Many college students are familiar with the federal funding that is available for their college financial aid. However, one underused resource remains: their local, hometown community. These scholarships and grants usually have less competition because the pool who qualifies for the aid is smaller. Thus, when looking for financial assistance, it may be best for you to start looking within your local community. To begin your local search, you should first inquire with your guidance counselor about where to begin. Your guidance counselor is already experienced in assisting high school seniors who are applying for college. He or she is also a member of your local community and is likely to know several leads for you to pursue.

The next place you should begin looking for college financial aid is with local nonprofit organizations and charitable trusts within your community. Most self sufficient nonprofit organizations have, during their existence, established scholarships for future college students. If it is a nonprofit organization that you have volunteered with in the past, there is an increased chance that they will assist you in paying for you education. Charitable trusts are specifically designed to help families or individuals in their time of need. Under the charter of most trusts, this includes the need for special education.

Many volunteer organizations in the country will offer college financial aid to future students whose chosen field of study corresponds with the field of the organization. The same can also be said for professional organizations and private clubs. This is especially true if you are the child of a deceased parent who was the member of such as organization. For example, in New York City, the fire department has set up scholarship and grant funds to pay for the college educations of the children whose fathers or mothers were firefighters who lost their lives on the September 11t, 2001.

Another source of potential college financial aid is your local church or house of worship. Most individual’s worship houses do not have the financial means to fund their members college educations, but the national organization headquarters for your religious group will have access to such funds, and they may be more than willing to provide funding for their members’ college education. There is a plethora of resources to assist you in paying for your college education. Knowing where to look in the right spots will make your search much easier and pleasurable.