Back to School and How to Pay For It

African-American College Students Prepare for Back to School

By AACR Intern Bria Richardson

Summer is over and you’ve done nothing but work and hang out with your friends for the past couple of months. You kept telling yourself that you’ll get your school things situated tomorrow, then that turned into this weekend, and that turned into next week. Now August is here and you’re on your laptop listening to your parents’ favorite line, “I told you so”.

Black students are going to college in greater number than ever before. According to CNNMoney black high school graduates are enrolling at rates even exceeding even white and Hispanic students. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that of the 2014 high school graduates, 86.1 percent of Asians enrolled in college, compared to 70.9 percent of black graduates, 67.3 percent of white graduates and 65.2 percent of Hispanic graduates.

But as we all know college is not cheap. And the cost of college can be crushing blow to black students. Currently there are over 43 million people owing a whopping $1 trillion in student debt. Sadly black students are being crushed under this debt. But does it have to be this way? Absolutely not! It’s a tragic fact that many black and minority scholarships go unclaimed. Why? Black student simply fail to take advantage of the scholarships and grants available to them. Are we really turning down free money.

Luckily for all those future and returning college students staying up all night stressing about financial situations just got a tad bit less stressful! Below is a list of scholarships for minority college students. Remember a scholarship is worthless unless you apply for it!

Scholarship Databases:

Many scholarchips colleges require a written essay of some kind. Writing can be a serious challenge for some high school graduates. If you need help writing an essay for a scholarship here are some great links that are sure to help to make your essay stand out.

Scholarship Essay Tips:

For those soon to graduate who are excited by your future but terrified of your student debt at the same time, here are a few links that can help with reducing at least one of your worries. Student loans can haunt you after college but if you start planning now maybe you can minimize those horrors.

Help With Student Loans:

Credit: @jesussbabymomma

Now you know