Scholarships are awarded based on criteria such as academic or athletic achievement, cultural or religious background, or special skills and talents. Some scholarships are offered directly to students through the colleges. View a partial list of Minnesota school-specific aid. You sometimes need to apply separately for these scholarships.

Remember to take advantage of free online scholarship searches that help match you to scholarship money, but be wary of any scholarship search offer that charges fees, asks for credit cards or checking account information, or guarantees scholarships.

Be sure to review our scholarship tips before applying. You will also want to check out the private scholarship information at www.finaid.org which sorts scholarships into categories such as merit, community service and scholarships for average students.