Many people assume that once they start pursuing a graduate degree, the scholarship opportunities stop. But contrary to that popular belief, there are tons of MBA scholarships available (other grad programs too!), and they’re not as difficult to come across as you might think. The key to finding them is knowing where to look.
That’s why we’ve rounded up some of the best places to go and resources to check out if you’re looking to help finance your MBA with scholarships. Here they are!
Look To Your School
The best (and easiest) place to start looking for MBA scholarships is at your school. Most schools offer forms of merit-based aid—money that is subjectively awarded based on the personal characteristics and achievements of the student—that do not need to be paid back. Here are some of the merit-based opportunities offered at Bentley (that are generally offered at other schools, as well).
Graduate Assistantships
Graduate assistants work alongside faculty and administrators to help them in a variety of research, educational, and administrative activities. Instead of receiving wages, whatever the student earns is applied to their tuition, decreasing their tuition partially or fully. These positions are generally only available for full-time graduate students and are awarded for merit, based on things like past educational achievements, what the student’s participation in an MBA program will contribute to the incoming class, GMAT or GRE scores, and when applicable, the TOEFL score.
Graduate Scholarships
Most schools, including Bentley, offer a number of merit MBA scholarships that do not involve a work component. Graduate scholarship selection is based on previous educational achievements, what the student’s participation in an MBA program will contribute to the incoming class, GMAT or GRE scores, and when applicable, the TOEFL score.
Graduate Leadership Scholar Program
The Leadership Scholar Program is specific to Bentley, but other schools may offer something similar. This program seeks to recognize qualified students who are active members of corporate and diversity organizations. The program is a unique scholarship fund, awarding three scholarships each year to prospective students that are active members of the participating organizations. These scholarships are awarded to academically excellent students with strong leadership qualities who have demonstrated a commitment to social responsibility.
Two full-tuition scholarships are reserved for qualified candidates who have been accepted into the full-time Emerging Leaders MBA and Bentley MBA programs (one award for each program). The third award is a half-tuition scholarship, reserved for qualified part-time students accepted into the fall semester of any evening MBA program.
Online MBA Scholarship Resources
Look outside of the schools you’re applying to—there are thousands of organizations that offerscholarships for graduate students. Here are a few online resources that can help you find these organizations and scholarship opportunities.
FastWeb
FastWeb is an online resource that helps you find scholarships, and matches you with those that align with the criteria in your profile. Enter things like your strengths, interests, and skills, and FastWeb will direct you to the most relevant opportunities. You can also use it to get information about financial aid, jobs, internships, student life, and more. Some of their featured scholarships include the Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway and the Niche “No Essay” scholarship. FastWeb also offers career planning advice, interview etiquette, and resume building tips.
FinAid
FinAid is a comprehensive online source for student financial aid information, advice, and tools. You can search through thousands of scholarships and find those you’re eligible for, connected primarily through FastWeb’s scholarship search (although they do provide others). They also offer tips and tricks about how to win these awards. FinAid provides tons of helpful information about scholarship fundamentals, including how to be wary of potential scams and the specifics of outside scholarship policies. Bookmark this site as a reference for any college financial questions you may have.
Peterson’s
Peterson’s is an online resource that lets you search for graduate programs, schools, scholarships, and more. They can help you find fellowships and assistantships, work opportunities, and special graduate financial aid for international students. Some of their featured graduate scholarships include a $40,000 Elizabeth Tucker Foundation scholarship and The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Peterson’s gives you an inside look into all things in higher education, and has been providing this information for over 50 years.
Scholarships For Development
Scholarships for Development is an updated list of international graduate level and MBA scholarships specifically for people from developing countries, people who would like to pursue development-related fields, and people who seek global and national development through further education. Their aim is “to help you find opportunities for higher education and become agents of development in your own country and around the world.” You can refine your scholarship search by level of study, field of study, country of study, target group, and deadline to find the most relevant opportunities.
Scholarship Opportunity
Scholarship Opportunity is an online resource that offers blogs, ebooks, and podcasts with detailed information about how to find and win scholarships. They constantly scour the internet for new scholarships and post them to their blog, as well as rate scholarship-finding sites (from a non-biased perspective) on their ability to find relevant opportunities. They have written an ebook with their findings, A Guide To The Best & Worst Scholarship Search Sites & Apps.
Think Outside The Box
While tuition, housing, and books are the highest costs for grad students (and generally the first things people think about when looking for scholarships), there are other unique MBA scholarship opportunities to help offset additional costs. For example, Beat the GMAT, a popular MBA social network, doles out eight scholarship packages per year that include a $250 voucher for GMAT registration fees, a full GMAT test-prep course, and admissions consulting services.
Also, if you’re working while getting a graduate degree, a lot of companies will offer some sort of financial aid or reimbursement. Employers are usually willing to do whatever it takes to make sure they don’t lose great employees, so they’ll offer up aid to students who say they will complete their degree while working, and/or remain with the company for the foreseeable future after they graduate. Talk with your employer to find out if this aid would be available to you.
Even though graduate school is a huge investment—of your time, energy, career, and money—it doesn’t have to break the bank. If you’re open to doing some research, you’d be amazed at how many organizations you’ll find that are ready and willing to contribute to your future success. Keep these MBA scholarship resources in mind as you think about how you’ll finance your graduate degree.