Spotting a Fake College Scholarship Program

In these trying times, it is quite hard to attend a college when you do not have a scholarship or a college tuition grant to back you up financially. Fortunately, there are a wide range of scholarships being offered and awarded yearly. That said, many scammers chime in and prey on the desperation of people who want to earn their college degrees through the scholarship route.

Here are some tips that can help you spot the scams and schemes from legitimate academic scholarships and grants:

1. Fees - a legitimate scholarship body will never ask for any amount of money, whether you are inquiring about a scholarship or applying. Be wary of scholarship organizations that will ask for money to cover the processing and application process.

2. Guarantees - scholarship organizations that offer guarantees are scammers. The selection of recipients is a rigid and thorough process and only the deserving individual is given the grant or the privilege of having his or her college tuition costs reduced.

3. Glamour - a scholarship announcement is always straight to the point and is backed with correct information. If it contains fancy words and some glamour that makes it look like an ad trying to sell something, then you are better off moving on to another program.

4. Address and Contact Details - a legitimate scholarship body always leave a real business address, not a P.O. Box or a residential address. The same goes with telephone numbers. Otherwise, you are dealing with con experts.

5. Eligibility Requirements - applicants are screened thoroughly and one way of screening them is whether or not they passed the requirements. This means a scholarship does not apply to certain people. A scholarship that is free for all is a scam, no question.

There are still several signs that will tell you whether a scholarship or a college tuition grant is fake or not. But let your common sense dictate your decision and if you are in doubt, do not hesitate to ask questions and inquire.

How to Receive a Nursing Scholarship

First Things First: What is FAFSA?

The first step in receiving any sort of scholarship or financial aid for college is to complete the FAFSA. FAFSA, or free application for student aid, is a form that is filled out by every student wishing to be considered for college tuition. This is a federal form, and you only have to complete it once, unlike the past when you had to complete separate paperwork for each college you hoped to attend.

The FAFSA form will provide you with information that will determine the amount of money your family is expected to provide for your education. The difference between what your family is expected to pay and the amount of tuition at your chosen college can be covered by federally backed grants and loans. To reduce the amount that you are expected to pay further, you can apply for a variety of scholarships.

Academic Based or Need Based Scholarships

While there are a variety of scholarships available, they generally fall into two categories, academic based and need based. Academic based scholarships are determined on grades and test scores. Financial need is not a consideration. Competition for these awards is typically stiff, with many very strong candidates vying for the same scholarship. You may be required to submit an essay, or chronicle any previous volunteer work.

Need based scholarships are determined on the financial need of applicants. While grades are typically considered, the academic pressure is usually not as intense as with an academic based scholarship. Many scholarships are a combination of the two: needs based scholarships that require a high GPA, a concentration in certain subjects, community involvement, or specific career goals.

The Nursing Shortage

There is currently a nursing shortage, and the future outlook is that a shortage will remain through the immediate future. As our population lives longer and medical technology continues to grow, the need for nurses outstrips the rate in which they are completing school. This nursing shortage means that an industrious student is likely to earn enough scholarship money to pay his or her way through college and graduate debt free.

One program many hospitals have implemented is paying tuition for current nursing students. Of course, this does come with strings attached. Once the student graduates from nursing school, he or she is expected to work for the hospital for a prearranged period of time. If the nurse leaves before that time, he or she is responsible for paying back part or all of the tuition. This can be an excellent way for students who would otherwise not be able to afford college to earn a degree. Not only does the student graduate debt free, but they automatically have a job once they leave school. The years after nursing school can be spent gaining experience in a variety of hospital settings, and if they decide to move on once their obligation is fulfilled, they have a good idea of what field of nursing they are most interested in.

Financial Help for Graduate Degrees

The lack of nurses with graduate degrees indicates that it is possible for you to earn a Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Midwife, or Nurse Anesthetist degree without the burden of taking on a significant debt. Previously, it was often difficult to weigh the benefits of returning to graduate school against the problem of expensive graduate school credit hours. With many hospitals and clinics lowering costs by employing Nurse Practitioners in place of physicians, and Nurse Anesthetists to assist the Anesthesiologist, it is very likely that the medical group that you currently work for offers tuition reimbursement. If they do not, you should speak to your supervisor or human resources personnel. They may be willing to offer tuition reimbursement on a case by case basis. If your current employer does not offer tuition reimbursement, you may want to consider moving to a different employer. Many employers will offer full tuition reimbursement or even allow you to attend school full time, with the agreement that you will work for them for a specified time once you receive your graduate degree.

