After the age of 40, many women feel the need to start a new career or to finish the studies they once started and never had the time to finish, but many of them also feel put off by the high costs of college education – if you are one of these ladies, you must know that there are many opportunities to obtain the necessary financial aid through special scholarships for women over 40. Numerous institutions of higher education, foundations, government agencies and private companies have recognized the importance and the benefits of helping women over 40 participate in college education and the scholarships they offer have been designed to meet the specific requirements of ladies over 40.
The Education Bureau in your state and the Federal Student Aid Information Center are among the best resources, but entering a simple query into your internet browser will also return plenty of valuable results. Depending on the major you are planning to have, you can consult the websites of professional organizations in your field and the websites of large corporations in the industry – many of them provide financial aid for mature students.
To be eligible for such scholarships, you need to be a US citizen or permanent resident, you need to be a female over forty years of age, you need to be a college student at one of the institutions of higher education accredited and listed as accepted by the scholarship provider, and you will also be required to demonstrate that you need the financial aid. Some scholarships provide aid only for certain majors such as science, engineering or accountancy, while others are available only for graduate or only for undergraduate students, but there are quite many that don’t come with such restrictions.
Scholarship providers have their own application requirements, but, as a general rule, you will be required to prove your eligibility. This means that your application must contain an application form filled out correctly and the documents to support the information you provide in the form, such as proof of acceptance of enrollment if you are a freshman and transcripts of your academic results if you are a sophomore or third year student, records of your previous and/or current employment, letters of reference, and probably even tax return forms. Some college scholarships for women over 40 also require applicants to submit a personal essay about their career goals and other objectives, so start working on your application as early as possible.