The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

According to the College Board, in 2014-15 students paid an average of $42,419 to attend one year at a private university and live on campus. Since most families can’t cover those kinds of expenses, students end up borrowing and are saddled with student loans they spend years repaying. Instead of borrowing, it’s worth the time to invest in searching out and applying for scholarships. Below of some key facts about scholarships courtesy of http://www.savingforcollege.com.

5 key facts:

1. Private scholarships make up a very small amount of the total awards. According to Fluid Review, in 2010-11 a total of $49 billion was awarded to eligible students, and 94% of these funds came from federal, state and local government sources. However, private scholarships gave the biggest average award amount per student ($8,366 compared to $4,755 for federal and $2,844 for state).

2. Over half of athletic scholarships awarded are designated to one of four sports. 53% of sports scholarship money is going students who excel at football, basketball, soccer and track and field.

3. American students are leaving money on the table. Each year there is around $100 million in unclaimed scholarships in the U.S., often because there aren›t enough qualified applicants.

4. Students need to be more careful. Scholarship scammers are out there! Each year, 350,000 applicants are cheated out of $5 million.

5. Your caffeine habit may win you money for college. That›s right. There are so many unusual scholarship opportunities out there, including the “Hit the Books Scholarship” sponsored by CoffeeForLess.com, where you could win up to $500 toward books and supplies for writing an essay that mentions your passion for coffee.