Increasing Your Likelihood of Receiving a Scholarship

Whether you are looking for a needs based scholarship for an undergraduate nursing degree, or are searching for a hospital financed scholarship offer to complete your graduate degree, there are several things that you can do to improve your chances of success.

Work in your field. It does not matter if it is paid employment or volunteer work, but working in the field you plan to earn a degree in shows the decision makers that you understand the work and are less likely to switch majors or drop out.

Watch your grades and your money. No matter if you are looking for a need based or academic based scholarship, keep your grades high, even in classes that you do not think matter, and watch your money. When you receive your scholarship money be sure to buy the books and study materials that you will need to succeed. If possible, hold some money back so that you can afford a tutor before exams if you find yourself struggling.

College Scholarships For Everyone - Different Ways You Can Get a Free Scholarship to Go to College

Getting a college degree is one of the most significant accomplishments a person can have in his life. A college degree signifies the efforts of an individual to educate and upgrade himself or herself for a responsible and highly prized future.

A college degree will get you high paying jobs and more business opportunities than others who haven't finished their education. If you want to live a comfortable life and support your family's needs and desires then the first step is obtaining a good college education.

However, going to college is an expensive endeavor and most people nowadays can hardly afford paying college bills. Low income earners usually have difficulty getting an upgrade in their lives because they don't have a college degree. People are now very aware that a bachelor or associates degree will get you good and high paying jobs.

People recognize that scholarships can help them get the education that they yearn for. Some people give their effort on making high grades so they can qualify for academic scholarships. While some others train hard in sports so they can be covered by sports scholarships or grants. If you wish to gain financial assistance, you must be good in your craft.

If you are an incoming college student or recently enrolled in a college then consider these three types of college grants. Academic grant, athletic grant and departmental awards. These three types of grant can get you the funds you need to be able to finish college. However, you must comply with the specific requirements of each type of grant, so choose those you can be qualified for.

1. Academic Scholarships and grants are given to deserving students who have reached a specific GPA standard. If you have an excellent academic record then apply to colleges who offer academic scholarships. If you are not yet in college, then you should work hard on your academic standing. Most academic grants are given to honor students so strive hard for it.

When you already have your academic scholarship you are required to maintain a specific GPA grade so you can keep the financial assistance. If you fail to achieve the required rating then you will be given a probationary status. Work hard to get high grades so you can avoid getting your scholarship revoked.

2. Athletic Scholarship grants are for sports enthusiast and athletes alike. If you are good in any field of sport or you are good at your game then it may be ideal for you to apply for athletic scholarships. You will not be required to get high academic ratings as long as you play hard and excel in your game.

3. Departmental awards are given to students who emerged at the top of the list in their specific department. These types of awards are used to support students so they can stay in that department.

A college education is the step to success so make sure that you get a college degree. Hard work and patience can get you funds, just apply for any of the above mentioned scholarships so you can get your college diploma.

How to Prevent IP Ownership Issues When a Strategic Alliance, Joint Venture Or Collaboration Fails

Technology-focused collaborations form a foundation of corporate planning strategies today. Such collaborations can be in the form of strategic alliances, joint ventures, open innovation or other legal structures. Regardless of how the participants characterize and legally structure such collaborations, the most common motivation for forming such alliances is to pool technology and R & D resources. When technology and R & D is involved, it must follow that IP ("intellectual property") ownership issues should loom large in the planning stage of the collaboration. However, my experience shows that the parties rarely give appropriate consideration to IP ownership in the agreements that are supposed to fully set out the rights and responsibilities of the parties.

I can say with authority that IP issues are not usually given proper consideration in collaborative agreements because my expertise in this area results primarily from helping clients after their collaborations have failed. My clients typically sought my help after their collaborations went sour and they sought to exit the relationship with at least some valuable IP rights intact. In each of these situations, it was apparent that if my client had come to me for advice while they were executing the general business and financial parameters of the collaboration agreement, they may not have needed me to fix things on the back-end. Put simply, if I had been brought in on the front-end to put a fine point on IP ownership issues resulting from the collaboration, I would have been able to prevent questions regarding IP rights from even being a question.

