Verizon Wireless Black History Month Essay Contest 2011- Can You Hear Me Now?

I think it's high time the good folks at VW would go on a pay it forward especially in lieu of their big boned prices for wireless and cellular service.  Can you hear me now?! They must have. Verizon Wireless has teamed up with The United Negro College Fund to sponsor an essay contest where winners will receive up to $5000 in scholarship money.   Don't miss the bus children!

In celebration of Black History Month, Verizon is encouraging High School Seniors applying to four year college with a GPA of 2.0 or better to write an essay for a chance at $5000 a netbook and a Droid by Motorola. Sounds good. Second and third place winners will receive $4000/$3000 scholarships along with the netbook and Droid as well.  Only students residing in Connecticut, Delaware, Washington DC, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey , New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia are eligible to apply.  

In order to apply click the link below to submit your essay detailing how you feel the evolution of technology has changed the word.  Simple enough right?  And I know several schools around the country will be closed on President's Day and for Mid Winter Recess... I couldn't think of a better way to pass the time.  :-)

Ya'll better Act Like You Want This Money! 

Click HERE to Apply Online  

Applications are Due March 15, 2011!

DOODLE ON! Google Announces $15,000 Scholarship!

*clears throat*  For your information, Google is throwing coins at all the artistically inclined chirren.. so tell Bobby & "nem to get they crayons and COME on!

All Jokes aside for the 4th time,  the super popular search engine has announced plans to award college scholarships to students (Grades K-12) that can create the best Google Doodle.  ” A Google doodle is the how the company refers to the (often) themed designs and variations of the word Google on their homepage.  

Students can use a variety of platforms to present their designs. Crayons, colored pencils, markers, paint, and even graphic designs are welcome. The theme of the competition is  “What I’d like to do someday.”  A panel of celebrity judges will determine who the winner and the three runner ups are.  The winner, will receive a $15,000 college scholarship, $25,000 technology grant for their school, and to have their design appear on the Google home page for a day. Google will award  college scholarships worth $5,000 each to the three runner ups. Also,trips to New York to the runners up and other finalists in the competition will be provided .  Registration is open through March 2^nd, and more information can be found on Google’s website.  

You got to be in it to win it guys..

Ya'll know what I'ma say....

Gather you pencils and things and act like you want this money..

Scholarship Announcement! Get down to the Welfare STAT!

Just came across an announcement of a scholarship for African American full time undergraduate and the graduate students.  Gather your things and get your ass down to the welfare, I’m talking $10,000 upfront with eligibility for a larger national scholarship of $30,000.   Get you bills paid for the next school year!

 The Gold Standard Scholarship Program is designed to provide academic scholarships for outstanding male and female African American students.  Scholarships will be awarded to students  attending college in or with a permanent address  from one of six major NBA Markets in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans and Boston.  

All candidates must meet the following criteria. 

• •                Be an African-American
• •                Be at least twenty-one (21) years of age at the time of application submission
• •               
• •               
• •                Have a permanent address or attending school in one of the following metropolitan areas: Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans and New York City
• •               
• •                Demonstrate leadership qualities and service experience
• •                Be willing to be featured in online public voting competition for a chance to win an additional $30,000 scholarship

Additionally the following supporting documents must accompany your online application:

• •                Resume
• •                One Letter of Recommendation (Applicants will need a scanned copy for upload)
• •                College Transcript (Applicants may upload a copy of unofficial or official)
• •                Essay

In 500 words, please address the following statement:

The Gold Standard Scholarship Program is available to students who have excelled academically, have shown exceptional leadership ability and have made an impact through service to others.  Please describe how you have made an impact in these areas.

Applications materials must be submitted in either PDF OR MS Word Format. 

Click HERE and follow the online applications directions to apply.

Money Talk- Don't GET Caught Out There

As you know, the start of a new school year is often complicated by a series of financial aid issues.  Students are on hold, they receive massive bills, loan disbursement issues, hold ups in housing, etc.  These problems are usually preventable and could have been totally avoided with a little fore sight, responsibility and preparation.  That’s where we come in. I’ve enlisted the help of one of my favorite followers and twitter buds.  She’s a financial aid officer and she’s here to help you all keep your necks and eyes from rolling all up and through the student accounts office. 

