In keeping with the season, it seemed appropriate to talk about college scholarships for Halloween. The current semester is half-over, but these unusual private scholarships will give some creative, artistic students a jump on next year’s scholarship applications.

Harry Houdini, who died on Halloween, 1926, was a longtime president of the Society of American Magicians — at 107, the oldest formally organized magical society in the world. Houdini was an escape artist, fraud-buster, and movie star, but along with all of that, he was a lifelong learner. The Society of American Magicians today funds a number of education programs, including scholarships for fulltime college students. To be eligible for the college scholarship, you must be an experienced magician with the potential to perform magic professionally. (You’ll need to provide letters of recommendation from 2 magicians who can attest to your expertise in magic.) You must also be enrolled in a curriculum that supports a career related to magic, including drama/theater and business and/or marketing, and you must demonstrate academic achievement as well as financial need. The scholarship application is not magically retrievable, but you can download it from the S.A.M. website. The deadline is March 31st.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IATSE) was formed more than a century ago and is now the largest labor union in the entertainment industry. As a service to its members, IATSE’s Scholarship Foundation provides financial aid for 2 high school seniors applying for admission to a bachelor’s degree program at an accredited college or university. (To be eligible for the scholarship, you must be the son or daughter of an IATSE member in good standing.) Each scholarship provides $1,750 per year for a total of $7,000 over a 4-year period. You can download the application from the IATSE website, which will provide all the application criteria. The deadline is December 31st.

A long time ago, my mother made me a beautiful Halloween costume by hand out of tissue paper, Elmer’s Glue, a green sweatshirt, and brown tights: I was a leafy summertime tree. Today, the deep-rooted National Costumers Association, still going strong after 85 years, provides scholarships to students who want to go into the costume industry. Your application criteria include an essay describing how your college studies relate to and will support your career in costuming. You have to be 17 or older, maintaining a 2.75 minimum GPA, and either enrolled or enrolling in an accredited university, college, or career school. The scholarship amounts vary depending on the number of applicants and the amount of funding available. This is definitely an “early bird has the best chance at the worm” Halloween scholarship opportunity. See the NCA website for full details and the application. The deadline is April 1, 2010.

Promoting costume education, research, preservation, and design, the Costume Society of America works to “advance the global understanding of all aspects of dress and appearance” and to “encourage study in the rich and diverse field of costume.” The Society’s $2,000 – $2500 Student Research Grant (named for a Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute curator and CSA founding member) was created to support a current undergraduate or graduate student doing research in North American costume. You must be a member of the Society to be eligible for the grant, but you’ll find everything you need for both membership and the grant’s thorough application on the CSA Grants website. The deadline is May 1.

Scholarships and grants may not seem like a Halloween-friendly subject, but financial aid should not be scary. The trick is to find the trade organizations related to your career path, as these scholarships for Halloween show.

Have a happy and safe Halloween.

Here’s a nifty scholarship program: the University of Alabama offers full 4-year scholarships to students who get to the Semifinalist round of the National Merit^® or National Achievement^® Scholarship program. That’s Semifinalist, not Award-winner or even Finalist.

To qualify for this scholarship, you have to be a high school senior who can apply for admission to UA in time to be accepted by December 1st of your senior year, with a 3.5 GPA.

If you meet all the above requirements as a National Merit/National Achievement^® Scholar Semifinalist, you’ll be eligible for a scholarship that covers the value of tuition for 4 years.

If you meet all the requirements as a Finalist, you’re in line for housing, an annual $1,000 stipend, a laptop computer, and one-time award of $2,000 for a summer research or international study project, in addition to tuition. The Finalist benefits are also available to National Hispanic Scholars who meet certain GPA and SAT requirements.

It’s easy to see why the University of Alabama is so proud of its National Merit, National Achievement, and National Hispanic Scholar students. In the 2008-2009 academic year, UA was 11-highest enroller of National Merit Scholars out of the country’s 629 public universities, and in 2007-2008, #28 out of 2,400+ public and private universities together.

For complete eligibility, enrollment, and application details on UA’s Semifinalist scholarships, visit the university’s website.

And if you’re not interested in Alabama, there may be public or private colleges in your area who offer similarly generous scholarships to Semifinalists.

The Hispanic College Fund and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, two separate foundations that provide Hispanic student scholarships, have begun their 2009-2010 application seasons. The Hispanic Scholarship Fund has many 2010 scholarships you can apply for right now, and start dates for several of the Hispanic College Fund scholarships are coming up in mid-November.

Application deadlines range from December 2009 to May 2010.

