nine different types of scholarships you could apply to? Find out here!!!

If you plan to continue your education, you’ll know that the tuition fees and living costs will be expensive. Should you choose to do it abroad or in another city, it could cost you a fortune.

Especially, when you are an adult student going back to school as a non-traditional student or student parent. You might even need to use the family savings. Something that you definitely prefer not to do.

Lucky for you, you could apply for scholarships, which will provide the essential financial support needed by so many students.

Continuing your education required a good financial situation, which unfortunately not every one of us has. Scholarships can be a great solution to finance our studies.

9 Different Types of Scholarships You Could Apply to, If You Want to Go Back to School

Other than scholarships, students can also apply for Grants, Bursaries, and Loans. According to the Cambridge dictionary, a scholarship is “an amount of money given by a school, college, university, or other organization to pay for the studies of a person with great ability but little money.

Or a grant or payment made to support a student’s education, awarded on the basis of academic or other achievements, according to Oxford Languages.

Grants, as well as bursaries, are quite similar to scholarships since both are types of gift aid. Gift aid is money given to students to finance their studies that do not need to be repaid.

The difference is, Grants and bursaries tend to be based on financial needs, while scholarships tend to be based on merit. But you will often find the terms scholarship, grant and bursary used interchangeably and in principle, they are the same thing – money that is given to you that you do not need to pay back.

Another way to finance your study is by applying for loans. There are several types of loans, such as Federal Student Loans and Private Student Loans. The difference is that students, need to repay the amount of the loan upon graduation.

In this post, we are going to focus on scholarships and the types of scholarships available out there that you could apply to finance your education.

Each scholarship will have its own requirements. Some scholarships are more flexible, meaning that anyone who can meet their requirements could apply.

Some are targeted to more specific types of students. The more criteria you could fulfill, the bigger the chance for you to win a scholarship. Before you apply for one, check if you are eligible, to increase your chances of winning.

Without further ado, below are the types of scholarships available to continue your education and to study abroad :

1. Academic/Merit-Based Scholarships

This type of scholarship is given to students with excellent academic results, regardless of whether they financially need it or not.

The universities granted these scholarships to invite and lure excellent students to join their schools. Their academic excellence could improve the average academic statistics of the university which can help increase the university’s rankings and the reputation of the school.

In the long run, they hope that these top students will go out to the real world and do excellent things in their fields, making the university looks good as in birthing great minds that contribute plenty to society (and hopefully making financial such as donation and funding and/or time commitments to university in the future)

2. Other Merit / Recruitment Scholarships

Plenty of universities give scholarships to students with exceptional talents in athletics, arts, research, community service, and so on. Recruitment scholarships for Athletic Excellence are especially popular in the USA.

To receive this type of financial aid, you need to showcase your skills. This might involve impressing scouts, showing research skills beyond your age, or creating a work of art that could easily impress critics.

For the university, having students who are excellent in these areas can bring free, positive publicity to a university and increase school spirit and the school’s reputation.

Universities that play competitive sports could make money on TV deals, and sports merchandise, and often get increased application rates to the university, as their reputation grows in a positive direction.

Pretty much like academic scholarships, in the long run, the university hopes that the future successes of these alumni will lead to more positive associations with the university and possible financial and/or other returns to the university in the future, given by the scholarship recipients.

But this kind of scholarship is usually granted to undergraduate students, between 17-24 years old and is more common in the USA, while in other regions such as Europe and Asia, sports scholarships are still quite rare.

3. Financial Aid (Need-Based) Scholarships

This type of scholarship is aim to help students with lower income, by supporting students who want to study but cannot afford to pay the full tuition fees or living costs.

Usually, the applicants need to submit some proof regarding their low financial income, such as a bank statement along with other necessary documents, to determine whether or not they should be given a need-based scholarship.

Universities and other organizations could make an excellent long-term investment with need-based scholarships because the receiver of this type of scholarship, in the future, will often give back to their community and try to help others who face the same financial struggles as they had.

4. Government Scholarships

Universities, corporations, and philanthropic organizations are not the only sources of college scholarships. In many countries, the government provides scholarships for its citizen to continue their study.

In the US, for example, according to scholarships.com, many college students who have unmet financial needs are eligible to receive Federal Pell Grants, which do not have to be repaid.

Pell eligibility is based on a number of factors, and can only be determined after students have completed their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms for education financial aid.

Plenty of governments in various countries also send and finance their best students to study at the world’s best universities. In return, they will come back home and contribute to the development of their country, using the skills and knowledge they gained from studying abroad.

Check what kind of scholarships are offered by your government, what are the requirements, and see if you are eligible to apply. Note that most likely you’ll have to sign a contract, which states that you need to return to your home country upon graduation for several years and contribute to your society.

If you don’t, perhaps there might be a penalty for you. You’ll then have to repay your government a certain amount declared by them for breaking your contract.