My perspective about the preventable nature of IP ownership issues was confirmed when I recently attended a meeting of professionals who focus primarily on strategic alliances and other types of collaborative ventures. In this meeting of just over an hour, I counted at least 5 instances where someone commented something along the lines of "when the relationship goes sour, the IP issues cause problems." From the sighs that accompanied the mention of IP ownership issues, I obtained the clear sense from these seasoned professionals that IP was not only a big problem, but also a common occurrence in their collaborations.

Smart business professionals should realize that when a significant problem occurs on a frequent basis, there likely is a failure in an associated business process. This is the case for IP ownership issues: most of the problems I have addressed on the back-end of a failed collaboration were fully predictable and the resulting problems could have been reduced or eliminated by proper planning. But if common IP ownership issues are not difficult for an Intellectual Property and Patent Business Strategist such as myself to predict and prevent, why do such issues still occur with such frequency in the collaboration space?

The answer is fairly easy from my vantage point: patent experts are typically not considered as possessing essential business knowledge and, as such, people like me are not seen as necessary participants in a collaboration deal. This is true even when the primary reason for the parties getting together in the first place is to pool existing technology and to create R & D synergies that will result in acceleration of innovation to the benefit both participants.

Admittedly, we patent experts have facilitated our not being involved on the front-end of business matters by traditionally focusing our practices on obtaining patents and litigating them for clients. We have left business matters to business professionals and transactional lawyers because, as a highly specialized profession, we felt more comfortable in the area of our own expertise. Also, we have not generally reached out to educate others about our somewhat "arcane" area of legal expertise. Our knowledge has remained closely held within the confines of patent practice and, as a result, we have been problem fixers. as opposed to preventing problems before they occur.

Business and legal experts reside today in functional silos that effectively prevent communication and education. Unless these silos are broken down, it is inevitable that business professionals will continue to destroy corporate value by not sufficiently including IP ownership in their collaboration agreements. Patent experts can continue to create value for ourselves by expending efforts to preserve our client's IP rights when the collaboration fails.

The definition of insanity was said by Albert Einstein to be "doing the same thing again and expecting a different result". To this end, it is insane for business professionals who deal in the collaboration space to continue to struggle with IP ownership issues over and over again because there is no doubt that complications and disappointment will inevitably arise. While not all of these issues can prevented by up-front analysis, I can virtually guarantee that the cost and effort of resolving IP ownership after a collaboration failure will be considerably less when a business-focused patent professional such as myself is brought in at the collaboration planning and agreement preparation stage.

Scholarships For Expecting Mothers - A Trendsetter

Mothers in their family way consider it to be the best period and expecting mothers many not consider going to school when they are expecting a child. But, later on they may feel the need of it in the near horizon. Due to this, scholarships for expecting mothers are a trendsetter.

Expecting mothers can continue their studies online as well as the internet facilitates online education and this can be done at your own convenience. The only problem that matters is how to pay for the college expenses as studying online is also expensive and costs the same as going and receiving education from the campus.

The only and viable solution is to acquire scholarships. Expecting mothers are given scholarship in the form of a grant identical to the one given to a potential student. Scholarships are also given to students studying in their campus and besides that this grant is given to individuals regardless of the institution.

The advantage of such educational aid is it need not be repaid and hence there is no burden. This burden free arrangement helps even the expecting mothers to concentrate comfortably and to prove the results. There are loans given to students based on the main reason that they are unable to pay the college fees, but this turns to add to more stress and debt. Such student loans cannot be entertained by any expectant mother as this is not the ideal time for her to undergo any sort of stress.

There are scholarships available in many types such as needs based, academic and minority. The needs based scholarships are the students coming from a lower income group and are unable to earn the assistance through performance. Academic scholarships are awarded to students excelling in their fields. Minority scholarships are for moms, ethnic or religious groups, military personnel, disabled, and so on.

Expecting mothers receive scholarships and this is the best way of strengthening your foot with education. This helps in balancing your family and elevating your career.

Non-Scholarship Options For the Prospective Student-Athlete

As a former 19 year head coach at the University of Pennsylvania, I was blessed with a successful career and many fond memories. Considering the selectivity in Admissions and the high price tag of one of the nation's premier institutions, I had strong success in recruiting and I learned some valuable lessons about prospective student-athletes and the benefits they may receive in the admissions process.

