1. Joshua Kuck Collegiate Cycling Scholarship: $1,500

Application Deadline: December 1, 2009

The USA Cycling Development Foundation’s Joshua Kuck Collegiate Cycling Scholarship awards at least $1,500 to one female and one male student who has gone the extra mile to succeed in academics and collegiate team development. Priority is given to applicants who have place an emphasis on cycling safety, advocacy and education. Click the link above to learn more about Joshua Kuck, whom the scholarship is named in memory of.  Applicants must be full-time students, U.S. citizens, and a member of a USA Cycling Collegiate cycling club. Included with your application must be a brief, one-page statement explaining why you feel you are the best candidate to receive the scholarship and describing your contributions to cycling safety. Winners will be notified by December 15, 2009.

2. Mommy Goes to College Scholarship: $1,000

Application Deadline: December 31, 2009

Are you a mom planning to go to college? You could win a $1,000 scholarship from Myusearchblog.com for your first year of studies.  Applicants must submit an essay of no more than 750 words, or a video of no longer than 5 minutes, answering the questions:

What is your biggest challenge as a mother trying to get a degree? What can colleges and universities do to help you overcome this challenge and encourage other mothers to further their education?

Applicants must have a combined household income of less than $100,000 and must not have previously attended the college or university to which the scholarship will be applied.

3. Hispanic Scholarship Fund General College Scholarship: $1,000 – $5,000

Application Deadline: December 15, 2009

The Hispanic General Scholarship Fund awards up to $5,000 scholarships to students of Hispanic heritage enrolled (or planning to enroll) in community college or four-year colleges. Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to apply. In addition to being of Hispanic heritage, applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, have a minimum GPA of 3.0, be enrolled in a full-time course of study, and have completed the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).

If you would like to learn more about college scholarships, please visit the Financial Aid Finder’s section on scholarship information. Let us show you how to navigate the scholarship application process, write killer scholarship essays, take advantage of scholarship search engines, and win weird & unusual scholarships.

Good luck with your scholarship applications this week!

Well, today I need to come clean with you all. While it’s still an unbelievably good deal to pay for college with someone else’s money, that money might not be entirely free. That’s because with some scholarships, you might just owe Uncle Sam his cut. Now this isn’t always the case — sometime the money is completely tax free. But the distinction is tripping enough of you up that I wanted to review the rules with you today.

Whether or not you received a W2 with your scholarship or grant, you may still owe taxes on some, part or all of the amount. Here’s how you figure it out.

When you owe all:

• If you are not a candidate for a degree, then you must claim the entire amount of the scholarship as income. The value of the scholarship will be taxed at your current income tax rate. So let’s say you are in the 25% bracket and you win a $1,000 scholarship for your non-degree course of study (i.e. you won’t be graduating with a BA, MA, PhD, etc. as a result of your studies). Come April of the following year, you will owe the government $250 in taxes on your $1,000 scholarship.

• If you win a scholarship prize through a contest which does not require to you to use the winnings for your education, the full amount must be claimed as income. If you can use the money for any purpose, then you will generally owe taxes on all of your winnings.

When you owe none:

• If you are a student working toward your degree and you receive a scholarship that is applied fully to the cost of your tuition, fees, books or equipment, you will not owe any taxes on the value of that scholarship. So let’s say you are working on your Master’s degree and you win an $8,000 scholarship. The cost of your tuition is $12,000, so you apply the entire scholarship to your tuition bill. You will not be required to claim the scholarship as income on your tax return.

When you owe some:

• If you are a candidate for a degree, you will owe taxes on the portion of the scholarship not being used for tuition, fees, books or equipment required for your coursework. So let’s say you are studying for your B.A. and you win a $10,000 scholarship. Your tuition, fees  and textbooks only cost $4,000, so you apply the balance of the scholarship ($6,000) toward your room and board bill. You are required to claim the $6,000 as income on your tax return. If you have additional sources of income on which you are assessed a rate of, let’s say, 25%, then you will owe that same 25% on the $6K. Keep this in mind when you allocate your scholarship money, as you may prefer to set aside the $1,500 right away.

