A scholarship is a financial grant given to students who have excelled academically or high achievers in different fields, including sports. Governments, corporations, and NGOs give ample scholarship opportunities to students who want to pursue education or study overseas. The Global Indian International School, Singapore has unique scholarships to support and encourage students to excel in education and life. Here we discuss the benefits of winning a scholarship.
According to the 2015-2016 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, only 0.2% of students got full scholarships. Since the odds of getting a free ride to higher education are quite long, it seems like there’s no point in applying in the first place. However, the benefits of a scholarship far outweigh all the trouble of applying, if you are lucky enough to win one.
Makes Education Easier To Access
Quality education in any country is expensive, and only the rich can access it. This means that bright and gifted students from poor backgrounds have to settle for second-class education and forget about going to university.
Scholarships were explicitly created to solve this problem. They allow students from all financial backgrounds to access the quality of education they deserve to attain their dreams. Scholarships allow talented youngsters to become engineers, doctors, lawyers, and scientists.
Access To Better Colleges
Even if you don’t come from a poor background, accessing education in colleges such as Harvard, Yale, and Brown is almost impossible for most people in the world. Scholarships from these Ivy League schools, among other top schools globally, help students who are bright enough to get in even if they cannot afford the fees.
Reduce Te Financial Burden
Most students who have made it through college are left with a substantial financial burden in student loans long after they clear college. This can take a toll on you for many years, especially if you don’t get a high paying job.
Additionally, students are forced to work part-time in the course of their education to support their needs or even pay that school fee. This leaves them with limited time for studying, doing assignments, and hanging out with their peers. A scholarship removes those financial burdens from a student and allows them to focus on what is important- education and living.
Students on a scholarship can plan their career goals by spending their free time doing something that will improve their resume. For example, they can choose to intern in an organization related to their career goals instead of working in a fast-food joint for money. They can also spend more time in their books and attain better grades.
Professional Development
The process of getting a scholarship is long, and hard-only the best of the best get it. Standing out from so many applicants shows employers that you have something special to offer. Some employers will even give you a chance for an interview just because you got a scholarship to some esteemed school somewhere.
Additionally, bodies that give scholarships also make an effort to mentor and support their beneficiaries in other ways. This could be by allowing you to intern in the organization or teach you skills such as acing interviews.
Connections And Networks
As a scholarship beneficiary, you are part of a bigger group of people who are in the same boat as you. Many organizations make sure their beneficiaries are in touch to help them create new connections and networks. If you play your cards right, these connections can be life-long friends, future employers, or business associates. Everybody in the scholarship community is there because they are excellent in something, so they are great people to have in your contact list.
Scholarships Encourage Philanthropy
According to the Law of reciprocity, you are naturally inclined to do something for someone else if they do something good for you. In the case of a scholarship, the only way you can reciprocate the good deed is to carry it forward. The organizations encourage their beneficiaries to remember where they came from when they succeed. As a result, these students often give back to society and help sponsor other students as an act of reciprocity.
Helps Students Attain Higher Education
Without the financial burden of high school and college education, students and their parents can afford to save and pay for a Master’s degree or doctorate. If you are lucky, you can even get a scholarship for these higher degrees and live a life without school loans.
A scholarship, from an esteemed organization like Global Indian International School, Singapore, might seem like a simple financial grant to help needy students through school, but it’s much more than that. They bring a plethora of life-long benefits such as quality networks, professional development, and debt-free life. While scholarships come with a highly competitive application process, the blessings are worth it in the end, especially if you get a full-ride.