1. Make sure FAFSA is complete and error free! FAFSA’s can be done as early as January 1 for the following school year. Students should aim to get their FAFSAs done by the state deadline to be eligible for state grants.   After you’ve submitted, check with your school to make sure there are no errors or additional information you need to submit before you can eligible for financial aid.   For example, lots of students are selected for verification but ignore correspondence and other verification  forms from  the FA office notifying them of this. THIS IS NOT THE MOVE!  Verification means that a student needs to submit taxes and other income info to Financial Aid office to verify information reported on the FAFSA.  This information must be submitted and processed before that student can receive aid. In other word, before you get your money.  It’s important to get this info in as soon as possible because the timeline on getting this processed varies from a few days to a few weeks.   Drag your feet and you’ll be sorry. 

2. Some schools require students to accept or reject awards (or just loans) before they will disburse. Also be sure to read through your award letter and make sure you only take what you need.  Schools package student with the maximum amount of loans that they are eligible for, but you may not need that much.  Make sure you notify school of any loans that you don’t want before loan disburses.

Also, new students taking out loans should make sure they have completed loan entrance counseling.  Loans cannot disburse until this is done. 

New students & some returning will have to sign their Master Promissory Note (MPN) before loans can be disbursed (if receiving loans).

Most schools disburse aid during 1st week of class,(no sooner than 10 days before classes) so its important to get these things done ahead of time so that books, supplies, and other things can be purchased by the start of classes

Thanks Again to my Boo Afro Chic for this priceless information and always I hope this helps. 

Take care,

Take Yo Ass Down to the Welfare- Ronald E McNair Scholars

I hope everyone is doing well. A GlamNerd studying to be a Marraige and Family Therapist at Syracuse University reached out with some very important information to share. Her name is Natasha and she's a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. As you will read, the program has been extremely beneficial to her as she pursues her goals and she wanted to make sure that other students knew of all this good free money and support the government is handing out to brown people with big dreams. 

I've worked directly with this program and students who participated in McNair Programs at colleges and universities across the nation. I can tell you first hand that the level of academic, professional and financial support that these students receive is bar none. Take Natasha's advice an learn all you can about it.  Find out if there is a Ronald E. McNair Scholars on your campus and get all the way into them. We're talking getting paid to get your degree for free. Don't miss this bus hunny!

Natasha writes, 

I am currently a Marriage and Family Therapy Master's student at Syracuse University and I was blessed enough to be a recipient of the Ronald E. McNair Fellowship. It includes full tuition remission for two years, a 9 month stipend for my first year, and assistantship (without stipend) for my second year, employee health benefits and discounts. In order to be eligible for this fellowship, students have to take part in the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Program during their undergraduate career (not all institutions may have this program). The McNair Program is geared towards minority students, especially those who are from low-income families or those who will be first generation college graduates. During the program students are required to participate in an original research project and present the research at a McNair symposium hosted by their school. During my undergraduate research project, the McNair program distributed stipends (during the span of one summer), offered GRE workshops, paid for trips to visit graduate schools, and we even went to NYC to see an off-broadway play. 

When applying to graduate school, the McNair program paid for/waived all of my application fees and waived half of the fee for my GRE registration. On all of my applications, I simply checked a box stating that I was an undergraduate McNair scholar, and I was put into the running for the McNair fellowship.

The program is TRULY amazing, and I wanted to share this information with you in hopes that you can pass it along to college students who are hoping to go to graduate school.

Here is a list of graduate schools that offer the McNair fellowships/benefits to McNair scholars: https://www.mnsu.edu/mcnair/cscholars/incentives.html

For more information on the McNair program: http://www.ed.gov/programs/triomcnair/index.html

All other GlamNERDs out there that have information, tips, questions to share all you have to do is hit us like Natasha did. You can now reach me at Tykeia@TheGlamNERDS.com .