For additional information on when and how to report scholarship winnings on your income taxes, see IRS.gov for their article on scholarship income.

Winning scholarships is as much about the quality of your applications as the quantity of your applications. In other words: It’s a numbers game. Apply to 10 scholarships and you might win one. Apply to 100 scholarships and you might win enough to cover tuition, room and board! The more you apply, the better your chances of winning. In the somewhat altered words of the late Mayor Daly, “Apply early, apply often!”

If you are a regular to the Financial Aid Finder, you probably know by now that every Friday I encourage you to apply for scholarships by telling you about three opportunities with upcoming deadlines. This week, I have three great scholarships, including an essay competition about economic development, another essay contest about the foreclosure crisis, and an online visual arts competition.

1. SEVEN Fund Economic Development Essay Competition: $10,000

Deadline: December 7, 2009

The SEVEN Fund is seeking essays about inspiring new models of economic development from around the globe. Per the website, applicants must read the article ‘Rwanda Rising: A New Model of Development’ and then

write an essay about models of economic development anywhere in the world that subvert traditional top-down approaches, and instead use a ‘heretical mix’ of business strategy, local wisdom, culture, and mutual benefit to bring about sustainable economic change at the city, country, or regional level.

Essays must be no longer than 2000 words and must be written in English. In addition, a brief abstract and author bio should be included. Essays may be submitted online, using the link above. The competition is open to high school students, undergraduates, and graduate students studying any field. College students must e enrolled full-time at an accredited institution.

2. MYARTSPACE.com Art Competition : $5,000

Deadline: December 16, 2009.

MYARTSPACE is the premier online venue for the contemporary art world and it is seeking applicants to its second annual art scholarship program. The scholarship will provide two grand prizes — one for undergraduates and one for graduates — to students that exhibit exceptional artistic excellence in the visual arts, including photography and video. Applicants must be enrolled in an approved BFA, MFA or other art graduate degree program. Submissions should be uploaded to an online MYARTSPACE gallery, containing up to 20 images for review by the jury panel. A total of $19,000 will be awarded, with $5,000 going to the two first place winners, $2,000 to each of the 2nd place winners, and $1,000 to the two in 3rd place.

3. Foreclosure.com Essay Contest: $5,000

Deadline: December 31, 2009

Here is an interesting and timely scholarship. Foreclosure.com is calling on college students to come up with creative ideas on how to solve the foreclosure crisis. Submit an essay of no fewer than 1,000 words and no more than 2,5000 word describing your solution to the foreclosure crisis. The top five plans will be sent to Congress and the White House and earn the writers scholarship dollars. Top prize is $5,000, 2nd through 5th place will each receive $1,000.

If you want to learn more about college scholarships, come visit Financial Aid Finder’s scholarship information section. We’ve got how-to articles on the scholarship application process, scholarship essays, scholarship search engines, and weird & unusual scholarships.

Good luck with your scholarship applications this week!

• For traditional four-year degree applicants, you should apply to 8 colleges — with at least two of them being “safety” schools. The high number will help to ensure that you find the best fit for you academically — and financially. Since aid offers can vary from school to school, it’s a good idea to have as many financial aid award letters to compare as possible.

• The trend among college applications is to do away with the long, personal essay. In order to maximize your 250-500 words, aim to say something about you that isn’t already in your application or transcript. Don’t just rehash your academic record, rather relate a unique attribute or experience that you have had. Remember: Choose your words carefully! This post is about 250 words, so it’s really not that long at all!

• Be aware that some colleges are checking out applicants’ Facebook and Twitter accounts. You don’t have to shut your social networking down altogether during college app season, but use some common sense about what you put out there. If you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see pictures of what you did last weekend, then you shouldn’t want your college admissions counselor to see it either!

How are your college apps going? Any pearls of wisdom to share with your fellow Financial Aid Finder reader? (Here’s more from us on college admission.)

As last year’s financial crash has proven, planning on high returns from market-invested college funds is far from a sure thing.

With the volatile market continuing to batter college savings plans, a number of savings & loans have begun rolling out incentives to save the “old fashioned way”, according to USA Today.

