Grants & Scholarships Resources
 



There are many, many, many places to look for possible scholarship aid.  Although lots of the sources you encounter will have criteria that don't apply to you, there are so many different possibilities that if you have the patience to search through the available resources, you may well be rewarded by finding sources that you have a good chance of tapping into.

Here are just a few starting points for looking into educational funding that you may be eligible for.  Most of them will also lead you on to more and more possibilities if you follow the various links they provide.
 

The MSU Honors College's Scholarships page:

most of these scholarships are for Honors College members only, but some of them, including the major national and international awards, some for use while you are still an undergrad and others for graduate study, are intended for high-achieving individuals -- usually after a year or two of college or just before graduation -- no matter what their HC status was or is.  Most of these major awards are looking for people who do more than just get good grades; they often are also interested in supporting people with exceptional capacities for public service or original research, which means that they'll be based on the things you do across the course of your whole college career, both in and out of class.  More information on these awards is available from the Honors College Coordinator for National/International Scholarships and Fellowships, Ms. Jenni Marsh ().
Reference Librarian Jon Harrison's pages on MSU scholarships: Check out the main page for his Grants Resources website at <http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/index.htm> and his Grants for Individuals subpage at <http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/3subject.htm>.  He has a very useful (and long) page of websites and databases about grants/awards for undergraduates where you can limit your search to a particular subject area, target audience, and so on.
Note that there are lots of things in these lists; some are things you apply for, if you meet the criteria, while others (prizes, awards, etc.) are things that faculty or other people nominate you for.   Sometimes you have to check with the sponsoring department or organization to find out which procedure is used for a given award.


One place to look for scholarships is close to home.  Mr. Harrison's Grants Resources website page has a link for "Michigan Community Foundations" which has links to local Michigan foundations that support worthy causes, often including college scholarships for students from the community.  To find out if your county or town is included, use the Find function (Control-F) to search for its name and then followup on the web or by mail or phone to see if they offer college scholarships that you may qualify for.

There is also a database, called the "MSU Scholarship Search Facility," which you can use to narrow your searching somewhat by your academic level/class, college, department, and major, though it still is fairly complex to work through (and of course, the wider you define your net -- like scholarships available to 'all undergrads' -- the wider the list of results you'll have to check out).  It is not entirely easy to find, so here is the current full URL: <https://ntweb1.ais.msu.edu/L1104/student/ScholSearch.Asp>.  If you forget the URL or if it moves before I catch the broken link, you can also try searching in the SearchMSU box on the University homepage for the phrase "MSU Scholarship Search."

Another database, this one also available through the Library's Electronic Resources page, under the link to the ERL/WebSPIRS databases, is called "RSP Funding for Undergraduates" (do a Find for "RSP" or just scroll down the page).  Here you can type in a topic or a major, or use the Thesaurus in the database to find related terms to expand a search, and get scholarships and other funding sources related to a specific topic and aimed especially at undergraduates.  The search engine may take a little getting used to, but it's good practice for other kinds of research projects, especially in the life sciences and the social sciences -- the list of ERL/WebSPIRS databases includes resources for agriculture, zoology, forestry, psychology, social work, political science, medicine, and biology in general.

Another HUGE database is the so-called Community of Science database of Funding Opportunities, which you have access to through MSU's subscription.  This one definitely requires patience and tenacity and imagination, because it is SO comprehensive, but if you get familiar with it, it could be useful for the rest of your college and professional career. The main page is at http://fundingopps2.cos.com/, and the main search page is at http://fundingopps2.cos.com/cgi-bin/search/main, where you will find a form on which you enter Keywords (for example, a major such as "zoolog*" or "histor*", or a residency status like "Michigan" or "Kent County"), the target audience you belong to (under Requirements = "undergraduate students"), the Funding Type you're interested in (probably either Training/Scholarships/Fellowships or Research), and so on.  Alternately, from the main page, you can click on the Search Wizard link, and the system will help you narrow the search to undergraduate support, for students of specific (or non-specific) citizenship, with particular kinds of sponsors and eventually a blank where you can enter your field of interest (e.g., "biology," "American history," "marketing," etc.)  Some internship possibilities are included under the Training category; you can also use "internship" as a keyword to help find narrow your search for such opportunities.

Another couple of sources that may be useful are the scholarship section and the "searching for scholarships" section of the website for the MSU Office of Financial Aid.  The whole Financial Aid website is also something to become familiar with, if you aren't already, as a place to look for financial assistance for your education.  If you are looking for an interesting job to help pay for your college years, try the My Spartan Career website (sponsored by MSU Career Services), especially under the sections of the site for students and their career events and recruiting schedule.