This section links to Web sites that help you learn about financial aid and scholarship resources.

In order to qualify for state and federal financial aid, students must be legal permanent residents or citizens. If a student is not yet a legal permanent resident, they should look to private scholarships to help with educational expenses. The scholarships on this list do not require a social security number, legal residency, or citizenship. As a general rule, if an application asks for your social security number and you do not have one yet, leave that space blank but fill out and turn in the application. Lying about your legal status or providing a false social security is a federal offense. Family savings and fundraising can also supplement educational costs.

Read more:
http://www.maldef.org/pdf/Scholarships_072004.pdf   (PDF File)

The NSLDS Financial Aid Review service allows you to access information on loan and/or grant amounts, outstanding balances, loan status, and disbursements.

Read more:
http://www.nslds.ed.gov/SAStatic/PrivAct.asp

After you graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time enrollment, you will have a six-month "grace period" before you begin repayment. During this period, you will receive repayment information, and you'll be notified of your first payment due date. You are responsible for beginning repayment on time, even if you don't receive this information. Payments are usually due monthly.

Read more:
http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/leaveearly.jsp?tab=attending

If loans are a part of your solution to paying for school, you will have to repay them in monthly installments after you leave school. The federal government may cancel all or part of an education loan under certain circumstances. Here are some examples of loan forgiveness programs. Some states offer similar programs.

Read more:
http://www.collegeanswer.com/paying/content/pay_loan_forgive.jsp

Your search will provide access to an award database that contains more than 2.4 million scholarships worth over 15 billion dollars, and is expanded and updated daily by our partner Scholarship Experts.

Read more:
http://www.collegeanswer.com/paying/scholarship_search/pay_scholarship_search.jsp

To encourage student interest in entomology, The Entomological Foundation and BioQuip Products, a major supplier of entomology equipment, sponsors an annual scholarship for three undergraduates majoring in entomology. Applicants must be enrolled in a college or university in the United States, Mexico or Canada and have at least 30 college credit hours by August 2005. Preference will be given to students with demonstrated financial need.

For more information, please check http://www.entfdn.org/ or contact Melodie Dziduch at 301-459-9082 or Melodie@entfdn.org.

Application Deadline is 1 July 2005.

Powered by CareerBuilder, USA TODAY's Job Center offers a wealth of information for job-seekers and career educators. Access job-search and resume-posting tools directly from USATODAY.com. Advance your career with our workplace news and expert advice, or visit our Quiz Corner to determine whether you're a masterful communicator, a savvy interviewer or in need of a vacation.

Read more:
http://www.usatoday.com/educate/college/careers/jobscenter.htm

Information Link
Would you like to learn about the programs and opportunities at our member graduate/professional schools? Click here to access information. If you correspond directly with the contact person, please remember to mention that you are a Ventures Scholar.

Questionnaire
If you would like to share your academic and career goals with the member graduate and professional schools, please go to http://www.venturescholar.org/undergrad/gradinquiry.asp and you will receive a response from the selected institutions.

Information Link
Would you like to learn about the member professional associations? Click here to access information. If you correspond directly with the contact person, please remember to mention that you are a Ventures Scholar.

Questionnaire
If you would like to ask questions to the professional associations and organizations, go to http://www.venturescholar.org/scholars/assocquest.asp and complete this form.

This section links to Web sites that will help you better understand the graduate and professional school planning process.

The Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS) is pleased to announce that the Web Application for 2006 matriculation is now live. Applicants can create an account by visiting http://www.aavmc.org and following the links for VMCAS. All VMCAS content at aavmc.org has been updated. There you will find application tips and hints, updated college descriptor pages, a prerequisite comparison chart, and a general school information chart among other helpful resources.

New to the application this year is an online, real-time credit card feature. Applicants will now know immediately whether or not their payment has been accepted or declined. This new feature streamlines the payment process and is easy to use. Applicants will still have the option of paying by check if they wish.

Please note: When students pay by credit card they will be made aware that their application will not be accepted until a valid payment is processed.

Please also remember that the deadline has shifted to midnight eastern time on Monday, October 3rd because the traditional deadline of October 1st falls on a weekend day. This change ensures that we have technical support if needed.

The VMCAS Student and Advisor Hotline is standing by to answer any questions about the 2006 application season. Please feel free to contact us at (toll-free) 1-877-862-2740 or by email vmcas@aavmc.org.

This document grew out of a 1990 set of notes ("Graduate School in Your Future?") the author wrote as director of undergraduate studies in the Computer Science Department at the University of Maryland, College Park. The goal was to offer advice to students on entering, surviving, and thriving during graduate study and beyond.

Read more:
http://www.cs.umd.edu/%7Eoleary/gradstudy/gradstudy.html

This page contains pointers to information for graduate students and students contemplating graduate study in Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering.

Read more:
http://www.cs.umbc.edu/www/graduate/info.html

The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) has released the new directory for transfer students titled, “The Higher Education Transfer Alliance.” The directory can be used by students review institutions specific transfer policies and practices.

To access the directory, go to: http://www.chea.org/HETA/default.asp

As the school year begins, recent high school graduates prepare themselves for a new life as college students. Along with academics college is full of life lessons and the biggest lesson involves handling money.

