Securing a college degree can pave the path to multiple career prospects. However, at the same time, pursuing a college education can turn into a rather expensive affair for most individuals. Furthermore, it has become increasingly difficult to land decent student loan offers due to the soaring competition and erratic economic conditions. In such a situation, to ease the financial pressure, you can apply for college grants online. A form of free monetary aid, these grants can help you manage college and living expenses for a few semesters or the entire program.

Typically, government agencies, educational institutions or philanthropic organizations award grants, but today, even individuals and businesses provide such grants. The grant amount can fall anywhere between a hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, depending on the organization.

Most online grant application processes are streamlined. If you have no prior experience with grant applications, don’t worry! Here’s how you can apply for college grants online.

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Shortlist options
The first job is to identify the potential college grants online. You can find a listing of different types of grants on Grants.gov. The site also allows you to explore eligibility parameters and required paperwork while applying online. Once you have thoroughly researched and shortlisted some grants, sign up on the Grants.gov website and download the grant application packages.

Fill out the forms
After downloading the grant packages, go through the form before filling it and scrutinize the documents expected. After you have filled in all the details, inspect the form again and check for any spelling mistakes or other errors. Likewise, verify if the grant application requires a hard copy submission.

Draft a compelling grant proposal
An indispensable part of your application, a grant proposal is a document that requires you to elaborate on how you will use the money for your college education. Therefore, make sure that you mention your academic goals as well as financial setbacks distinctly. While drafting a proposal, crosscheck if the grant committee has any specific formatting requests or has asked for supporting material such as financial paperwork or an acceptance letter from the college. Likewise, to make a good impression, make sure your grant proposal is free of any grammatical errors.

Submit after doublechecking everything
Once you are finished with the forms and gathering the submission materials, run a final glance over the application. After submitting your application on the Grants.gov portal, you will get a tracking number that will notify you when the grant committee receives your application. Unfortunately, the site doesn’t offer follow-up updates regarding approvals or rejections.

The following are some popular college grants that have an online application process:

• Federal Pell Grant Program
• Churchill Foundation Scholarship
• Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grant
• Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant
• Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund Grant
• Fulbright Study/Research Grant
• The Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant