Grants for Older Adults Returning to School – Returning to school needs a bold step and adults have to dare to think of brighter future with more education. There are many challenges waiting for adults who have decided to pursue higher education. It’s not easy, but it’s possible!
One of the biggest challenges that have to be faced by adults who want to return to school is how they pay for it. We all know that college tuition is getting higher day by day, and adults already have many things to pay for. Applying for a college loan would also give more burden because adults may already have more debts than they should. Therefore, the best solution for you is to look for grants for adults returning to school.
There are college grants available for adults who want to return to school and pursue higher education. The only thing that you have to know is where to look for them.
Before applying for a college grant, you have to be prepared. Both public and private sources will gather information by about you as much as they can, such as your financial condition, personal background, and goals before they decide to award you the money for returning to school.
You need to collect all the documents containing the information about you because you will submit them to the institutions that will provide you the aid to return to school.
After you collect the documents, you’re ready to apply for the college financial aid. You can complete the application process online. Here is the list of programs and websites you can check to get grants for older adults returning to school:
- FAFSA
FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Federal Student Aid is a part of the US Department of Education that provides financial aid for students in the nations. Federal Student Aid helps people with a dedicated mind to access the college education, the institution provides more than $150 billion in federal grants, loans, and work-study funds each year to more than 13 million students so they could pay for college or career school tuitions.
You can contact them via phone or send them an e-mail by go here “https://studentaidhelp.ed.gov/app/ask” if you want to ask for further information.
Phone:
- 1-800-433-3243 (toll-free)
- 1-334-523-2691 (for international callers)
- FSEOG – https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget21/justifications/p-sfa.pdf
FSEOG (Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant) is a program that would help adult students who have already attended college, and want to return to school for higher education. The program is also available to students who are qualified for Pell Grant but still more financial aid. The amount of aid provided by FSEOG ranges from $100 to $4000.
FSEOG provides need-based grants to assist low-income undergraduate students in paying the costs of postsecondary education. The participants can receive the grants at any one of approximately 3,800 postsecondary institutions that cooperate with the program.
Students who want to join the program must file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as a part of the process for joining FSEOG program.
You can send a mail or call them if you want to ask for further information.
Phone: 1-800-872-5327
Mailing Address:
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20202
- Opportunity.gov
Opportunity.gov gives a chance to unemployed adults who seek for retraining and education so they could rejoin the nation’s workforce. The website will tell you how to join the government’s financial aid programs and refer the important websites to you. You can also call them or click here to ask some questions related to the financial aid programs.
Phone: 1-800-4-FED-AID
- The Soroptimist Live Your Dream Awards
The Soroptimist Live Your Dream Awards (formerly known as the Soroptimist Women’s Opportunity Awards) provides financial assistance to women and single mothers, who become the source of income for their families. The program grants awards to women who want to complete degrees by returning to college so they could advance their careers. The awards provided by the program range from $3000-$5000.
Since the program began in 1972, about $30 million in education grants have been provided to tens of thousands women, and they can pursue higher education so their dreams to have a better life for themselves and their families become true. The program received the Associations Advance America Summit Award (ASAE), and the highest level of recognition from the Center for Association Leadership in 2007.
For women who want to return to school, and want to ask some questions related to the program, you can contact them by phone or send them an e-mail.
Phone: 215-893-9000
E-mail: siahq@soroptimist.org
- National Black Nurses Association – http://www.nbna.org/
Adult students of color who seek to return to college to complete their nursing degrees can join the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) to get the financial aid they need. The organization provides awards that range from $500 to $2000.
The organization was found in 1971 under the leadership of Dr. Lauranne Sams, former Dean, and Professor of Nursing at a School of Nursing, Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama. NBNA is a non-profit organization established on September 2, 1972, in the state of Ohio. The organization represents 150,000 African American registered nurses, nursing students, licensed vocational/practical nurses, and retired nurses from the USA, Africa, and Eastern Carribean, with 92 chartered chapters, in 35 states.
If you have some questions for the organization, you can reach them by phone or an e-mail.
Phone: (301) 589-3200
E-mail: info@nbna.org
After you read the list of programs and websites that could help you get the grants for older adults returning to school, you may start applying for the grants. You can also find other sources that could give you the financial aid you need. Despite this, you have to be careful in looking for the other sources because you could face scams.
The internet can give you a false sense of security when you’re searching for catalogs, grants, scholarship programs, or other services that advertise help for college. You always have to consider the information you will be asked for, because some identity thieves may misuse the information you give. Work only with reliable sources that you can verify.
How to tell that a source is reputable? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has made a list of organizations that are identified as scams, check ftc.gov to check for more information before you spend your money for a catalog or service.
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References:
- College Grants for Adults
- Grants For Adult Students
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