If you're a working part-time student, you may not be aware of the scholarships that are available to you.

Special-interest groups and corporations--possibly even your employer--have all created scholarships designed to encourage students of specific backgrounds, ethnicities, or nationalities. Even small businesses will sometimes set aside funds to help their employees or future-employees get an education that benefits the company.

 Opportunities for Part-Time Students

• Institutional Scholarship Programs. Many educational institutions have substantial scholarship programs. Alumni may donate money after they graduate, or small community groups may fund scholarships that they ask the school to administer. Online schools often award additional scholarships for military service, further rounding out your financial plan.
• Prestigious Awards. Major corporations offer large scholarships to promising students. These scholarships can be very competitive, and sometimes hold applicants to certain age, academic achievement, and future employment restrictions.
• Community Service Awards. If serving others has always interested you, work in your community and you may find yourself eligible for scholarships established to reward people like you. Many of these community service awards require recipients to work a specific number of unpaid service hours while they're still in school, so you may be able to work around your work and study schedule.
• Employer Scholarships. If you work for a large company, they may have a tuition-matching program that doubles your educational spending power. If you work for a small or local business, your employer may have a smaller scholarship program that can take some of the sting out of your educational expenses.
• Other Scholarships. Do you speak Klingon? Could you make a prom dress with duct tape? Could you do it left-handed? Believe it or not, scholarships exist for people with unique abilities and skills. If you speak a rare language or practice mental telepathy, there may be a scholarship out there with your name on it. Really.

When budgeting for your educational program, think of the aspects of your personality or background that might match up with a great scholarship. You have a lot of options; the latest scholarship count estimates 1.3 million scholarships worth an estimated $3 billion dollars. Remember that you shouldn't have to spend your own money on an expensive scholarship search site. Start your scholarship search at free sites like Student Aid on the Web or FastWeb. See the private scholarship section for more information.