In addition to funding their own Hispanic student scholarships, the Hispanic College Fund and Hispanic Scholarship Fund have created partnerships with private companies and corporate foundations to sponsor a range of scholarships with different eligibility criteria. Some scholarships are for Hispanic students in certain areas of the country, other awards are for students pursuing degrees in specific subjects, and single parent scholarships are limited to these hardworking nontraditional students.

Although most minority scholarships are intended for students with financial need, most Hispanic College Fund and Hispanic Scholarship Fund sponsors are also looking for applicants who are eager to excel in school and in their future careers and communities.

Here are a few of the Hispanic student scholarships each Fund offers. You should visit the Hispanic College Fund and Hispanic Scholarship Fund websites to get all the details you need for submitting a valid application on time.

Hispanic College Fund

• Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting Scholarship Program: $1,250 – $1,500; one $10,000
• Denny’s Single Parent Student Scholarship: $1,500
• Ford Blue Oval Scholarships (geographically targeted): $500- $5000
• Google Scholarships (Computers/IT; undergrads & grad students): $10,000
• Kaiser Permanente “College to Caring” Scholarship Program (Nursing): up to $8,000 for BSN students in Northern California
• Manuel Candamo Memorial Scholarship (Puerto Rican or Puerto Rican descent students): $500 – $2,500; one $10,000
• Marriott Scholars Program (Culinary & Hospitality): up to $9,000 per year for four years
• NASA “Motivating Undergraduates in Science and Technology” Scholarships: half-tuition up to $10,000
• Sodexo Foundation Scholarships: $500 – $5000
• United Health Foundation Latino Health Scholars (Healthcare; grad students): $2,500 – $5,000
• Verizon Scholarships (Business/Accounting and Computers/IT): $500 – $5,000

The Hispanic College Fund warns, “HCF Applications cannot be completed last minute. Recommenders need at least 2 weeks’ notice to write a thorough and useful letter and transcripts usually take 2-3 weeks for a school to process and mail.”

Hispanic Scholarship Fund

• Gates Millennium Scholars Program for High School Seniors
• HSF/Monsanto Fund Scholarship Program: $10,000/year
• HSF/Air Products Excellence (Engineering): $15,000
• HSF/Atrisco Heritage Foundation Scholarship for heirs of the Atrisco Land Grant
• HSF/BB&T Charitable Scholarship (Business, Legal or Liberal Arts)
• HSF/Hormel Scholarship Program (Culinary): $2,500
• HSF/HSBC-North America Scholarship Program (Business and IT; geographically targeted)
• HSF/Macy’s College Scholarship Program: $5,000
• HSF/Marathon Oil Corporation Scholarship Program: up to $15,000/year (deadline: Nov. 1st)
• HSF/Procter & Gamble Company (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math): $2,500
• HSF/Qualcomm Scholarship Program: $5,000
• HSF/Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. High School Scholarship: $2,500

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s mission is “to strengthen America by advancing the college education of Hispanic Americans.” Over its 34 years, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund has awarded more than 90,000 scholarships (worth over $250 million). Two-thirds of these scholarship recipients were the first in their families to go to college.

In addition to money, a number of Hispanic student scholarships provide education bonuses such as summer internships with the scholarship sponsor. Between money for tuition and opportunities for relevant educational training, scholarships from the Hispanic College Fund and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund look like a valuable source of financial aid, especially in these times.

Are you a college student or high school student studying dance? The American Harlequin company offers 20 dance student scholarships each year to eligible applicants enrolled in a public or private dance school.

The dance student scholarships include:

• One (1) $5,000 scholarship
• Two (2) $3,000 scholarships
• Three (3) $2,000 scholarships
• Two (2) $1,000 scholarships
• Twelve (12) $500 scholarships

Here’s the thing: the contest is a random drawing. Despite its appreciation for the performing arts, American Harlequin doesn’t feel it has the experts to judge scholarship applicants on artistic merit, so they just pull 20 verified applicants’ names out of a hat!

Scholarship application deadline: November 1, 2009.

You do have to meet all of the program’s eligibility criteria to get your name in the hat, and if you win, your age and enrollment in a legitimate dance school will have to be verified before you can collect your award, but this is a terrific opportunity for serious young dance students in need of financial aid.

There are three essential criteria for scholarship eligibility. You must be:

• a U.S. or Canadian citizen,
• age 15 to 21,
• with proof of dance school enrollment.

American Harlequin, the U.S. headquarters of an international company that makes floors for dance and the performing arts, says, “In these uncertain economic times, our hope is to offer a little financial help to some lucky young people who wish to continue in whatever form of dance helps fulfill their lives.”

