Each year, thousands of students apply for financial aid through FAFSA, but few students are aware of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarship money waiting to be put to good use.
FAFSA is Federal and State financial aid, which has no specific criteria for awarding money other than economic status and a certain degree of academic status.
Scholarships at De Anza College, however, come from private donors who can create their own criteria, including scholarships based on major, extracurricular involvement, community service, GPA and economic status.
Sarah Carrao, a Financial Aid and Scholarships Office assistant at De Anza, said more students have been applying for and earning scholarships in recent years, likely because of the economic downturn.
Last year, De Anza dispersed $216,000 in scholarships. But there have been times when significant amounts of available scholarship money were left unclaimed by students.
The Student Success and Retention Service program and Financial Aid offices hold workshops a couple of times a year to inform students solely about scholarship resources and prepare them for submitting strong applications.
There are also links on the De Anza website to the scholarships and financial aid pages, which show some of the scholarships posted.  Students may also sign up for the listserv, which puts you on a list so that you can be notified if and when any scholarships are available or check the bulletin board at the Financial Aid Office for announcements.
Even with these resources, many students are still not aware of the scholarship money potentially available to them, or simply don’t realize they are eligible to apply.
“The scholarship process is competitive, but any De Anza student-even if they are international or undocumented-can apply,” said Carrao.
William Madden, an academic advisor with the Transfer Center and SSRS said there is a personal responsibility element.  “The student needs to be efficient and get out and probe around and find out what possibilities are available to them,” he said.
Madden said students should try looking around for scholarships in their local communities, including small businesses or organizations that want to donate for particular interests.
There are usually over 50 scholarships available ranging anywhere from $500 to $2,000 for private donors.
There are also national scholarships worth anywhere between $10,000 and $50,000 thousand dollars.  To receive awards by May 2013, students need to apply through the De Anza website by Feb. 14, 2013.
“I encourage all students to apply,” said Carrao. “The application process is pretty simple and an hour or two of work could pay off big, with awards of up to a couple thousand dollars towards school.”
To learn more about De Anza Scholarships go to www.deanza.edu/financialaid/scholarshipgiving.html