As the Senior Admissions Advisor here at the American College of Healthcare Sciences (ACHS), I’m lucky to be able to speak with prospective students all day long. They're budding aromatherapists, herbalists, and holistic nutritionists (the list goes on!), just like some of you. And, they ask great questions, especially about how to find scholarships and pay for their holistic health education. (Great question, right?!?) Who doesn't want to know the answer! This is such a hot topic that I even hosted a webinar in April, which you can watch for free here: Scouting Scholarships for Your ACHS Education. But if you’re looking for a quick cheat sheet that you can bookmark or print out, I’ve listed my top tips for how to find scholarships right here on our blog.
Wherever you are on your path—whether you're a new student, a returning student, a graduate student, or just starting to think about heading back to school for your online holistic health career training—start out on the right foot with my tips for how to find scholarships for your holistic health education. Here we go...
Amanda's Top Tips for How to Find Scholarships:
- Create a professional email with no silly names or offensive words. This email is specifically for scholarship searches, applications, setting up profiles, etc. This is to keep it separate from your personal email so you don’t lose important emails or fill up a regular-use email with any junk mail that could result.
- Save your scholarship essays. It's easier to modify an essay you have versus re-writing an essay each time you want to apply for a new scholarship. Adapt your essays as needed so you don’t have to re-write everything each time.
- Ask 2-3 people for references that are general in nature for scholarship applications. Ask them for multiple copies so you can use them for multiple scholarships.
- If you are involved in any social or community activities and projects, keep track of them. Examples include volunteer service (when? where? what? hours donated? responsibilities?), religious activities, and social organizations with a membership (track activities and positions held, and track donated time to volunteer activities).
- Keep a list of scholarships you apply for. Track when you submitted your documents, the due date, the "announcement date," and contact information so you can call and check in as needed.
- Look in unexpected places for scholarships!
- Don’t let yourself get disappointed! Keep a list of what you apply for and dates they choose the recipients. Free money is good money—even if its only $50—it helps pay for your education. Remember: it’s like looking for a job. You gotta keep applying and waiting…but good things come to those who work hard and wait!
Where to Look for Scholarships
- Any professional or social organizations where you are a member
- Community businesses, churches, etc.
- State and local government
- Large corporations like Bayer Medicine, Walmart, and Clairol (if you also happen to be a massage therapy student, you may qualify for the Helping Hands for Growth Grant Program—more information is available on the ACHS website at https://www.achs.edu/scholarship-funding)
- You can find scholarship directories at the local public library (it is a very big book!)
- Your place of employment: do they have tuition assistance, tuition reimbursement, or employee scholarship programs?
- Industry organizations like the Natural Products Foundation
- Internet searches
Where to Look for Holistic Health Scholarships on the ACHS Website
ACHS offers several scholarship opportunities for students who qualify. You can find information on the scholarships on the ACHS website, which include:
- ACHS Military Scholarship, which awards a one-time scholarship of $1,000 toward tuition
- ACHS Adult Skills Education Program Scholarship, which awards a one-time scholarship of $1,000 toward tuition—you can also read Q&A's from ASEP Scholarship recipients—Angie Jackson, Jennifer Combs, Kemmi Lee, and Krysta Merrill—right here on our blog!
Where to Look for Scholarships Online
- www.nerdwallet.com
- www.fastweb.com
- www.scholarships.com
- http://naturalproductsfoundation.org
- http://www.healthjobsstarthere.com/
- www.collegescholarships.com
- http://www.college-scholarships.com
- www.schoolsoup.com/scholarship-directory/special-situation/non-traditional-student/
- http://www.collegescholarships.org/scholarships/non-traditional.htm
- https://www.goodcall.com/scholarships/search/
If you enjoyed these tips for how to find scholarships for your holistic health education, get even more scholarship advice by watching the free recording of my webinar, Scouting Scholarships for Your ACHS Education.
If you have scholarship hunting tips and tricks to share, post a comment! I’d love to learn what's worked for you!