You can apply for one of the dance student scholarships online at the American Harlequin website or you can download a paper application and either fax it or mail it back to the company. Just make sure that it’s fax-marked or postmarked not later than November 1, 2009.

The dance student scholarship fax number is 856-231-4403. If you mail your application, send it to:

American Harlequin Corporation
Dance Scholarship Program
1531 Glen Avenue
Moorestown, NJ 08057

Scholarship winners will be drawn in December. If your name is one of the lucky 20, the company will let you know by mail.

Dancer and choreographer Martha Graham said, “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.” If you have passion for this beautiful art, now’s your chance to apply for one of this year’s American Harlequin dance student scholarships.

Sometimes, financial aid seems so complicated that it ought to come with a how-to manual. For example, how do you find out what’s going on with your Pell Grant or other financial aid awards if they don’t arrive by the time you need them?

Jessica, an EducationGrant reader, asked that question, which is a good one. If you’re not sure which federal grants you qualified for or how the money gets to you, here are 4 ideas about where to look for answers.

1) Recheck your Student Aid Report. After you filed your FAFSA, you should have received a federal Student Aid Report (SAR) that told you what your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to your college costs would be. If you qualified for a Pell Grant or any other federal grant, it would be noted in your SAR.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you would get a check for the Pell Grant amount, though. Usually, Pell Grants are sent straight to your school, who applies the money directly to your bill: your tuition, fees, and other costs of attendance.

2) Recheck your Financial Aid Award Letter. The school or schools you applied to each sends you an Award Letter to let you know how much financial aid that school can provide you.

The amount of financial aid you qualify for is based on your “unmet need” — the difference between your school’s cost of attendance and your EFC. But even if your EFC is zero, how much aid you actually get depends on whether you’re a fulltime or part-time student, the length of your program, and the amount of need-based funding your school has to offer.

If you qualified for a Pell Grant, your school’s Award Letter will confirm it and include the amount in your total financial aid package.

3) Talk to your school’s financial aid office. If your SAR and Award Letter note that you qualified for a Pell Grant, talk to your financial aid administrator to confirm that your school received the money from the federal government. If they did, then your Pell Grant probably went straight to the school’s Finance office, where it was applied as needed to your tuition, fees, and other attendance charges.

If your cost of attendance was equal to or more than your Pell Grant, you wouldn’t have gotten any “change” back, but if your Pell Grant was more than your cost of attendance, your school would likely have sent you the leftover money. In either case, your financial aid office should be able to determine where your Pell Grant went.

4) Call the U.S. Student Aid Information Center. If you think you must have qualified for a Pell Grant but don’t see any mention of one on your SAR or Award Letter, or if your financial aid office has no record of one, call the federal financial aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243, 1-800-730-8913 (TTY), or 1-319-337-5665. (You may be asked for your FAFSA PIN.) They may be able to review your FAFSA with you or give you other instructions for checking your federal financial aid status online.

By the way, don’t forget that your FAFSA doesn’t automatically renew every year. You’ll need to file a FAFSA for each year you’re in school.

Paying for college is not a simple matter these days. College tuition is up across the country, even at state universities, along with just about every other college-related expense. At some community colleges, not even the new maximum Pell Grant ($5,350 in 2009 and $5,500 in 2010) may be enough to cover the entire cost of attendance.

No matter what’s going on with your financial aid situation, your school’s financial aid office is likely to be your best resource. Look to them for help with navigating your award package, finding potential scholarship opportunities, and appealing for more federal aid if your circumstances allow it.

The week is starting with some financial aid good news: it looks like Illinois students are going to get their MAP College Grants back.

A few months ago, state budget gaps and an earlier-than-usual application deadline resulted in depriving more than 130,000 low-income students of the Illinois Monetary Award Program college grants they were counting on. Yesterday, the Illinois governor signed legislation that approved the restoration of the MAP program’s 2009-2010 funding. The only thing is: no one’s exactly sure yet where the $200 million is going to come from.

The governor thinks he and the Illinois legislature can figure out a way to borrow it from a state bank account or two that ended up with more money than they needed this year. But however they manage it, it must be a relief to Illinois college students to know that they’ll get their MAP college grants after all, and that they won’t be forced to drop out of school.

If you’re a student in a state where it doesn’t look like state financial aid is coming back any time soon, you can always appeal to your school’s financial aid office for help. If you can prove that student aid you were counting on fell through due to true economic hardship, your school may be able to get you more federal financial aid.