The article points to a number of examples, including a $1,000 bonus that Citizens Bank is offering to those who open a college savings account before their child turns six. It’s a sweet deal: If customers deposit at least $25 per month every year, then the $1,000 bonus, plus interest, will be paid when the child turns 18.

While savings accounts are generally not the best place to save for college — there just isn’t enough compounding interest to get any leverage on the skyrocketing costs of tuition — this particular deal is worth a closer look.

Let’s say you open the account right before your child turns 6. That leaves you 13 years — or 156 months — to deposit $25/month. If you were to stick to that minimum, you would put aside a total of $3900 over those 13 years. On which you would earn $1,000 — a whopping 25.65% interest rate! Pretty impressive. (Of course, if you deposit more than $25 per month, or if start saving earlier in your child’s life, then the returns diminish.)

If you are interested in getting in on this deal, you will need to live in one of the nine states that the bank has branches: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Here’s more information for those of you living in the Northeast. And for the rest of you, come learn more about the best ways to save for college from my series comparing the various tax-advantaged college savings vehicles.

Let me make that “research” part of your weekend plan a little easier by giving you a lead on three great scholarship opportunities with upcoming deadlines.

1. Regional Undergraduate Scholarships, Engineering: $3,000
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers is offering a number of regional scholarships to undergraduate applicants with a minimum GPA of 3.0 and a class standing of at least the top 30%. For students living in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, there is a one-year $3,000 scholarship for an undergrad studying engineering or architecture. There is a second $3,000 scholarship annually to a full-time undergraduate engineering student enrolled in an accredited college or university in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma or Mexico. The application deadline is December 1, 2009.

2. American Ranch Horse Association Scholarship, $500

The American Ranch Horse Association is offering a $500 academic-based scholarship for the 2010-2011 school year to its youth members. Applicants must be current ARHA members, in good standing. Applicants must submit current school transcripts, a letter of recommendation from their principal, advisor or faculty member, a second letter of recommendation a club officer or board member of the local ARHA club; and a brief essay indicating the importance of higher education, career goals and scholarship need. The application deadline is December 31, 2009.

3. Amtrak Travel Scholarship: $750

The United Negro College Fund has teamed up with Amtrak to provide a $ 750 to undergraduate students with a minimum GPA of 3.0 who attend one of two dozen school. (Click the link above for a full listing of the schools, including most Historically Black Colleges and Universities.)

The scholarship will cover the cost of travel, by Amtrak, anywhere in the United States within a one-year period, up to $750. What a great way to get to school next year! The application deadline is November 20, 2009.

If you want to learn more about college scholarships, come visit Financial Aid Finder’s college student scholarship section. We’ve got how-to articles on the scholarship application process, scholarship essays, scholarship search engines, and weird & unusual scholarships.

Good luck with your scholarship applications this week! 

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, there are 58 private colleges charging at least $50K for tuition, fees, room and board — up from “just” five colleges charging that much last year. Top of the list is the all-female Sarah Lawrence College, at $55,788/year.

To put that price tag in perspective, I liked this quote from the article:

Before the 1980s … people at private colleges had a rule of thumb: A year of private education should cost about the same as a new Chevrolet.

“You don’t have to pay $50,000 for a new Chevy these days,” Mr. Breneman says. “So somewhere in there we went off onto a different path.”

(In fact, I just did some Googling and it looks like a new Chevy Impala will cost you around $25k.)

Obviously the two-Chevy-cost is pricing a number of families out of private education. So what about public universities? Turns out they are raising their tuition rates even faster. The average in-state, four-year college degree now costs just under $16k/year, an increase of 5.9% over last year. Private schools, on average, raised their rates “just” 4.3%.

Also, bear in mind that many students at private schools receive grants and scholarships — an average of $13K/year at the 36 most expensive private schools in America, which knocks the average price tag down to $36,000/year (still more than twice the cost of an in-state college). In fact, one private college administrator said that of this year’s incoming freshmen class, two-thirds received financial aid, with an average grant of $30,000.

The Chronicle also interviewed a number of higher ed administrators, who weighed in on whether or not the ceiling has been reached — and what the high costs of private education mean to today’s students. While that $50K is obviously a benchmark of sorts, I’m thinking that for families earning the average yearly income — or even twice that — $50,000 is no less affordable than $45,000 or even $40,000. What do you think? How do these rising private school costs impact your decisions about college?

