Whether you’re already attending college or are planning to start this year than you should be interested in applying for a grant or scholarship. An easy grant is obviously one that can be acquired without much trouble and is widely available for a lot of people. This blog goes over the top five easy grants for 2012. You should keep in mind that most of these require you to apply by either May or June so get cracking and
Federal Pell Grant
The Federal Pell grant is perhaps the easiest and most common grant for any student to receive. The Pell grant can be applied to through the FAFSA (Free Application for Student Aid) and offers students up to $5,550 for the year of 2012. The Federal Pell grant is a need based grant which means that you will be given as much money (up to the maximum) as you need for college. High need students will receive the maximum and low need students may receive as little as $500. You may receive the Federal Pell Grant for each year that you attend college, however; you will be required to re-apply for each year that you wish to receive it as eligibility status will often change from year to year.
State Grants
State grants are another, relatively easy, grant to get. While these do differ from state to state, on average, you will be able to receive around $2,000 in need based aid from your state and for no other reason than that you are from that state! In most cases you only have to have lived in the state for a minimum of one or two years in order to be eligible.
Minority Scholarships
Minority scholarships are a scholarship that is given to minority students. These include African Americans, especially women, native Americas, Asians and anyone with a disability. This type of grant can greatly range according to location and the institution giving it and in some cases will cover the entire cost of college while in others it only covers a few hundred dollars. To find this type of grant, simply look for associations that support your minority group in your area.
Study Grant
A Study grant is a grant that is given to you because you are studying a specific thing. This can be anything from teaching with the Federal TEACH grant or something to benefit sheep with a grant from the National Sheep Preservation Society. This type of grant is for pretty much anyone so get online and do a little bit of research on what you want to study and if there are any study grants available for it. As a special note to aid your search, a lot of colleges have grants available for students who study a specific subject.
Special Achievement Grant
A Special Achievement Grant is a grant that you win or receive due to winning a competition or receiving especially good grades in high school. Examples of this include the Patrick Kerr Skateboard competition that awards up to $10,000 to a skateboarding student or one of many grants that provide college money to high school students with exceptionally high grades.