College Students In Nebraska Can Find Scholarships A Way To Achieve Their Dreams

The state of Nebraska is not that well known for need-based grants. On the other hand, the citizens themselves have created so many different legitimate scholarship plans that apparently no one website can possibly list them all. To address this situation, the state has not one, but two different organizations that help in getting these awards into the right college students' hands.

The first is the Education Quest Foundation. It created a program called ScholarshipQuest that helps match up appropriate scholarships to the right students. With a motto of "Reaching Your Potential," it can help a student generate anywhere from $2,000 to $8,000 a year towards their academic goals. It should also be noted that it primarily works on helping students go to Nebraska state schools.

The other group is the Lincoln Community Foundation. Founded in 1955, it helps families and communities find scholarships that tend to be smaller and much more specialized than those provided by Education Quest. At the same time, it has a reputation for generating an extra $200 to $2,000 a year for those who've earned the right to go on for an advanced education.

Then there is the Capital City Footprinters. They administer their own scholarship program to the citizens of Lancaster County. The Post-Secondary Scholarship, also known as the Richard A. Aksamit Memorial Scholarship, awards students of Criminal Justice or Fire Science anywhere up to $500 a year. It also makes this money available for post-graduates looking to complete their masters and PhD programs.

Another independent scholarship is the Norma Ross Walter Scholarship. This plan is open to young women either about to enter or already enrolled in a state university. It awards $1,000 to English majors provided they supply two letters of recommendation, complete an essay and provide their academic transcript. It is administered through the Willa Cather Foundation.

A much broader program is the Rural Schools Scholarship. It is open to any student who comes from a town whose population is under 10,000. The must also have either graduated in the top 10% of their high school class or are maintaining a 3.5 grade point average if they are already in college. Each year it awards $500 to $2,000 to four deserving students.

If students are socially conscious and feel they are good at writing essays, they should try for the Drug & Alcohol Abuse Prevention Essay Contest Scholarship. It picks one winner each year, and the high school graduate must write about their experience with drugs, whether from a personal or observational point of view. The winner gets $500 for the best essay, which must be 600-1,000 words long.