Online Accounting Degree College Grants
Are you seeking funds for your accounting degree? If you plan to study accounting, grants often provide a two-fold purpose. You can learn where to find and apply for grants and, in the process, become proficient enough to add this skill to your resume as an accountant.Grants, unlike scholarships, are gifted to a student without requirements once the funds are dispersed. But, like scholarships, grants do require some work and they are usually funded based upon merit, skills, financial need and your relationships with other organizations, ethnic groups, minorities and colleges.
To begin, you might fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). This application will enable your information to flow into the correct channels for Pell Grants and other government-based grants. Other federal grants often are posted at Students.gov, so be sure to look through those opportunities as well. Many grants are not based upon specialty, so be sure to check all grants – not just those geared toward accounting students.
Many grants are offered as internships (hands-on experience) or as fellowships. The latter offerings usually focus on research and offer a basic stipend to help defray travel or living expenses. Other grants may be offered by accounting-based organizations such as the American Accounting Association. Still other grants may be offered through your state or through the college financial aid office.
Other places to seek grants include honor societies. Beta Alpha Psi, an honorary organization for financial information students and professionals, offers awards based upon writing and abstracts and various college honor societies also offer awards based upon merit or need. You also could delve into various offerings provided by business organizations and honor societies as well to learn about their grant opportunities.
Accounting students also can seek grant monies from institutions. Some institutions may offer grants to freshmen, but other institutions may offer grants to graduate, doctoral or post-graduate students to conduct various surveys or to help revamp budget issues. In these cases, the grant-for-project program is asking for hands-on participation in a given business in exchange for money to help pay college bills.
Again, like scholarships, various sources offer grants to students based upon ethnicity, gender, merit, need and upon affiliation with an organization or even a given profession. If you or your parents were military members, you may find money there. Other funds are offered to students from historical groups. You may have never served in the military, but if your third great-grandfather served in the Civil War, his participation in that war may pay for part of your education.
It takes time and effort to learn about grants, to understand what they demand from the recipient, and to accomplish the regulations outlined by each grant. But, in the end, this time and effort may be worthwhile, as you could accumulate enough grant funds to pay for a good portion of your education. Don’t feel you don’t deserve these funds – if you don’t go after them, someone else may receive the money you deserved.