As far as Illinois is concerned, it appears that the budget cuts’ impact on college students (and the resulting publicity) has renewed state officials’ commitment to higher education, which is good news for everyone. The state’s only way back to a working economy is through education and training for new industries and new jobs. Both current students and workers who were laid off too late to make the state financial aid deadline last spring will benefit from restored MAP college grants, and in the long run, so will Illinois.

EducationGrant launched a new Facebook Fan Page today, with the intention of creating a community where students from all walks of life can share their financial aid experiences, questions, and suggestions. We’ve also published our first Scholarship and Grant Guide, which you can learn more about in the Grants section of this site.

In a recent survey, CourseAdvisor.com asked site visitors about their most important concerns about attending college and the sources they investigated for getting the information they needed.

Almost half of the survey respondents (most of whom were age 25 and up) cited paying for college as their most pressing concern and more than 35% reported using online search engines as their primary source of degree and financial aid information.

We’d like EducationGrant.com, with our financial aid news and our scholarship and education grant listings, to become one of those trusted information resources — and we hope our Facebook page will be a forum where students and professionals can exchange financial aid tips and add to, correct, and comment on the usefulness of the information our site provides.

In fact, we’d like EducationGrant to become a college and financial aid conversation whose fans help each other find ways to pay for (and survive!) the higher education experience. Whether you’re here on EducationGrant.com or visiting our Facebook Fan Page, you may find just the financial aid answer you’re looking for!

It’s official: paying for college is on everybody’s mind. The results of two separate studies emerged this week and the consensus is that the cost of tuition concerns both students currently enrolled and those individuals who are still considering going to school. Wildly shocking? No. But, digging deeper into the findings reveals some interesting new insight.

According to CourseAdvisor, who conducted one of the studies and is this blog’s sister site, 43% cited the ability to pay for school as their top concern about attending school. eLearners, a site that provides resources to online learners, also found that 95% of Americans not currently in school see the potential cost of tuition as the biggest obstacle in returning to school, with women shouldering more of the worry about the financial investment than men.

CourseAdvisor found that 40- to 50-year-olds rely on government Web sites like Federal Student Aid to find information and educate themselves on financial aid — two times more than those under 24 years old, who rely on a combination of guidance counselor advice and research done through search engines.

“Affordable” isn’t necessarily a word that many people associate with “college tuition,” but educating yourself on the variety of grants, scholarships and programs available can certainly help alleviate some of the anxiety associated with the cost of tuition.

Aside from our blog (obviously!) where do you get your financial aid information? Has researching all of your funding options helped you put together a solid game plan that makes paying for college less overwhelming? Let us know in the comments!

One thing we get asked about a lot is whether we know of any scholarships for single mothers, working mothers, and women in general. In fact, many private foundations provide grants and scholarships for women of all backgrounds and ages, including working mothers, women changing careers, women pursuing degrees in nontraditional fields, and women both beginning and returning to school. Here are 10 well-established scholarships for women:

Women’s Independence Scholarship Program (WISP)

• Scholarships for formerly battered women, for the purpose of getting an education that will help provide stable employment, personal independence, and self-sufficiency
• Primary goal is to help single mothers with young children who have the greatest financial challenges (childcare costs, etc.)
• You must be pursuing an accredited program (fulltime or part-time) at state-supported community colleges, state-supported colleges or universities, technical/vocational schools, private colleges or universities, proprietary schools
• Application Deadline: Check website for complete eligibility and application details

Jeannette Rankin Foundation Scholarships

• Scholarships for mature (age 35 or older), low-income women
• You must be enrolled in or accepted to an accredited school in pursuit of an associate’s degree or first bachelor’s degree in a technical or vocational education
• Application Deadline: Check website in October

Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.)

• Program for Continuing Education: $2,000 need-based grants to women returning to school to support themselves and/or their families
• STAR Scholarship Pilot Program: $2,500 scholarships for high school seniors to pursue postsecondary education at accredited institutions
• International Peace Scholarship: $10,000 (maximum) scholarships for international women students pursuing graduate study in the U.S. and Canada
• Scholar Awards: Substantial merit-based awards for pursuing a doctoral level degree or postgraduate study or research at an accredited college or university
• Application deadline: Check website

Soroptimist Women’s Opportunity Awards

• Scholarships (number varies): up to $10,000 each
• For women who are the main breadwinners for their families and who have overcome challenges to return to school, to help them improve education, skills, and employment prospects
• You must be enrolled in or have been accepted to a vocational/skills training program or an undergraduate degree program (you can’t already have an undergraduate degree)
• Application deadline: December 1

