External Scholarships

There are excellent privately funded scholarships available to students and their families. These awards do not need to be repaid and are funded from a variety of sources including community organizations, local and national foundations, state and federal agencies, and private donors. Information about scholarships is free and may be found in the reference sections of Meriam Library and public libraries, as well as high school counseling and guidance offices. A good source of scholarship information for upper division students may be their major department office and the Web sites of professional associations in their academic disciplines.

Students and Parents:  For an excellent article from financial aid professionals on eight steps to winning a scholarship, link here.

External Scholarship Databases

Hints for using scholarship databases:

1. Remember to narrow your search terms
2. Be as specific as you can about your personal "identifiers"
3. "Un-check" box which gives your approval for the site sharing information with affiliate partners

Free personalized scholarship searches are available at the following Web sites.

• College Board
• FastWeb
• FinAid
• GraduateTutor
• InternationalScholarships.com
• Peterson's
• SallieMae Scholarship Search
• ScholarshipExperts.com
• Scholarships.com
• School Soup
• Study Abroad Funding
• SuperCollege.com

To avoid being a victim of a scholarship scam, students and their families should keep in mind the following tips:

• If you must pay money to get money, it might be a scam.
• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• Spend time, not money.
• Never invest more than a postage stamp to get information about a scholarship.
• Nobody can guarantee that you'll win a scholarship.
• Legitimate scholarship foundations do not charge a fee.
• If you are suspicious of an offer, it is usually with good reason.

What to Do When You Receive an External Scholarship

1. The organization that awards you the scholarship will generally mail the check to CSU, Chico. If they mail it to you directly, please bring it to the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office for processing.
2. After the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office has received a student's external scholarship check(s), the office enters it into the student's financial aid award.
3. The student will receive an e-mail informing them of a change in their award.
4. Once entered into a student's award, the scholarship is considered pending aid. Pending aid defers charges until the first disbursement, after which disbursements occur weekly as files are completed. After all charges are paid, any money remaining will be disbursed to you.
5. The turn-around time for complete processing of external scholarships is two to three weeks.

Fall 2013: First possible disbursement August 22, 2013

Spring 2014: First possible disbursement date is January 16, 2014

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