Don't waste an educational opportunities. Alternatives if you have financial constraints

A proper education is one of the most prized possession that one can have, even more valuable than money or other assets like houses, land, etc. The Chinese (and I believe the Jews too) are known to place great importance on the education of their children to the extend of making great sacrifices to make sure they have the proper education.

However, very often, there may be constraints like limited finance. Education is expensive. How can one overcome such constraints?

Scholarships, fee waiver

One can try to apply for scholarship. Some universities give scholarships or fee waiver to deserving students. Some universities offer some kind of work to help students pay for their expenses like becoming a tutor, etc.

There are also foundations like the Ambassadorial Scholarships by the Rotary Foundation, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, Talbots Women's Scholarship Fund, Discover Card Tribute Award Scholarships, Association of periOperative Registered Nurses Scholarship, Citizens' Scholarship Foundation of America, Concrete Research and Education Foundation, The Electronic Document Systems Foundation (EDSF), U.S. federal government student financial aid programs, Hispanic Scholarship Fund, immune Deficiency Foundation Annual Scholarship Program, Indian Health Service Scholarship Programs, International Furnishings and Design Association Educational Foundation, ISS (Iron & Steel Society) Foundation, Lilly Reintegration Scholarship, Michigan State University’s Grants Page, The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Scholarships, The National Institutes of Health: Undergraduate Scholarship Program, National Tourism Foundation, Ohio Newspapers Foundation, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Polish National Alliance, Presidential Freedom Scholarships, Sallie Mae Scholarship Programs, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation College Scholarship Award, Target All-Around Scholarships, Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW): Awards and Scholarships, Minnesota Students of Color, Korean Student Assistance Awards Program (KSAAP), Rhys Glynn-Jones Memorial South Pacific Scholarship Program, The American Cancer Society, The American Chemical Society, Tao Shing Pee Education Foundation, Peterson's Scholarships for Study in the USA & Canada, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, GreenPoint Financial Corp., Zenith Foundation, The Women's Sports Foundation, The State Farm Companies Foundation, Seventeen & Covergirl, The Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award Foundation, Miss All-American Latina Scholarship competition, Land Economics Foundation, Educational Foundation for Women in Accounting, The Nina Scholars Program, Amazon Foundation, Business and Professional Women Foundation, The Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, The National Tourism Foundation Scholarship Program, Association for Women in Science, Datatel Foundation, Edison International Scholarships, Blakemore Foundation, John G. Williams Scholarship Foundation, The ASCAP Foundation, The American Dental Association Endowment, The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation, Taylor Michaels Scholarship Program, The Posse Foundation, International Education Foundation, Armstrong Foundation Scholarships, Joe Francis Haircare Scholarship Foundation, Electronic Industries Foundation, Electronic Industries Foundation, American Library Association, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), John Starks Foundation Scholarship, The Datatel Scholars Foundation, The AISE Steel Foundation, The Gates Millennium Scholars Program, Entente Cordiale Scholarships, Orange County Community Foundation, Franklin Lindsay Student Aid Fund, Greenpoint Foundation, Scotiabank International Scholarships, The Pittsburgh Foundation to Award Fashion Design Scholarships, Millennium Scholarship, ASM International Foundation, The Johnson Scholarship Foundation and a whole lot more. If any one of the above interest you, type or copy-paste the term into the search box above, tick the radio button (.) beside WEB and click search to search for their website.

In Singapore, there is the Lee Foundation and the Singapore 2000 BCA Construction Industry Scholarships. Singapore is also notorious for luring bright students to Singapore with scholarships. They even go to the extent of going around the world to head hunt for talent. One of my colleague who was sent oversea to pursue his Master degree in Plastic Technology by my college was head hunted by Singapore and ended up teaching in the Nanyang Technological University. They even paid for the penalties for him breaking his contract. My country which makes getting government scholarships and/or university admissions difficult for some races have lost many great talent to Singapore. My Plasma lecturer was lured to teach in a Singapore because he never got a chance to get promoted in my university. This is not related student study loan, but my former statistics lecturer Dr. CK Cheong, was lured to Singapore to become the CEO of SIA (Singapore Airlines) and led SIA to become one of the most successful airlines in the world, if not the most successful. Just mentioning it to show the extent to which Singapore is willing to go to get the brains to power their economy to greater success. If your country do not offer you the opportunity, do consider Singapore. You may find wide open welcoming arms.

However, not everyone will qualify for the scholarships, or want to study in the field which is specified for the scholarship, or are not resident of a designated state. What do you do then? Give up and waste your talent? No - there are alternatives.

Private Student Loans

One possibility is getting a Private Student Loans to help get you through college. Loan means you will have to pay back for the loan after you graduate and start working. But that is much better than giving up and not going to college at all because of lack of finance. There are various places where you can apply for a student loan. One of them is NextStudent.

Now, you may already have a private student loan or perhaps even more than one private student loans. These loans have carry high or varying interest rates, and you would like to get a lower interest rate or consolidate your student loans into a single loan for convenience or to change from an unpredictable varying interest rate to a stable fixed interest rate which makes planning easier. This is possible via Student Loan Consolidation.

Other than the advantages of consolidating your student loans into one above, other advantages may include reducing the monthly repayments and/or getting a longer term to repay the loan. Check out the possibilities at Student Loan Consolidation.