PickAScholarship.com

For 2022 it may seem more difficult that usual to find full-ride scholarships, the actual term for “full coverage scholarships.” The typical search for such high end scholarships may seem daunting let alone nearly impossible, until the right actions can be taken. This means being fully prepared and knowing where to start the research process for free full scholarship coverage. The best place to start officially, would be looking at only 5 universities that are on the student’s list. This means 5 respected and accredited universities/colleges or vocational institutions that are held in high regard around the world.

Why, highly regarded universities?

Because the better social response and reputation of a university means that they will have the higher and more credible full-ride scholarships. This ultimately means that the school has received and continues to receive considerable funding from private sponsors, donations from previous alumni, and general funding interest from important companies. This type of private sponsor funding from companies or corporations, also always for a study working relationship. The work-study programs tend to happen when a college and a funding company work together. This is to create a more stable workforce and better career opportunities to students that have recently graduated.

Look for Colleges That Have Multiple Funding Parties

When an institution has multiple funding parties (we will provide a few examples to showcase what this will look like) it makes the full-ride scholarship research that much easier.

Private sponsors for Yale Law University consists of:

• Democracy Fund, Inc.
• Floyd Abrams
• John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
• Miami Foundation – Legal Clinics Fund
• Newmark Philanthropies
• Nolen Bradley
• Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fund at Yale Law School
• The Payson R. Wolff Lectureship
• Stanton Foundation
• Wikimedia Foundation
• The William C. Bullitt Foundation, Inc.
• Avvo, Inc.
• Ballard Spahr LLP
• Charles Koch Institute
• Cooley, LLP
• Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP
• Fox Rothschild, LLP
• Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC
• Greenberg Traurig, LLP
• Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, LLP
• Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, LLP
• Google
• Richard A. Bartlett Fellowship Fund
• Thomson Reuters
• Littler
• Microsoft
• Omidyar
• Rock Center Stanford University

When an institution starts to pull in the “big brand names” like Google or Microsoft, this means that there has been a partnership for a work-study program with that company. And atlas, there has been multiple full-ride scholarships for interns that wish to work at Google who had previously attended Yale.

Look for “Research at” Accountable Scholarship Opportunities

Let’s take Brown University for a great example:

When it comes to “research at” this is a term that is referenced to institutions that have a study research program available but only with that funding partner at that current time. This changes from year to year, so academic students need to be on the look out for these particular comments.

Research at Brown University cites this as “Sponsored projects” which includes:

• Strategic Funding: Aging, Cancer, Illness, DEI, Biomedical Engineering, A.I. Technology, Public Health, Humanities, Population studies, and various neurological diseases. Specific private sponsors can be reached out to, asking for funding on a project that fits into one of these categories.
• International funding (from the university itself): Research Seed Awards, Humanities Research Awards, Research Achievement Awards, The Peter G. Peterson Foundation Research Fund, Salomon Faculty Research Awards, and etc.
• Research Development and Grant Writing News
• Foundation Funding Opportunities
• SPIN Funding Database
• Grant Resubmission Awards
• Center for Vision Research Awards
• Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative Research Funding
•  SURDNA Fellowship
• Carney Institute for Brain Science Research
• Cogut Institute for the Humanities
• Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America
• Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)
• Brown Arts Initiative (BAI) 
• Advance-CTR
• Cancer Center Research

And much more that is not currently present in this list.

Another university to look at when it comes to private funding sponsors is Cambridge University. This university has been known throughout time as the one and only sure writing college that has produced the greatest authors the world has come to know.

