Single mothers are bearing the brunt of this recession. Most are uneducated or undereducated. They are working themselves to a frazzle trying to make ends meet and be good parents. It is like being on a hamster wheel constantly striving and getting nowhere fast. You need a better job to support your family, you cannot get a better job because of lack of education, and you can’t get the money for a better education without first having a better job, where does the cycle end. It can end here and now. This article intends to show you several ways to get the financial help you want to finance the education you need.
Single mothers are not all the products of unplanned or teenage pregnancies. Some are in the situation because of deaths or divorces. It really doesn’t matter how you got there, this is about how to get out of the rut and get a life that you and your kids can be proud of. one of the first recourse that comes to mind would be online education. Choosing to pursue a degree online would eliminate the need to be away from home for hours on end. It also takes away the need for high priced childcare.
The one thing about attending a day or nighttime college program, as a single parent is that you will miss a lot of class time caring for your children if they get ill. Online courses are there at the click of a mouse and you never have to miss a lecture or other assignment because they are downloadable. Online education is flexible and is easily molded into your already tight schedule. Today some community colleges offer their programs online.
There are several financial resources available to assist you with your decision to further your education. You can apply for grants, loans and scholarships. As a single parent it would be advisable to steer clear of student loans if at all possible. And if you find that it is not possible you should only take out a loan after you have exhausted all other means of financial assistance. If the grants you are awarded do not cover the entirety of the cost. This will make the payback amount much less.
The first step is to decide where you want to study and what. Online or at a local college. As a single parent you will probably forgo living on campus but your living cost will be taken into consideration in deciding the amount of your grant just the same. Call or go online to check what if any type of grants or scholarships can be applied for through the school. A lot of colleges and major universities are recognizing the need to assist single mothers in their heroic effort and have started scholarship and grant programs to that end.
Bear in mind that the competition for some grants and scholarships are going to be tough there are just so many awards and thousands of applicants. Knowing this it is best that you begin applying as early as possible and attempting to get all the credentials you need before hand. Most scholarship applications require that you submit an essay. There are great resources online to assist you with this process. The better the essay the greater the chance of your application being accepted.
Web-Giveaways
There are a number of online sweepstake scholarship giveaways that moms might apply for. One such is the 10k Scholarship for Working Adults. There are other such programs online that you can sign up for. They are not a scholarship in a traditional sense, but more of a giveaway program. You sign up and get the chance to win $10,000. A draw is taken every month for the prize. Of course these type of scholarships are different than the merit-based ones you might apply for, but worth the couple minutes it takes to apply.
Federal Grants
Try to remember that rejection is a prelude to success and take each one in stride, learning what was wrong and fixing it in the next one. the easiest grant to get is the Pell Grant. You can apply for by filling out the Federal Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/, the application is free and is the gateway to all the other government grants that are available.
The Pell grant was designed to help people with low incomes go to school in order to better their lot in life. As a single parent you will more than qualify if you are currently earning minimum wage and living at the national poverty level. Being accepted for a Pell grant usually assures your acceptance for other grants. The Pell grant provides you with your Student Aid Report. This is the report that all the schools and other grant giving bodies use to determine your eligibility.
Grants for the Mature Woman
A lot of women opt to put their education on hold to raise a family and support their husbands in their careers the husband then leaves or dies leaving them with the responsibility for child rearing. There are grants specifically set apart for the older matured woman who wishes to return to the hallowed halls of academia. The following is a list of various grants and scholarships that you can apply for.
Newcombe Scholarships for Mature Women
Although this fund does not give scholarships directly to the student the fund supplies funds to different colleges and universities that are earmarked to help these women get back into school and get a better start. The scholarship is applied for directly at the college or university by visiting http://www.newcombefoundation.org/scholarship_mws.html, you can find out if one is in your area. The women have to be over the age of 25 to qualify for this scholarship.
Jeanette Rankin Women’s Scholarship
Another of the scholarship that is available to women over the age of 35 and meet the low-income guideline is the one founded by Jeanette Rankin. This can be only obtained through enrollment in an accredited post secondary education facility. For more information please go to http://rankinfoundation.org/, this will answer all your questions and show you how to apply.
There are more out there just take your time and remember Google is your friend. Some of these financial resources may be career specific, school specific or even sponsored by business or civic organization. The best thing to do is to begin to turn over some “rocks” and see what you find. It would be nice if there was a single website that listed all of this information but that isn’t possible. There are however many articles like this one that can point you in a good direction.
Determine What Your Goal Is
Goal setting is an important step in the process of seeking to further your education. Start with what you aspire to do as far as employment is concerned and work your way back to what the level of education you will need to obtain this position. If you want to teach at the high school level in say Science, you can start by finding out the educational requirements from the local School Board. Knowing what you would like to do also helps you in your search for funding there are scholarships geared specifically for teachers. And there are ones especially for women who want to study science. By following this link you can learn more about what it takes to be a recipient of this particular scholarship http://www.studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/TEACH.jsp if all else fails go to this site and enter in your states name to see what is available for you http://unclaimedscholarships.us/?p=535
There is more To It
A lot of single mothers are actually working for companies that offer grants and scholarships and are totally unaware of this fact. KFC, McDonalds, Churches Chicken, Popeye’s, Walmart and Kmart all offer a scholarship of sorts to employees looking to further their education. At one point KFC was offering a 20,000.00 scholarship for the best tweet. No, kidding not 3000-word essay just 140 words and someone walked away with $20,000.00 in educational funds. http://www.kfcscholars.org/. Lowes offers scholarships as well you can apply at http://careers.lowes.com/college_recruiting_scholarship.aspx#1, if you click on the following URL it will redirect you to a site that has Pdf files for several fast food chains about their scholarship programs http://www.allstudies.org/Kmart+Scholarships.htm, like Wendy’s.
If it is your desire to attend a business school you should look into singlemotherassistance.net’s single mother education help. They have a listing of various scholarships for potential business students. There are scholarships awarded not only for business degrees but for degrees in nursing, physical therapy, Engineering and others. What ever you have chosen as a career path you can probably find a scholarship for it. Grants and scholarships are not widely advertised by business and corporations you have to look for them. Again be aware that the search engine is your friend. You can look up any company and find out what if any grants and scholarships are being offered by them.
CONCLUSION
Finding the money for advanced education is a matter of taking the time to beat the bushes. If you look long and hard enough you are sure to find some funds to help you in your quest. The hard part is over, you have made an intellectual decision based on available facts. Fact one: you need a better Job. Fact Two: you need a better education to get the better job. Fact three: you need funds to get the education. All that is left for you to do is to get cracking on those applications and essays that will get you the funding you desire. It will take dedication to your cause in order to hang in there until the your ship clears the horizon but do no get discouraged. You might want to check out singlemom.net’s how to go to college as a mother article for more information about the education assistance programs for moms.. You will get rejected but keep applying eventually someone will respond in kind. You will experience a sense of satisfaction like never before when you receive that first positive award letter. The ball is in your court go and make your mark on the world and gets the education you need to improve your family’s future. It is a feeling that cannot be explained so go get yours today.
OTHER SINGLE MOM RESOURCES
There are a number of good websites that cater to parenting and mom topics:
- SingleMom.com — good resources, though layout is sloppy and hard to navigate
- SingleParents.About.Com — good topics for single parents
- SingleMom.Net — a general single mom site
- SingleMoms.org’s (an online magazine) Single Mother Assistance section
- NetMums.com — good parenting topics
- singleparentsnetwork.com
