Who doesn't? Big scholarships may seem out of reach to you but don't despair. Sometimes you can piece together multiple small awards and end up ahead of the game. The easiest scholarship contest we know of is right here -- once you sign up on this web site you can register each month for a chance to win a $500 award in the form of an Amazon gift card. It's quick and easy to enter, check out our Giveaway Guidelines and then sign up to register -- you have until Sunday, March 31 to sign up for this month's drawing.

If you're starting to receive financial aid packages, congratulations! If they include some government loans remember a couple things: (1) loans are money that must be paid back and (2) there is a chance that the interest rate charged by the federal government will increase this year. In 2007 a law was passed cutting interest rates for Stafford Loans from 6.8% to 3.4%. That rate will expire on June 30th unless congress acts. Though no one probaby wants to affect 7.4 million students with higher loan rate,s Washington has been slow to move recently and slower to do anything that reduces tax "revenues." So just be aware, and check out our article to understand more about Student Loans.

Of course there are many things you must do to win scholarships, but the most important thing is to follow through! Meet deadlines, follow instructions, and watch for notifications of winning. Failure to respond to those notifications can make you ineligible for your award. We offer a monthly drawing of $500 that is easy to enter and win (sign up so you can register each month at http://www.whatisascholarship.com/accounts/login!). Two of our recent potential winners have not responded and the scholarship has gone unclaimed. So be sure to sign up with an email account you check regularly --- we keep your email address private and promise no spam emails!

It's may not be fun to hear the news these days, but rest assured that this too shall pass. Though spending cuts certainly need to happen if our economy is to survive, real short-term drastic cuts are neither necessary nor likely. And most students can relax because federally provided Student Aid is "forward funded". What that means is that the money for it was appropriated in the previous year, so the funds are not affected by current turmoil. So take a deep breath and check out additional sources of aid you might not be familiar with in our article on Stealth Sudent Aid.