Students researching for more funding opportunities at Cambridge University would need to look at:

• Government financial support
• Cambridge financial support
• Widening Participation Scholarships
• Ph.D. Program for Health Professionals
• Gates Cambridge Scholarships
• Wellcome Sanger Institute 4-year Ph.D. Students
• Malati Kanbur Fund Scholarship
• EMBL International Ph.D. Scholarships
• Ivan D Jankovic Scholarships
• Peterhouse Postgraduate Studentship Competition
• Kanders Churchill Scholarship
• Fitzwilliam College – Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship
• Trinity Internal Graduate Scholarship
• Daiwa Anglo – Japanese Cambridge Scholarship
• Inlaks Cambridge Scholarship
• DeepMind Cambridge Scholarship
• Rowan Williams Cambridge Studentship
• Roberta Sykes Cambridge Scholarships
• Dunlevie King’s Hall Scholarship
• Doris Zimmern HKU Hughes Hall Scholarship
• Woolf Fisher Scholarship at Cambridge

With over 444 scholarships available from the Cambridge University website alone, it goes to show just how many full-ride scholarships are a viable option for students. Students that are looking to either attend Cambridge or not, will find both types of scholarships available. Even if students are not attending Cambridge, will find private sponsors who have scholarships readily available that have full coverage tuition to any university of that student’s choice. Not all scholarships are destined to be used at a single university. There are multiple scholarships that are available to students who choose to study only 2-years at Cambridge and then decide to transfer to another graduate school/institution.

Preparing in Advance by Understanding the Scholarship Guidelines

Now, not all scholarships require a student in-person or online interview but some of the higher end full coverage scholarships to require this. This is a essential step for admissions or the panel of judges of that particular scholarship to study and see if they student they are interviewing does in fact, fit the eligible requirements that are needed for the scholarship that is being handed out. A lot of full-ride scholarships are competitive because they are worth more than 60,000 euros or $85,000 USD. The reason these full-ride scholarships are worth so much is to fully cover all tuition yearly fees plus the additional course fees that comes along with textbooks and equipment.

Now, since we are talking about textbook and equipment fees, students need to understand that these fees can add up to a huge amount quite easily. A lot of student believe that tuition fees is one of the only major fees they need to worry about. When in reality, it’s tuition, textbook and equipment course fees that add up.

While a first year student’s textbook fees can average to over $1,200.00 USD, just from gathered statistics since 2021. That number does go up each academic year. Equipment fees can easily add to around $1,000.00 USD since this includes owning a laptop and any technology that will aid in classes. This does not cover the accommodation fees that are also present. Accommodation fees will be covered entirely with a full-ride scholarship which is perfect for students who wish to cut down “out-of-pocket” costs as much as possible.

By researching in advance, a student would need to look into these facts and figures when before applying for a full-ride scholarship:

• How much will a first-year and full-time accommodation cost at the university?
• How much will 3 meals a day cost?
• How much is the total cost of textbooks?
• What about the equipment fees that are needed for certain courses?
• Then calculate tuition annually

Afterwards, a student will be able to tally a round number to look for a full-ride scholarship that covers all of the total cost plus extra. This doesn’t even include transportation costs. Transportation costs if a student uses the local metro or bus system can cost around $200.00 USD per month.

These are huge essential costs a student needs to estimate before they happen. If a student can at least have this all figured out a year before their initial start date at the university of their choice, this will be the best outcome.

Apply to Many Full-Ride Scholarships

Students will find out that their is no limitations when it comes to applying for scholarships. Technically (students should read the rules attached to the scholarships first) students can apply for as many scholarships as they would like. There have been moments where a single college student has applied to 200 scholarships and has won 100+ in scholarship funding.

So students should not shy away from applying to many full-ride scholarships, also this method always the student to have enough funding to cover as much of the college cost experience as possible.

Leadership Skills Will Help Any Student Stand-Out From the Rest

When a college application or a scholarship application ask about skills, the real advantage they are looking for out of a pool of applicants is leadership skills. This may be one of the best known open secrets to applying for a scholarship. What skills a student lists will easily be skills that the panel of judges will literally judge them upon.

If a student can share their leadership skills with research projects or volunteer projects, this always for physical evidence to be seen by the judges of any scholarship funding award. This means students should always be able to find physical evidence of some sort from a project they have led, to give as inspiration on their application form.

As a matter of fact, students should seek out guidance or information from their mentors or professors who will write them a ‘letter of recommendation.’ Why? Typically, this mentor or professor has written a ‘letter of recommendation’ before, along with having to fill out their own scholarship applications when they themselves where just students. Having insight given from a personal perspective can help another to gauge and narrow down what there skills should be. And especially what skills should be talked about.

