For millions of students, two-year colleges seem like a perfect fit. Community colleges, vocational-technical institutions and trade schools allow students to pursue valuable higher-education credits more cheaply, flexibly and closer to home than the majority of four-year universities—and they can be a lifeline for working parents, older students seeking a career change and high schoolers getting an early start on college.  Despite the benefits, though, enrollment at America’s community and technical colleges has been declining for more than a decade, and hasn’t recovered from a huge drop ..read more

Updated May 2024 The Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) is a crucial tool for students and their families—and that’s why the technical issues and delays that accompanied the FAFSA rollout in 2024 have thrown so many plans into disarray. The results of the FAFSA have a major impact on how much aid students get—and not knowing those results can have a huge impact on where students enroll and which schools they can afford. And while federal and state aid that comes via the FAFSA can offset the high cost of tuition for some, the reality is that far too many students, will still face a FAFSA ..read more

As the students who began college during the COVID pandemic move closer to graduating, it’s remarkable to consider how much change has happened during their higher education journey. Classes moved online, but then back to campus, but only sometimes; Americans grew more divided on the importance of college; student loan debt was paused, then forgiven, then reinstated; the Supreme Court ended the use of race in admissions. All the while, students continued following their dreams, working toward their goals and, very often, struggling to make ends meet. As we consider what “normal” college life l ..read more

By Claire Berge Schmidt Updated May 2024 Texans have an average of more than $26,000 in student loan debt. Residents of New Hampshire, almost $40,000. People in nearly half the states in the union face an average loan debt of more than $30,000.  Wherever you may live, student loan debt is a problem that hits home. Even with student debt repayment reforms, there are still 45.3 million Americans facing loan debt, creating a nearly $2 trillion (and growing) crisis. For young people, adults returning to college, first-generation students and many others, the consequences of mounting student ..read more

Updated April 2024 Over the last two decades, the conventional wisdom of American college life has been turned upside down. More and more students are taking “nontraditional” paths to college, either by taking time off after high school or returning to college as adults — according to research from Higher Learning Advocates, “Only 13% of college students live on campus, and two-thirds of all students work in order to make tuition payments or other expenses. Two in five students are over the age of 25, and a quarter of all college students are parents themselves.” In addition, student and famil ..read more

As College Signing Day draws closer, it’s time to start finalizing your plans for next year—and there are some generous scholarships out there that can help, including a $10,000 award for women in STEM, and a $25,000 renewable scholarship in memory of Scholarship America’s late board chair. Learn about those opportunities below and check out our Browse Scholarships page for much more! Navisite’s Next Steminist Scholarship Program  Navisite, a part of Accenture, is a trusted digital transformation partner for growing and established global brands. The company is also committed to giving ba ..read more

Thanks to this year’s delayed FAFSA, you might be feeling like your college choices are still up in the air—and that’s okay! Schools across the country are modifying their financial aid calendars to ensure you can make an informed decision on your timeline. In the meantime, you can keep applying for scholarships! Check out all of the open programs on Scholarship America’s Browse Scholarships page, or read on to find out about guaranteed funds for those who lost loved ones in the fight against COVID; $7,500 scholarships for engineering students; and a unique program for students in Boston. Brav ..read more

Scholarship season is as busy as it gets—and even if you’re still waiting on FAFSA information, you can apply right now for all of the open programs on Scholarship America’s Browse Scholarships page! There are lots of great options; today we’re featuring a program to help students from low-income communities pursue financial services careers, and a nationwide scholarship for veterans from Wells Fargo. CME Group Foundation Scholarship CME Group Foundation strives to empower future generations through education—equipping today’s students to meet tomorrow’s challenges. Their specific focus is on ..read more

Growing up in a Minneapolis suburb, Phuong Tran (PT) Nguyen loved school and looked forward to going every single day. But as she got older and became a teenager her relationship with school changed. It became far more challenging, juggling her activities, extracurriculars, interests, friends, studies, work and college applications. But education was always a priority for PT. “I recognize that [education] is such a pivotal piece to upward and intergenerational mobility for families that look like mine,” she said. She chose to attend the University of North Dakota for her undergraduate degree a ..read more

Updated February 2024 The doors of higher education have never been open to more people. But it’s increasingly clear that many of those students are struggling to meet their own basic needs even as they work to change their lives with a degree or certificate. As reported by the NSPA Programs Blog, the 2023 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study discovered that “22.6% of undergraduate students and 12.2% of graduate students are food insecure, and 8% of undergraduate students and 4.6% of graduate students experience homelessness. These rates were even higher at Historically Black Colleges and ..read more