Paying for school can be a challenge. Fortunately, it’s typically easier for seniors than it is for younger people! This may be surprising, but it’s actually true.
Many community colleges and universities offer free tuition for senior citizens. This makes going back to school for many seniors an attractive option. It could be you’ve always wanted an education but life has intruded. Or maybe you want to get an education and re-enter the workforce. It’s true that an unprecedented number of senior citizens are indeed heading back to work, due in no small part to the Great Recession we are currently experiencing.
However, not all educational programs are free for seniors. The good news is there are scholarships for seniors available out there. These scholarship programs are specifically designed to help senior citizens afford getting some type of education or retraining. Keep in mind that these programs are not common, but they do exist.
If you are a senior looking for some financial aid, you might want to start off with looking at getting some Federal financial aid. You can fill out a financial aid form at any college office. This form will give you access to various financial aid programs and grants.
You can also look at a college financial aid website or talk to a financial aid councillor at a college or university. You should be able to find a comprehensive list of different scholarships that you can apply for. There is a very real possibility that some of these scholarships specifically target certain age groups, including a senior’s age group.
You might also want to use some of the online scholarship and grant searching websites to aid in your search. Scholarships.com is one such website. You can easily search for scholarships based on a number of search criteria. You may just turn up the perfect scholarship.
It should be noted that there are many scam websites that will offer to “sell” you a guaranteed scholarship. These are complete scams and unfortunately, you need to keep a sharp eye out for these scam sites when you look for any sort of scholarship or grant program online. Stick to the bigger, reputable scholarship and grant searching websites and you should be fine, however.