2011-2012 Scholarship Essay Contest Announcement

Mensa Education and Research Foundation is offering scholarships for students enrolled in an accredited U.S. institution of post-secondary education for the fall semester of 2012. Awards range from $300 - $1000.

Please visit www.mensafoundation.org/scholarships to download an entry form for your area by zip code. Note: applicants need not be Mensa members to qualify. Scholarship deadline is January 15, 2011.

SMART Scholarship

SMART - The premier scholarship program supporting the education of America's future scientists and engineers. The Department of Defense is proud to offer scholarships and post-graduation career opportunities to our nation's research leaders of tomorrow.

SMART Scholars Receive:

• Generous Cash Award
• Full Tuition and Fees
• Health Insurance
• Book Allowance
• Summer Internships (multi-year participants)
• Career Opportunities

For more information and to apply to to http://smart.asee.org/
Direct all questions to smart@asee.org

Big Sun Scholarship

The BigSun Organization is proud to be able to continue to help young athletes succeed in their academic pursuits. We are offering an annual scholarship to a deserving student. All student athletes are eligible for this award, regardless of which sport they are participating in.

Deadline - June 22, 2012    
Amount of Award  - $500.00

The successful applicant will be a high school senior or be attending a post secondary institute and currently involved in some sport at that institution or in the community..

Please visit our website at http://www.bigsunathletics.com/ to learn how to apply.

Linda Lael Miller Scholarship

Educate a woman, and countless generations to come
will benefit from the investment

That is Linda Lael Miller’s philosophy and what inspired her to launch her Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women. Now, each year, Linda encourages women who want to improve their lot in life through education to apply for scholarships that she personally finances.

Linda’s scholarships are awarded annually to women who are 25 years or older, non-traditional students who have a difficult time finding scholarships for which they qualify. As in previous years, the scholarship funds may be used not only for tuition and books, but also for childcare, transportation and other expenses not covered by traditional scholarships.

Applications are being accepted for the 2012-2013 school year. You can find more information at http://www.lindalaelmiller.com/

The Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest 2012

The Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics is an annual competition that challenges college students in the U.S. to submit essays on the urgent ethical issues that confront us in today's complex world. Since 1989, this essay contest has encouraged students to write thought-provoking personal essays that raise questions, single out issues, and develop rational arguments for ethical action. Awards are granted up to $5,000. The deadline is December 5, 2011. For more information, including contest guidelines, please visit http://www.ethicsprize.org/

Science Scholarships, Internships, and Fellowships

UNCF/MERCK Science Initiative is an innovative approach that creates opportunities in the biological, chemical and engineering sciences for African American students throughout the country.

UNDERGRADUATE

• Scholarships up to $25,000
• Internships with stipends of more than $5,000
• Eligibility: College juniors, science or engineering majors, 3.3 GPA

GRADUATE

• Fellowships up to $53,5000
• Eligibility: Ph.D. or equivalent degree candidates engaged in dissertation research in the biological, chemical or engineering fields

Apply online at umsi.uncf.org by the deadline: December 1, 2011

Talbots Scholarship

In keeping with their tradition of serving the community, the Talbots Charitable Foundation is proud to offer the 2012 Talbots Scholarship Program for women pursuing a college degree later in life.

Since its inception in 1997, the program has awarded more than $1 million dollars in scholarships. This year, the Talbots Scholarship Foundation will award $200,000 in scholarships for the 2012 academic year, including seventeen $10,000 scholarships. It will also present the $30,000 Nancy Talbot Scholarship Award, named in honor of the founder of Talbots and granted to one extraordinary finalist who demonstrates courage, conviction and an insatiable entrepreneurial spirit.

The application deadline is January 3, 2012, but don't wait!!! Only the first 5,000 eligible applications submitted will be processed.

For more information and application details please visit www.talbots.com/scholarship

How to Pay Student Loans: Too much debt? Too little income? Find a game plan that works for you.

Article found at Kiplinger.com by Jane Bennett Clark, Senior Associate Editor

You got through college with straight A's, but now you face your first big test as a young adult: squaring a starting salary with the payments on your student loans.

That's a pressing issue for June grads as their six-month grace period on student-loan repayment ends. The challenge is especially great for borrowers whose debt includes private loans. Whereas federal loans -- including Staffords as well as Grad PLUS loans -- generally carry a fixed interest rate (Staffords issued before July 2006 have variable rates) and flexible repayment terms, private loans usually have variable rates and less-forgiving repayment policies. You could end up paying far more than you expected, with no relief in sight.

Best strategy? Figure out a way to make the federal loans manageable, then throw every spare nickel at the private loans (assuming the lender allows you to prepay), says Edie Irons, of the Project on Student Debt. "Because there are fewer protections, it should be a priority to try to pay off private loans first."

Luckily, you have plenty of choices on the federal-loan side, whether your loan comes from a private lender who participates in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program or from the government's Federal Direct Loan program.

I have Stafford loans and want to repay them as painlessly as possible. Which plan should I choose? You're automatically enrolled in the standard repayment plan unless you say otherwise. Stick with this plan, under which you make 120 equal monthly payments over a ten-year period. Be sure to take advantage of any discounts, such as 0.25% off the interest rate for having payments deducted automatically. If you want to unload your loans on a faster timetable and save on interest, pay a bit more than the allotted amount each month. Be sure to specify in writing that you want the extra amount to be applied to the principal.

My salary is low now, but I expect it to jump in the next few years. The graduated repayment plan suits your situation. Monthly payments start low and rise in increments over the ten-year period. Because you pay less in the early years, you pay a bit more in interest over the life of the loan than you would with the standard plan.

Say you have a total of $25,000 in Stafford loans, each with a 6.8% interest rate. With a standard repayment plan, you'd pay $288 in 120 monthly payments, for a total of $34,524. With a graduated plan, you could pay $142 a month for the first three years and $375 a month for the remaining seven. Your total payments would add up to $36,590.

I have $40,000 in Stafford loan debt and can't afford the monthly payments. The extended repayment plan applies to borrowers who owe more than $30,000 on their federal loans. The plan lets you stretch the payments as long as 25 years, lowering the monthly amount but increasing the cost of the loan. On $40,000, you would pay $227 a month for 25 years, for a total of $83,289.

I'm a freelance writer. I don't expect to earn enough to make my payments affordable anytime soon. If you're in the Federal Direct Loan program, look into the income-contingent plan, which calculates monthly payments according to your income, family size and the total amount of your loans. You get up to 25 years to repay the debt, after which the feds forgive the remainder.

Thanks to recent legislation, borrowers who work in the public sector -- say, as a firefighter, teacher or government employee -- and who make 120 payments after July 2008 in this or the standard plan qualify for loan forgiveness after ten years. The income-contingent plan is available only to borrowers in the Direct Loan program, which you can switch into by consolidating your loans in that program (go to http://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov/ for details).