Talbot’s Women’s Scholarship Fund

• 60 Scholarships of $1,000 each and 6 Scholarships of $10,000 each (only applicants seeking a bachelor’s degree from a 2- or 4-year college or university are eligible for these awards)
• For women who earned their high school diploma or GED at least 10 years ago
• You must be seeking an undergraduate degree from an accredited 2- or 4-year college or university, or vocational-technical school
• Application deadline: Check the website in the fall for a scholarship the following year

Possible Woman Foundation International Scholarships

• Scholarships (number varies): approx. $2,000–$5,000
• For stay-at-home moms entering the workforce in need of additional education/training, women returning to school after a break in their education, and women changing careers or seeking career advancement
• Application deadline: January

American Association of University Women Career Development Grants

• Grants: $2,000–$12,000
• For women with a bachelor’s degree preparing to advance their careers, change careers, or re-enter the work force
• Special consideration given to women of color and women pursuing their first advanced degree or credential in nontraditional fields
• For pursuing master’s degree, second bachelor’s degree, or specialized training in technical or professional fields
• Distance learning programs are eligible
• Application deadline: December

Accounting Scholarships for Women in Transition

• Scholarship: up to $16,000 over 4 years
• Women in Transition and Women in Need Scholarships for women who have become the sole source of support for themselves and their family, either through divorce or death of a spouse; other circumstances also considered
• For incoming freshmen, current freshmen, or women returning to school with a freshmen status pursuing an accounting degree
• Application deadline: April

Royal Neighbors of America Scholarships for Women

• Life Enrichment Scholarships for Returning Students (5): $500 each awarded to returning students over 21 and pursuing short term coursework
• New Horizons Scholarships for Returning Students (10): $5,000 each one-time scholarships awarded to females over the age of 35
• New Horizons Leader Scholarship for a Returning Student (1): $5,000/year for up to four years awarded to a woman over the age of 35 who goes above and beyond to volunteer in her community and achieve financial security, health and wellness
• You must be a Royal Neighbors of America member
• Application deadline: April

Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship

• Scholarships: $10,000 each/year; Finalists: $1,000 award each
• For rising seniors and graduate students enrolled fulltime in Computer Science, Computer Engineering program, or closely related technical field
• Application Deadline: February 1

Be sure to visit each scholarship site for complete FAQ, eligibility details, and application process, and deadlines. For more scholarship opportunities for moms, see our post Single Mom Scholarships.

Believe it or not, if you’re thinking about continuing your education with a graduate degree, it’s already time to start researching grants for grad school. Scholarships and grants for grad school are highly competitive, so it may work to your advantage to prepare and apply as early as you can. Due to the extensive review process, many deadlines for the first round of grad school grant competitions are in the fall.

Grants for Grad School are Merit-based Aid

Grants and scholarships for grad school may have some need-based component to them, but they are usually merit-based. These are financial aid awards for students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement and professional promise in their fields, or who in other ways than financial need prove that they meet the intense eligibility criteria of the grad school grant or scholarship sponsor.

Many grants for grad school are classed as stipends, intended to cover education expenses ranging from cost of attendance to housing and living bills.

Grants for Grad School Sponsors: Colleges and Foundations

Individual colleges and universities are a primary source of grants for grad school because most graduate financial aid is department-specific. Many academic departments create their own graduate scholarships for students who excel in those fields. These days, there is a growing supply of department grad scholarships specifically for financially needy students.

Public and private sponsors, including nonprofit foundations, institutions, and corporations, are another source of scholarships and grants for grad school. There are any number of prestigious national foundations looking for the next generation of world leaders, game changers, and scholars for their equally prestigious graduate fellowships.

No Pell Grants for Grad Students

Graduate students do not qualify for Pell Grants, which are reserved for pre-bachelor degree undergraduates only. Grad students are eligible for federal TEACH grants, however, if you plan to pursuing a graduate teaching degree and are willing to teach low-income children in a designated teacher shortage area for 4 years post-graduation. Graduate students in teaching can get TEACH grants up to $8,000.

Searchable Grants for Grad School Database on the Federal Student Aid Website

The Federal Student Aid website maintains a scholarship database that lists thousands of grants and scholarships offered by both individual schools and private foundations.

The best way to search for suitable grants for grad school is by the subject you intend to get your graduate degree in. For example, a search on the subject keyword “communications” turned up 46 university and private scholarships. Not all were grants for grad school, but the extensive database brings into one place opportunities from all the best-known private sources as well as hundreds of colleges and universities.