So, if you plan to stay in your host country and try to look for a job after graduation, then a government scholarship is not a good fit for you unless there are no obligations to return to your home country after completing your study.

5. Student-Specific Scholarships

These types of scholarships are offered to students of a specific category, gender, class, race, medical ability, et cetera.

It can also be offered to students from under-represented groups such as scholarships for women, single moms, Hispanic and African-American students, and so on.

The goal of this aid is to support and encourage individuals from underrepresented groups to pursue education without worrying about the costs.

If you fall into the category of one of them, don’t hesitate to apply. The narrower the criteria, the fewer people eligible to apply, and the bigger chance you could have to actually win it.

6. Subject-Specific Scholarships

Subject-specific scholarships are designed for students with educational and career interests in a specific field and planning to pursue a specific subject or field of study.

Other than being offered by colleges/universities or other academic institutions, they may also be funded by federal or state governments, corporations, or private institutions.

If you are interested in applying for this type of scholarship, do your research. Nowadays, you can find scholarships dedicated to nearly every field of study.

Who knows, if you receive a scholarship for a specific type of study funded by a corporation or private institution, you could get a chance to work for that corporation after completing your study.

7. International Scholarships

Many countries offer scholarships for international students to study in their country, such as The United Kingdom, for example, to attract the best talents from all over the globe to study at their finest universities.

Some private institutions or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) could also give away scholarships because they simply want to contribute to higher education by allowing international students to apply for their scholarships.

These types of scholarships are usually offered for studying higher education such as Graduate School (Master’s) and Post Graduate Study (Ph.D.).

But bear in mind that it will be highly competitive as the applicants have to compete with other future students from all around the globe, especially when the scholarships offer the chance to study in top-ranking universities, and are located in countries that are popular study-abroad destinations.

But don’t be discouraged. If you think you have what it takes to get the scholarship, then prepare yourself and apply!

8. Region-Specific Scholarships

This type of scholarship limits their applicants to specific regions, meaning, that only applicant who resides in those regions mentioned in the requirements could apply, e.g., scholarships for African Students, Asian Students, and so on.

Or it can also refer to the grouping of the scholarships offered. For example:

o Scholarships to study in Asia

o Scholarships to study in Europe

o Scholarships to study in Europe’s Nordic countries

o Scholarships to study in Latin America

o Scholarships to study in the Middle East

If you are interested to study in a specific region, this grouping will make it easier for you to search for scholarships in the region of your study-abroad destination.

10 Things You Need to Check, Before Choosing an Online College

Back to School Research Workbook

Use this printable workbook to record your Back to School Research. Don’t make all that Campus Visits, Virtual Tours, Webinars, and Q&A with the school’s admission personnel go to waste !! Write down the information you have collected in this workbook.

Study them later carefully to help you weigh in the pros and cons of each university and decide the best place for you to continue your study.

Yes, I Need It!

9. Country-Specific Scholarships

Just like the region-specific scholarships, this type of scholarship limits its application to specific countries. Only applicants who are citizens of the specific countries mentioned in the requirements can apply.

Usually, these types of scholarships are given to students from developing countries, but that’s not always the case.

The universities/ private organizations/government or any parties that give the scholarships will specify the list of the countries whose citizens are eligible to apply.

Check if your country is included. Most likely your chances to win the scholarships could be bigger since you will have to compete only with applicants from several (dozens) other countries instead of from all over the globe.

Over to You…

Just because you are not in a good financial position to be able to continue your study, it doesn’t mean that you have to give up on your dream of going back to school.

There’s always the option of having funding for your education such as applying for scholarships.

Although, not all scholarships are completely free. It is still a good way to finance your education since it will cover most of your study expenses.

There are many types of scholarships out there, check them out then decide which ones you are most eligible to apply for.

The types of scholarships you could possibly apply to are Academic Merit-Based Scholarships, Other Merit / Recruitment Scholarships, Financial Aid (Need-Based) Scholarships, Government Scholarships, student-specific Scholarship, Subject-Specific Scholarships, International Scholarships, Region Specific Scholarships, and Country Specific Scholarships.

Finally, please remember that a scholarship isn’t going to land in your lap. If you want to get the most amount of scholarship money for studying, especially if you want to study abroad, it is up to you to take the initiative.

Research your options and apply for all the scholarships you are eligible for. Most importantly, start early! The earlier you start searching for a scholarship, the more time you will have to prepare your application and ensure you meet all eligibility requirements.

Prepare yourself using this Application Timeline, which will give you a comprehensive guide about applying to universities and scholarships timeline, as well as a study timeline for your GMAT/GRE, and IELTS/TOEFL tests preparations.

That’s it for now. Were you thinking about going back to school? Which scholarships you might be eligible to apply to? Do you have any questions? Leave your comment down below, I’d like to hear from you

Pin this for later and share them on social media. Spread this info, hopefully, it could reach some scholarship hunters out there, thanks so much, and till next time!!!