Looking for money?

Frequently parents and students will ask "Is it true that there's millions of dollars in scholarship money that goes unused every year?"  I suppose the answer to that question is yes, but searching for outside scholarships, that is, money that comes from some entity other than the college itself, takes a lot of time and energy.  It can be well worth it, but quite honestly, I've never seen that many students who want to put that much effort into it.  After all, it can almost seem like a full time job.

I still content that the biggest merit and need-based awards come from the college itself, but students often don't want to consider the colleges that might give them the most money. They tend to start with the same old schools as their classmates - not that there's anything wrong with that - but those are the most popular schools (at least in our area), and the competition will probably be fierce.  During a recent conference I attended, a colleague lamented that if only students would look in the State of Ohio,  they might find more scholarship money!

So perhaps this article is correct; maybe college is now a buyer's market.  Are you willing to look at colleges that are a little further from home?  Are you willing to look at colleges that you are less familiar with?  Are you willing to be different?  That's a question only you can answer.