Read more:
http://teenadvice.about.com/cs/collegelife/a/bl10moneytips.htm

My job as the study skills counselor is to help students in all majors do well in their courses by workshops and individual counseling sessions where I coach students to use effective study techniques, manage their time, develop better test-taking techniques, manage anxiety etc.

Read more:
http://www.studentlife.villanova.edu/counselingcenter/studyskills/freshmantips.html

About the Author: Jasmin Hashi from Indianapolis, Indiana. Currently at Franklin College of Indiana and will graduate in May 2009. Her major is Pre-Med and Broadcast Journalism.

When I graduated from Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, I received the Indiana Academic Honors diploma. I graduated in the top 10% of my class and I had recently been selected for admission into the National Honor Society. I am the recipient of the Presidents Award for Academic Excellence, the Franklin College Key Scholarship (worth full tuition at Franklin College), as well as the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship (worth full tuition at any Indiana school plus $800 each year for books and required fees). I also am an Indiana Scholar through the Horatio Alger Association. I received a $500 scholarship from the career center at my high school as well as $100 from the Devina Jani scholarship fund. Devina was a student at Ben Davis who excelled academically and a scholarship fund was created in her name. I received 2 first-place regional awards from the National Television Academy as well as several awards from Business Professional of America's National Leadership Conference.

About the Author: Shayla Price is from Thibodaux, LA. She is an undergrad VS from Xavier University of Louisiana and will graduate in May 2008. Shayla is majoring in sales and marketing. She is an individual who is dedicated to reaching success.

Scholarship Success
It has always been a dream of mine to attend college. When I was younger, I watched television shows about college students having loads of fun. It sounded like a great experience filled with parties, hanging out with friends and letting the good times roll.

However, when I entered high school, I started learning the real value of college: to get a good education. With a degree, I could have a high-paying job. So with a passion to succeed in life, I expressed my thoughts and concerns about attending a university to my parents. They were very glad that I had chosen the path toward higher education, but my parents were disappointed because they couldn't afford the expenses. Upset and stressed, I took the initiative and started looking for ways to pay for my postsecondary education.

My search for money began on the Internet. I went to every free scholarship search engine available. I spent four to five hours a day looking for scholarships that applied to me. Even though it took much of my time, I dedicated myself to scanning through hundreds of Web sites. It became a part-time job for me. After school, I would do my homework, then search for money on the Internet until I was sleepy. The next day, I would do it all over again. I knew my work was going to pay off in the future.

When I had found almost all the scholarships I could apply for, I sorted them out by deadlines. This gave me an idea of how to prioritize my schedule. Some applications were easy. Others were long, tedious forms. No matter the amount, which ranged from $100 to $40,000, I took each scholarship seriously. All of them were going to fund my goal to attend a college.

With this in my mind, the hardest part began: writing essays. Almost every scholarship required me to compose an essay about my extracurricular activities, commitment to education and career aspirations. Every time I wrote an essay, I saved it on my computer and kept it for later. To perfect my writing, I asked several friends, relatives and teachers to read my work. They gave me advice about what to include and what to leave out.

I continued searching for money and writing essays for about two years. As of now, I have won about 20 percent of all the scholarships I applied for. After many hours of staying up late to finish applications, I managed to receive more than $100,000 in scholarships. With this money, I will be able to attend college for free-no expenses whatsoever.

I feel that a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders! I don't have to worry about bugging my parents for money they don't have and stressing over the fact that I cannot receive a higher education. Now, I can afford it!

The scholarship search has truly made me a better individual. I have learned the importance of setting a goal and accomplishing it. Even when I received rejection letters, it made me a stronger person. I'm thrilled that I had the opportunity to learn more about my drive to succeed-no matter what obstacles come my way!

What will be your life’s work? If you haven’t decided, you’re not alone. Career development experts say that far too many people focus on finding jobs — not the work that will give them satisfaction for the rest of their lives.

Read more:
http://www.usatoday.com/educate/college/careers/CareerPlanner.pdf   (PDF File)

The Event Inventor is a site dedicated to the amateur pursuit of Astronomy, Science, Math and related Technology. Learning and expanding ones knowledge is a pursuit that is very worthwhile. We have many links to educational products, as well as links to other sites on the web.

Read more:
http://www.kyes-world.com/index.cgi?&passurl=/Science

Three minority women scientists describe the obstacles they faced returning to work after an illness. Remember that the username is "gue5txs". The password for June is "b3gsumr". This username and password will allow you to access MiSciNet from any computer. Please distribute this username and password so that your peers may be able to access the articles as well.

Read more:
http://nextwave.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2005/06/09/5

Interested in learning about upcoming conferences and meetings across the country?

Go to:
http://justgarciahill.org/jghdocs/webevent.asp

Recently, the Ventures Scholars Program asked Ventures Scholar graduates to provide information about next steps. Some are heading to the workplace, while others will be going to graduate/professional school.

We are eager to develop an e-program that enables undergraduate Ventures Scholars to communicate with college graduates. Also, college graduates will have a venue to communicate with like-minded graduates. Additional information is forthcoming!

If you are a college graduate and you would like to participate, please remember to provide us with your information. Go to http://www.venturescholar.org/undergrad/graduate.php.