Mentors or guidance professors can easily help a student to be realistic about the college situation. This is needed for a student who has no prior understanding of what it means to apply to college. Or let alone apply for scholarship application.

The Biggest Mistakes Happen When The Rules Are Not Followed When Applying

The amount of times a university or foundation will show that simple spelling and grammar mistakes happened on scholarship applications, actually led to an exceptional student to not be chosen is surreal. There are so many stories of students who accidentally spelled a word wrong multiple times and did not consider that spell check could save them a lot of heartache… in fact just left those misspelled words to be read by admissions.

These mistakes can be fixed before sending in the application form. This is something all students should double check, use quality control to understand that an application must be 100% correct. With correct and accurate information. This is another thing admissions and judge panels run into, incorrect information about the student. How this happens so much is beyond any knowledge at this point, but if a student’s legal name is David, for example. And instead the student puts down their nickname, this is considered incorrect information. That means the student’s application will be tossed, ignored, or dismissed based on the student providing false information.

These small incorrect inconsistencies can be fixed. And should be fixed before submitting any application.

Don’t Forget To Write a Cover Letter

Some individuals may believe that cover letters only belong to employers who applying for a job. But that is not the case, colleges and funding foundations will ask for cover letters. This is an essential step to see if the student can simply follow directions correctly. Why? Because over 45% of applicants who are applying for scholarships do not send in a cover letter. This is a staggering amount that was reported in 2020 and it showed that the 45% reported had been dismissed even if they did fit all of the eligible positions for a specific scholarship application. Simply because that student did not follow directions.

All students who are sending in scholarship application forms should thoroughly read and re-read the directions when it comes to applying. Because half the time, there is valuable information missing along with simply directions not being followed.

This is a strategic test that most college’s will put out a step-by-step guideline for students to follow, just for admissions to witness which students do not follow direction. This will weed out 15% of the first-year population of students that send in college admission applications.

Free-Ride Scholarships Are Everywhere, Not Just Specific Countries

However, for example if a student is looking to only study in the United States on a free tuition education, they should consider looking at eligible requirements that point towards free attendance universities. There are no limitations when it comes to a higher education even though some will say otherwise. It’s all about being able to research and being able to navigate university database’s online. For example, did you know Cambridge University has over 200 extended webpages that’s part of their online college course education server? Exactly, but then again students will not sit there and count out how many webpages are available through a university campus server.

Another example, when it comes to looking at specific countries and if they have free full-ride scholarships available, how does a student narrow that research? A great example is from our own database where we narrow that search down for students. If students are interested in attending abroad in Norway, they should look at the top glances of a free education in Norway.

We have covered several countries that offer free full-ride scholarships for international students who wish to travel abroad. But, that means traveling away from family with very little funding of their own. That’s why it’s a great advantage to look up which countries have full-ride scholarships available for certain priority students.

What Does Priority Student Mean?

A priority student refers to students that come from certain countries. And these certain countries will have students who for example wish to study abroad in the United States. Some scholarships only cater to students who come from South Africa, Uganda, or Australia. These priority scholarships are designed to reach students who may otherwise find themselves unable to attain a full-ride scholarship.

Students will be able to find this priority scholarships by looking at what countries are listed out as “priority countries” for that specific scholarship. Certainly students can call the admissions of any college and ask for their nations priority scholarships, which will be given in list form to the student. This is another easy way to find the exact scholarships a student would be deemed “perfect” for.

Research Means Gathering Essential Data

All in all, to wrap up this conclusion of free full-ride scholarship research, students need to understand that research is the only route to use here. If a student does not do their research, then how will they know what scholarship is in fact a free full-ride scholarship? Simple, the would not know unless they attempted to conduct the research.

Students should first contact the universities they intend to apply to or have a general idea of which college they wish to attend. Contact admissions, and ask about the available scholarships that are given out by the college before the first-year students need to attend to classes on campus. This will be a great start for students who are unsure about where to start in their scholarship journey.