Scholarships are an excellent way to pave your path to higher education! Going to college does not have to mean financial ruin. There is an alternative for taking out student loans. Learn how to go to college with scholarships. I'll teach you step-by-step.

1. How I Earned
$80,000 in
Scholarships to go to
College and
Graduate Debt-Free
By Nnenna Umelloh | Higher Education Consultant

2. Nnenna Umelloh
Higher Education Consultant
• Earned $80,000 in scholarships
• Graduated from Honors College at University
of Houston (magna cum laude)
• Earned $38,000 in scholarships for grad
school in London
• Help people go to college, grad school or
trade school with scholarships

3. Free Application for
Federal Student Aid
• Apply early (application opens October 1st and
closes June 30th)
• Awards scholarships, work-study and student
loans
• Opt-in for work-study
• Work study = work on campus for a stipend
• Accept all the scholarship and work-study aid
before you ever consider student loans.

4. FAFSA
• The keyword in FAFSA is FREE! If you are ever
prompted to pay for FAFSA then you are on the
wrong site.
• When it comes to student loans, only accept what
you need and be judicious in paying it off as soon
as possible (preferably before you graduate and
interest begins to pile on.)
• Visit https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa or
http://fafsa.ed.gov to learn more.

5. College vs. University
• University = collection of colleges | College = singular unit
• Investigate various sources of funding through the main
university and various colleges on campus.
• Double major = two majors in the same college
• Dual degree = a major in two different colleges
• Dual degree, double major = two majors in one college and
another degree in another college

6. Degrees
vs
Majors
• Degrees and majors are not synonymous. There
are four major types of degrees:
• Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
• Bachelor of Science (BS)
• Bachelor of Arts (BA)
• Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
• Various degrees require different prerequisites.

7. National
Organizations
• National organizations include honor
societies, professional associations,
fraternities and sororities.
• Only people within the organization are
eligible to apply and win the scholarship.
• Disclaimer: most national organizations
require a membership fee.

8. National
Organizations
If you are not completely sure about the
legitimacy of an organization, see if there are
chapters open on campus and try to talk to a
couple of current members about their
experience.

9. Local Businesses
and Non-Profits
• Local businesses and non-profits provide
scholarships for two major reasons:
• they want to support the future
generation in their pursuit of a debt-free
higher education and
• it is a tax write-off.

10. Scholarship Engines
• Scholarship engine = a database of scholarships organized
and recommended based on your profile.
• Invest about 2-3 hours a day on search engines
• I personally use are Scholly, Fastweb, Unigo, Peterson’s and
Scholarship Owl.
• Rotate between at least 5 different scholarship engines
• Disclaimer: Scholly and Scholarship Owl come with a
monthly fee. This fee is only worth it if you use the platform
vigorously

11. Some students have a casual relationship with
searching and applying for scholarships.
Unfortunately, having a casual relationship
with your education or scholarships will not
earn you the money you need to graduate
debt-free.

12. Apply to 20 scholarships a
week
• Do you want $80,000 in scholarships? Expect to
apply to about 20 scholarships a week or 2-3
scholarships a day.
• It took me 4 years to earn $80,000.

13. Before you
take out a
student loan…
• Before you take out a student loan, apply for at
least 10 more scholarships.
• Write out all your expenses for the upcoming
academic year. Separate your expenses from needs
and wants.
• Separate your needs list into two subcategories:
critical needs and general needs.
• Critical needs = expenses you need in order to
enroll in the following semester. For example, you
will be dropped from all your classes if you do not
pay for tuition. Tuition is a critical need.
• Only take out enough student loans to cover your
critical needs.

14. More Scholarship Resources
• Read the Full Article on How I Earned $80,000 in
Scholarships to go to College and Graduate Debt-Free
• Get your own copy of The Scholarship Starter Guide for
New College Students on Amazon!
• Subscribe to get more scholarships in your inbox!
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