Why Are Scholarships Important? 7+ Benefits of Scholarships 🎓

Why are scholarships important? In the United States, only 0.3% of students got a full-ride scholarship. As the odds are quite long, it can seem like there’s no point in applying for this financial aid.

Yet the benefits of scholarships are huge and make applying well worth your time. We know that applying to college is a stressful experience and applying for scholarships can seem like another additional stress that you don’t need. Yet if you can convince a college that you’re the right candidate for a scholarship, full-ride or not, you can set yourself up for life.

We’ve already shown you how internships can help you. This time, we’re going to take a look at how you can use scholarships to improve your college experience.

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Related Read: Scholarships 101: Everything You Need to Know About Getting a Scholarship

Here are 8 great benefits of scholarships and why they’re so important:

1. Scholarships Make Education Easier to Access

College in the United States is expensive: the average student debt of the class of 2018 is $29,800. If you’re a gifted student from a poorer background, accessing higher education can seem impossible. This is one of the key answers to the question of “why are scholarships important?”

No one should have their education limited due to a lack of household income. One of the most important scholarship benefits for society is that it gives us engineers, doctors, academics, nurses, lawyers, and scientists from backgrounds that would make traditional college financial aid hard to secure. Having more people in these professions is better for us as a society and helps us fill any employment gaps that would otherwise be empty.

Related Read: What Is a Scholarship and How Do Scholarships Work?

2. Students That Win Scholarships Can Access Extensive Support

Winning a scholarship nets you more than just a healthy bank balance. Many colleges offer support to students that have won scholarships, to help them get the most out of their money. 

This doesn’t mean that your college will babysit your spending and curtail you from having fun, don’t worry! What it means is that they’ll help you experience the full benefits of scholarships, offering mentorship to help you with the program. This extra support can be a massive help for any freshman and means that the college will be with you every step of the way to help you achieve the very best results that you can.

Related Read: Top 18 Best Scholarship Websites Perfect for College Students and High School Seniors

3. Scholarships Help You Network

This is one of the lesser-known benefits of scholarships. When you are awarded a scholarship, you’ll be able to network with other people who have also won the award. As you’re likely to be in the same academic field, this can provide huge networking bonuses when you’ve graduated.

For instance, if you win a scholarship in business administration, you’ll be able to stay in touch with sophomores and seniors who have also been given the award. When the time comes to get a job, you’ll already have contacts in the industry, which gives you a tremendous advantage over other candidates. Networking now can also grant you other academic opportunities, research opportunities, and give you a close-knit friendship group in your industry.

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4. No Need to Work

According to government statistics, nearly half of all undergraduate students have a job to help them finance their studies and living costs. Getting a job can help college students tremendously, yet they can also detract from the quality of their work.

If you have to work 16 hours per week or more, will you be able to put in as much effort on your paper? This is a compromise that many college students need to make. 

A key benefit of scholarships is that the need to work is removed. Instead, you can dedicate all of your time to working on your academic projects. This lets you improve your grades and get a better job when you graduate.

Related Read: How to Get a Scholarship? 8 Tips to Help You Get Free Money for School

5. Gives Your Resume a Boost

Winning scholarships can be difficult. Some scholarships have thousands of applicants which means that if you are awarded the scholarship, your pre-college achievements are given additional recognition. 

When you apply to jobs with a scholarship on your resume, it shows that not only did you work hard in college, but you worked hard before. If the college saw fit to choose you over thousands of others, why shouldn’t an employer do the same?

6. Scholarships Encourage Philanthropy

If you win a scholarship, it’s hoped that your approach to life will change. If you’ve been helped by this donation, then you may go on to become more philanthropic yourself. Perhaps you’ll go on to found another scholarship or support the college with charitable donations.

Related Read: 15 Books to Read Before College for High School Students and Graduates 📖

7. Scholarships Give You Access to More Colleges

Even if you aren’t from a poor background, there are likely to be some colleges that are off-limits if you don’t get a scholarship. Some Ivy League colleges, for instance, can saddle you with six figures of debt if you self-fund your way through your studies. 

One of the best benefits of scholarships is that you’ll be able to access the very best education. If you have incredible academic abilities, then you’ll be able to gain access to the best colleges in the world, and leave with either no debt or far less debt than you would otherwise.

8. Additional Experience

Depending on who awards your scholarship, you may be required to carry out voluntary work in your industry. This is far from a burden: it gives you fantastic real-world experience that will improve your resume and help you in your career. 

Even if it isn’t mandatory, you should look for voluntary work to go along with your scholarship. This kind of industry experience is invaluable.

Related Read: How to Use Goodwall’s Web Profile to Score a Scholarship & Get Into Uni

Wrapping Up

We began this article by asking “why are scholarships important?” We hope that we’ve shown you why you should apply for scholarships: there is an incredible range of benefits of scholarships, and they can help you get the most out of college and your life after graduation.

Got any feedback, questions, or other points to add about why scholarships are important for university applications? Want to know when to apply for a college scholarship? Let us know below in the comments, and thanks for reading!