Posts Tagged ‘Get Through High School with the Help of a Government Grant’
Get Through High School with the Help of a Government Grant
In today’s fast-paced and eagerly competitive world, not having an education is career suicide. College graduates make anywhere from 40% to 200% more than those that have only graduated from High School. This means that getting an education is a given when seeking a more lucrative and successful career.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest hindrances to this rise to success is the fact that education costs money. And not everyone has enough for their daily bread and milk – much less high school or college tuition. While going to a public high school can definitely keep the costs low, there are those that seek to obtain better education or even support for their public high school education through grants.
Fortunately, the government also puts a premium on education and has earmarked a good amount of the federal budget towards helping qualified students obtain financing for their studies through grants. Educational grants are a great way to help alleviate some of the financial burden an education can sometimes bring.
Government Grants
Government grants are made available every year with the Annual Federal Budget. This allocates a good deal of money for various government agencies to forward projects and grants. This budget should be used to forward the welfare of those covered by each agency. The projects may be forwarded by various entities: agencies, cities, states, and even the President himself. However, ultimately, it is Congress that gets say on which projects to push through with.
The great thing about grants is that they are non-taxable, and you do not have to pay for them at all! (There are some programs that will require some sort of payment, but as a general rule federal grants come without strings attached.) In all, there are an estimated 1,500 government programs aimed at helping qualified students afford an education.
Grant projects become available to the agencies once the budget is made available to them. Various grants will then be offered to those that qualify for certain projects. These grants will become available on the CFDA, or the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. This would be a good place to look up a grant that fits your qualification.
There are various grants aimed at helping students get through both high school and college – there are even grants that will get you through graduate programs. There are too many grants to list here, but suffice it to say that there are grants to deal with homeless veterans, continuing education programs, home building grants, and grants that help veterans with their jobs such as job training grants.
Finding a Grant
There are a lot of ways through which you can find grants for your educational needs. The best thing to do, first of all, would be log on to http://www.cfda.gov to find a comprehensive and complete listing of these grants. Look specifically for grants that pertain to your profile. And take note of other similar grants.
Aside from government grants there are tens of thousands of other educational grants offered by each state, by private foundations, and other non-profit organizations. A good way to find these grants would be to consult with some local education officials or to log on to the internet, which should help you find a matching organization for your need.
Next you will have to make sure you qualify for the grant you have chosen. The basic qualifications for a person to avail of these grants is that he or she must be a legal citizen of the United States and should also belong to a household that pays taxes. There may be slight alterations to this basic requirement, but that should be the general rule.
You should then apply for a FAFSA, or the Free Application for Student Financial Aid. This application will make your eligible for a Pell Grant. The amount this grant offers depends on your current financial situation, your dependents, and other considerations. No matter what amount this grant offers, it should not be taken in stride since every single dollar going towards your education should be worth it.
Getting the grant. Grants are easy to file, yet hard to win. You will need to learn how to produce a convincing, honest, and thorough grant document. The race here is very competitive since there are many that file for these grants and only a few do get their applications approved. Make sure you study the grant specification properly and make sure you are truly qualified for the grant.
No CommentsGrants to Help the Single Female Parent
Being a single mom these days can be so tedious, generally statistics say that single moms are one of the most disadvantaged parties in the United States.
Believe it or not, single female parents:
* are rarely awarded spousal support, in it only occurs in 15% of divorce cases.
* who are actually awarded spousal support doesn’t get the support anyway. Statistics say that only 36% of the 15% of total women awarded with spousal support actually get this support.
* who are given spousal support rarely getting the whole amount; it’s usually less than half actually.
* suffer from a fall in their standard of living, after divorce, while a male’s standard of living actually increases by 15%.
And because of the recurring social stature of women, most single female parents are those that used to be homemakers, meaning they are jobless and have no experience as a worker whatsoever. This is a problem because they are dependent on their husbands for income, and once that income goes away, they are left with nothing.
There is one way to recover from such a blow, some women already have a start on tertiary education, and only need the money to finish it. Fortunately, the government offers various grants that target single moms who want to finish their education.
What is a grant?
A grant is usually a form of financial support that the federal government offers to certain eligible people. The government offers over 900 grants and out of these nine hundred there are a few grants targeted towards single mothers. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) has a complete list of all the grants that may be applied for and this can be found at their website at www.cfda.gov.
If you’re one of the mothers who want to pursue higher education, it is best however to go to the financial aid office of your respective college or university. Usually, grants, especially scholarship funds have faculty representatives for each school who can assist students who are applying for grants.
Who is eligible for a grant?
Usually grants awarded by the US government are only for U.S. citizens. Aside from those criteria, each grant has its own set of eligibility rules. Some only cater to undergraduates, some only to juniors or sophomores, some only for Native Americans some only for Alaskans, and yet another some that target the course rather than the origin of the applicant. For example, there are a lot of grants that offer scholarships for outstanding students who are studying the sciences or tribal politics of Native Americans.
Why apply for a grant?
As a single female parent, furthering your education is one of the sure fire ways to find a living where you can earn more than minimum wage, sure minimum wage is ok if you’re single but if you have a child or children, it’ll be a lot harder to find time both for work and for childcare.
How to prepare for a grant application
1. Get the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance from the financial aid office of your college or university. You can also get the list from www.cfda.gov.
2. Study the grants that are applicable to you, not just the eligibility but also the application process and the purpose of the grant as well as the Government department giving it.
3. Ask yourself where are you going to apply? Does your application have to go through the school, does it have to go through the local government or can you send it directly?
4. These projects usually have assessment pages where they show previously or currently funded individuals or institutions, study these to find out your chances of getting the grant.
5. Know what types of paperwork are required note down everything you already have and everything that you still have to get.
6. Call the contact persons and ask to get an application kit.
7. After filling the kit don’t forget to include your grant proposal; most of the judgment is based on this piece of writing. It’ll help a lot if you attend or at least have read previous grant proposals.
8. Make sure to have the application in before the deadline.