Ivy League and other select, non athletic scholarship awarding institutions can, in many cases, offer significant assistance in Admissions that can potentially lend strong support for prospective student-athletes. It is important that prospects, families and high school advisors clearly understand the role the college coach plays in this process and make every effort to develop a sincere and strong working relationship with them throughout the college search.

Admissions Pre-Reads

Early academic evaluations are an effective means of determining the potential admissibility of a candidate. Typically, coaches work with an athletic department "Admissions liaison" that can assist them in requesting "early reads" for prospects. If families have cultivated a strong relationship with the coach, this request will likely be honored and could be a real time saver by providing recruits with an accurate idea of their chances in admissions. Below are some important points to consider regarding pre-reads:

o Provides the family with a strong idea of the likelihood of admission.
o Requires current and accurate standardized test scores, updated transcripts and high school profile.
o Gives the coach a strong indication of the prospects Admissions Index and the level of potential support in Admissions.
o Coach-family collaboration develops trust and confidence.
o Shows the coach "strong interest" from family and prospect.
o Will avoid "spinning of wheels" for the family, prospect and the college coach, especially if admissions seem unlikely.
o Turnaround time is generally 2-3 weeks

Likely Letters

The likely letter is a tremendous tool typically used by Ivy League coaches that offer "near guarantees" of admissions and these letters can be sent to prospective student-athletes well before the regular population of applicants is reviewed. This becomes a tremendous bargaining chip for college coaches who are competing with scholarship institutions for the same prospect, or "overlap" prospects who are applying to other Ivy League and select academic institutions. It is fair to point out that likely letters are not abundantly available and only a certain percentage of "impact" prospects will receive them.

Likely letters will provide recruits and their families with a sense of confidence, especially when they are presented with athletic scholarship deadlines from other college coaches, or feeling pressure from non-scholarship college coaches to "move in their direction." Likely letters are issued directly from the admissions office and will offer families with relative assurance that, barring any unusual circumstances, their children will be admitted.

Priority Applications

Priority applications are becoming more popular in the recruiting process and are typically used by Division 3 programs as a means of providing families with an early "look" from admissions well before the majority of regular applicants are read.

When you break it down, the priority application is a win-win for both the college coaches and the families. Firstly, the priority application is a simplified version of the regular application that offers the prospect with a streamlined and time saving approach to admissions and turnaround time from the office of admissions can be as early as 30 days. Likewise, college coach's benefit by offering their top candidates with a priority admissions read that can rival both the national letter of intent, as well as many of the early decision/action admissions programs.

It is fair to say that priority applications are not offered to the majority of prospects, but are distributed to athletes who show significant interest in his program and are part of the coach's "A" recruiting file. Either way, the priority application can provide families with early and exact information in admissions and serve as a handy tool that will assist them strongly in the decision making process.

Tips for Advisors, Parents and Prospects

Below are a few pointers that will be helpful in navigating the college quest for prospective student-athletes who are interested in applying to Ivy League and select, non athletic scholarship schools:

o Cultivate an honest and truthful relationship with the college coach.
o Provide the college coach with accurate and timely information that will assist him in making a fair and timely evaluation of both academic strength and athletic talent.
o Be honest with the college coach about the schools you are seriously considering.
o Let the college coach know where you stand with his/her school, and give the coach a chance to recruit you further.
o Avoid using the coach as a springboard in Admissions with the intent of not participating on the team. This will potentially backfire down the road for high school teammates and your sports program. Remember, you are representing yourself, your coach, your school and your family. Maintain a high level of integrity.
o Include community service and leadership activities in your personal profile. This could add some weigh that creates further support for your application by the college coach.

Especially in today's tough economic climate, the non scholarship option for prospective student-athletes and families may seem daunting, but considering the long term benefits one can receive from such a potentially rewarding experience, makes this option very worthy. Additionally, it is fair to point out that athletes, although identified in Admissions as having a special talent, are treated as any other candidate and will be admitted only if the applicant's academic credentials are in an acceptable range and he/she is deemed capable of succeeding. That being said, student-athletes who bring solid academic credentials to the table and have the ability to strongly impact an athletics program could bring a very strong "chip" to the game of college recruiting that could give them a leg up on the competition.