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Our Financial Aid writers post new information about student financial aid all the time. A list of their most recent postings can be found below.  Our financial aid postings are also categorized above in the top navigation by category.

Don’t miss out on important posts on topics ranging from college scholarships to college loan applications. To the right you can also view the student financial aid articles archive by month and get caught up.

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Originally, the plan let investors withdraw their funds, plus earnings, even if the designated beneficiary wasn’t going to college in Texas. Now, however, the state of Texas is amending that benefit: If investors don’t use their plan to pay for school in Texas, they get only the value of their original investment, without any of the interest.

What gives? Apparently, the longhorn plan is running in the red, to the tune of almost $2 billion by 2030. The Texas Legislature deregulated tuition rates in 2003, and that’s when tuition started to skyrocket — much faster than the fund could keep up with. Anticipating this problem, the pre-paid tuition fund was closed to new enrollees in 2003. But the fast-paced rate of tuition inflation has averaged 8.9% a year, while return on investment has been just 4.4%.

Texas is giving families until the end of November to withdraw funds with the interest still attached; after that date, the policy will be changed. While this particular crisis is unique to Texas, I thought the article had national value for anyone investing in — or considering investing in — a 529 pre-paid tuition plan.

First off, as Savingforcollege.com founder Joe Hurley says in this article, the Texas situation is setting a precedent:

This is the first time I can recall that a 529 plan has gone back on its promises in a big way.

More so, however, the pre-paid short-fall is a good opportunity for us to revisit the difference between the two types of 529 Plans.

There are 529 pre-paid tuition plans, like this one in Texas, which allow parents to buy x number of future semesters of tuition at the in-state university at today’s cost.

Then there are 529 college savings plans, which are an investment vehicle for saving money for future college expenses. Your return on a college savings plans is dependent on the type of investment vehicle you choose and how the market does.

To learn more about 529 Plans, check out some of these articles on the Financial Aid Finder:

• Understanding College Savings Plans

• Are 529 Plans still a good plan?

• Choosing a 529 Plan that’s right for your family

As you know by now, every Friday I make your scholarship search a little bit easier by posting about three great opportunities with upcoming deadlines. This week, I have three essay competitions, all of which are open exclusively to high school students. Even if you are just a freshmen or sophomore in high school, winning an essay competition is a great way to get a head start on paying for college.

To learn more about college scholarships, please visit the Financial Aid Finder’s scholarship section, with how-to articles on everything from completing the scholarship application process to writing your scholarship essays.

1. The Valley Humanities Review High School Scholarship Contest: $500

The Valley Humanities Review is seeking 3,000 to 6,000-word essays from high school students demonstrating quality, originality and intellectual rigor. First prize is $500 and publication in the Spring 2010 Issue. All submissions must adhere to Chicago style and be error-free. Click on the above link for more information, including where to send your essay. The application deadline is December 15.

2. National Society of High School Scholars: $1000 – $5000

The National Society of High School Scholars is sponsoring two scholarships exclusively for its members. Membership requires a minimum GPA of 3.5 and nomination from a teacher at your high school. (If you think you qualify and haven’t been nominated, you may contact the NSHSS directly to inquire about an invitation.) The Claes Nobel Academic Scholarships award $5,000 and the National Scholar Awards are $1,000. The application deadline for both is November 30, 2009.

3. Freedom in Academia Essay Contest: $5,000

FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, is sponsoring the second annual “Freedom in Academia” essay contest. The competition is open to high school seniors planning to attend college in the fall of 2010. Applicants must write a 700 – 1,200-word essay addressing the following question:

Why are free speech rights crucial to higher education and how do infringements on these rights betray the purpose of a university education?

The essay should cite examples from videos on the FIRE website describing how Valdosta State and the University of Delaware violated the First Amendment rights of their students. The first-place winner receives $5,000; two second-place winners each receive $2,500, and five runners-up each receive $1,000. The application deadline is November 6, 2009.

Good luck with your scholarship applications this week!