Because the cost of a college education is so expensive, most students usually apply any cash grants or scholarships that they receive directly toward the balance that they owe their university for their education. However, there are other education related expenses that you can spend your cash grant on. While buying groceries for your dorm room with your grant money may seem frivolous, this is still considered an education related expense. A student has to eat. There are some students who use their grant money to wholly pay all of their living expenses so they can concentrate on their studies. There is nothing wrong with this.
The cash grants that a college student receives are generally based upon a student’s financial need. Your financial need is determined by the U.S. Department of Education according to the answers you provide on your FAFSA application. However, a college student may be able to receive grants based upon their ethnicity. There is a marked preference for minority students who apply for federal grants. While this may not always seem fair, minorities are vastly underrepresented in colleges, and the government wants to do all it can to encourage minorities to attend college.
Many times a college student will be required to write a proposal to accompany their application for cash grants. This proposal is a document that clearly explains to the grant providers how you intend to spend their money. Clear, concise language and an absence of grammatical errors are highly important to your proposal. The proposal allows a grant provider to get to know you on a personal level. In your proposal, you should be completely honest about how you intend to use the money. If you fail to meet the academic requirements of your university, you may be required by the grant provider to pay the monetary value of the grant back.
There is absolutely no limit to how many cash grants a college student can apply for. Cash grants can range anywhere from $500 to $50,000 based upon the college student’s needs. The easiest way to begin to research grant providers is to go online. There are many specialized search engines that will make your journey to find grant providers much easier. Grant money is usually dispersed very quickly because there are many college students who have financial needs. Be careful not to miss out and get started early.
