Recent Blog Posts
What Does "Cost of Attendance" Mean at a College or University?
For many families, price can be an important factor in deciding where to attend college. The total cost can account for many factors aside from just tuition. The extra costs can catch some students off guard, especially those working on a tight budget.
Knowing the full cost of attendance at your college or university is critical for making smart financial choices as you work toward your degree. At OVC Scholarship Network, we offer a range of need-based and merit-based scholarships to help students cover college expenses beyond just the sticker price. Our scholarships are available to students nationwide, so be sure to look at our directory for open funding opportunities.
What Is Included in the Cost of Attendance of a College or University in 2026?
Colleges and universities calculate a full cost of attendance, and that number covers several categories that students and families need to plan for ahead of time, such as:
What Is a Scholarship Motivation Letter?
Applying for scholarships involves more than just filling out a form and submitting your grades. Most organizations want to learn more about the person behind the application and why receiving the scholarship would mean something to them.
One way they do this is through a scholarship motivation letter. This part of an application explains why you want the scholarship and why you believe you are a good candidate.
Scholarship applications can look different from one opportunity to the next, so it’s important to understand all of the various aspects you may be asked for. At OVC Scholarship Network, students across the country can find a wide range of scholarships, regardless of their future career plans.
What Should You Include in a Scholarship Motivation Letter?
Your motivation letter should help the committee understand why you are applying. Instead of repeating your grades or accomplishments, explain how your experiences connect to your plans.
Undergraduate vs. Graduate vs. Postgraduate Degrees: What Is the Difference?
Understanding the degree level you’re looking for can help you compare programs and plan how to pay for school. It can also matter when you apply for scholarships, since some are only open to students at certain stages of their education.
Undergraduate degrees are usually the first degrees students earn in college. Graduate programs come after a bachelor’s degree, while the term "postgraduate" can have different meanings depending on the school or program. Knowing the difference can help you choose a program and find scholarships that fit your level of study.
Scholarships may be based on your grades, major, degree level, life experiences, or other factors. At OVC Scholarship Network, students across the country can search for scholarships with many different opportunities, even if you’re not planning a career in law.
Can You Apply to College Scholarships if You Aren’t a U.S. Citizen?
Paying for college is difficult for many students. For young adults in America who aren’t U.S. citizens, college costs can be even more of a problem. Many people wonder whether scholarships are only for citizens or whether your immigration status will prevent you from getting the financial help you need.
The good news is that many scholarships are open to many non-citizens, including:
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Permanent residents
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International students
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DACA recipients
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Undocumented students
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Refugees
If you plan to attend college during the 2026-2027 school year, you may have more options than you think. OVC Scholarship Network can help you find and use these resources as you get ready to get the education you’ve always dreamed of.
What College Students Should Know About Scholarship Video Essays
Scholarships can be a pivotal resource for college students. Among the application requirements, many scholarships now ask for video essays instead of traditional written essays as part of their selection process.
Video essays allow applicants to showcase their personalities and talents in a dynamic way that goes beyond the traditional written essay. However, some students may find creating a video essay daunting. Here are some key points to remember to help you ace your next video essay submission.
At OVC Scholarship Network, we have scholarships available that fit many different types of students. If you’re planning on attending college or university in the 2026-2027 school year, check out our scholarships and contact us for help applying.
Understanding the Prompt and Criteria of Video Essays
Before you begin planning what you want to say, make sure you understand exactly what the scholarship committee is asking you to do. Video essay prompts often seem simple, but they may contain several parts. For example, a scholarship may ask you to describe a challenge, explain what you learned from it, and connect that experience to your future goals.
Paying for College with Divorced Parents
Figuring out how to pay for college is complicated for most people, no matter what your background is. When your parents are divorced, the financial aid process and potential lack of money from either parent add an extra layer of problems. Whose income do you use for FAFSA? What if one parent won't cooperate? What if you have not spoken to one of your parents in years?
These are real questions that don’t have easy answers. What we at OVC Scholarship do know, however, is that paying for college is much easier when you have scholarships. OVC Scholarship Network is a great place to find scholarships, and we can even help you if you aren’t sure where to start.
How Does the FAFSA Handle Divorced Parents?
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the FAFSA, determines eligibility for federal grants, loans, and work-study programs. For students with divorced parents, the FAFSA uses the parent who provided more financial support. If that parent has remarried, their new spouse's income is also included, even if your stepparent has never contributed to your education costs, as long as they file taxes jointly.
How to Ask for a Scholarship Recommendation Letter
Getting a scholarship in 2026 is about more than good grades and well-written essays. Most scholarship committees want to hear from someone who knows you personally, which means you'll need at least one strong recommendation letter.
Asking for a recommendation letter doesn't have to be stressful if you approach it the right way. If you're searching for scholarships to apply to, OVC Scholarship Network can help you find opportunities and maximize your chances of winning.
Who Should You Ask for a Scholarship Recommendation Letter?
Teachers and Academic Advisors
The strongest recommendation letters come from people who know your academic work and your character well. Teachers, academic advisors, and school counselors who have watched you grow over time are natural choices for recommenders. A good recommender is one who can:
Do Scholarship Committees Check for AI in Scholarship Applications?
It’s summer break 2026, you’re sitting down to get started on your scholarship essay, and you're curious about whether the judges will run your essay through an AI detector. Does this sound like something you might ask? It's a fair question; after all, most of us use AI to get things done these days.
So can you use AI to write your scholarship essay? If you can, how exactly should you do it? If you can’t, can you use AI to get feedback, just to spell check, or to rewrite sections that don’t sound great? Knowing the answers to all of these questions is important if you’re relying on scholarship funds to pay for college.
At OVC Scholarship Network, we want you to have the best possible chance of winning scholarships and pursuing the education you’ve always dreamed of. Learn more about how to use AI wisely in your scholarship application, and then look through our scholarship directory for scholarships that might be a good fit for you.
How to Pay for College if Your Scholarship Won’t Cover Everything
Getting a scholarship is a major accomplishment that is usually the result of hard work over years of schooling, plus serious effort during the application process. For most students, though, even a generous single scholarship is not enough to cover the full cost of college.
In 2026, the average cost of attending a four-year public university runs over $28,000 per year. Tuition is only one part of that price — books, fees, and housing are also very expensive. If your scholarship only covers part of the cost of getting the education you dream of, don’t despair. You have more options than you might think and OVC Scholarship Network is a great place to start.
What Should You Do When a Scholarship Doesn’t Cover Your Full Costs?
The first thing to understand is that a partial scholarship from your university or a private donor isn’t the only source of funding available to you. Most students who successfully pay for college piece together their funding from several different sources. This might look like one scholarship, one grant, a work-study job, and maybe a small loan. Together, these combine into a package that makes college possible.
Can Community Service Help Me Win Scholarships?
If you are applying for scholarships in 2026, you already know that grades and test scores are perhaps the most important part of your application. But there is another factor that scholarship committees look at very closely: community service. Volunteering and giving back to your community can make a major difference when it comes to standing out in a competitive applicant pool.
The good news is that you don’t need to have logged hundreds of hours or led a major nonprofit to make community service work for you. What matters is how you talk about what you did and why you did it. If you’re looking for scholarships that match your background, OVC Scholarship Network has a fit for you.
Does Community Service Actually Matter to Scholarship Committees?
Community service genuinely does matter on a scholarship application. Scholarship committees are not just looking for the student with the highest GPA. They want to fund students who show initiative, care about others, and are likely to contribute to their communities in the future.
If you have any questions about the OVC Scholarship Network, we encourage you
to get in touch with us, and we will respond as soon as possible.
