As the cost of a college education continues to rise, more and more people are looking for financial help. The ultimate form of help would be a full-ride scholarship, but for many would-be applicants, this possibility may seem like a pipe dream.

But it doesn’t have to be. Getting a full-ride scholarship is just like any other difficult task—you need to know your specific goals, and you need to have a plan and the resources to back it up. Quality written research papers from EasyEssay can be a great way to improve your academic performance.

With all of that in mind, let’s take a deeper dive into how to formulate a goal and a plan, and access the right resources. There’s a lot to cover, but we will be able to handle most of the important basics.

Know Your Assets

The first issue you need to address to get a full-ride scholarship is to understand that that simple goal isn’t enough. There are several major categories in which these kinds of scholarships are typically awarded, and you need to know which ones fit you best.

Athletics are the most obvious route for many applicants, especially if they have the right skill set and a successful track record in a major sport. Many are heavily recruited, but others are walk-ons who earn their scholarships on the basis of tryouts and performance.

Academics is the next most obvious path. A high GPA at a good school can open doors for excellent students seeking full-ride scholarships, but sometimes excelling in the right subject and knowing which schools are looking for scholarship candidates is just as valuable, sometimes even more so.

Then there are the leadership scholarships. The path to these is a little tougher to pin down, but there are many examples of how this works. One might be a military commitment to getting into an ROTC program, and this may include a full-ride scholarship.

Financial need is the final path we’ll mention. Many of those who rise up out of poverty do so by getting full-ride scholarships based on financial need. Both guidance counselors and financial aid specialists can steer applicants into the best possibilities.

How to Conduct Your Search

Once you know which category you fit into, you can start your search. There are far more possibilities for a full-ride scholarship than most people realize, and both guidance counselors and scholarship specialists can help you find your path.

Start with the fact that the different service branches all have their own ROTC programs, and they all have a slightly different emphasis. An Army ROTC program might focus on leadership training in a full-ride scholarship program, while the Air Force version of this might include more tech and engineering courses that are more tailored to the needs of that particular service branch.

Tech companies like Microsoft also usually have scholarship programs, and while not all offer full-ride scholarships, getting one of these partial scholarships can be another path to getting all your course work paid off.

Similarly, there are charitable foundations that give you full-ride scholarships, and these may be related to different professions and professional communities. The Gates Millennium Scholars program, for instance, reflects Bill Gates’ origins as the founder of Microsoft, but these days he’s just as much of a philanthropist who doles out hundreds of full-ride scholarships as part of his efforts to give back to the community.

Another related program is SMART, which stands for Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation. The goal of this program is to help create a pipeline of stellar students interested in these particular fields, and this is another especially solid way to get a full-ride scholarship.

Finally, it’s essential to consider the individual schools themselves or to search geographically if that’s your preference.

If you have a favorite school or conference affiliation, make sure you check out as many schools as possible to see what kinds of scholarships they’re offering and whether you’re eligible.

The same process pertains to geography. In-state programs can be an excellent way to get a full-ride scholarship in your area, and investigating this possibility may unearth local opportunities that you may not have known about.

It’s important to stay focused and relentless, though. Many people give up after trying two or three opportunities, not realizing that there are dozens or hundreds out there, and they may be eligible for most of them. Don’t let yourself quit, and you can give yourself a great chance to get a full-ride scholarship.