Sites Help in Hunt for Tuition Aid

You got into your college of choice. Now you have to pay for it.

At public four-year schools, undergraduate costs average $8,200 a year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At private institutions, costs run more than $20,800 a year.

You’ll need some help footing the bill. Half of students at public universities receive financial aid and more than 70% at private schools do.

Dozens of Web sites offer information on scholarships. Some even generate a list of scholarships for which you are eligible when you complete their online form.

The College Board, creator of the SAT and Advanced Placement Program, suggests scholarship programs based on grade-point average, extracurricular activities and ethnicity at https://www.collegeboard.com.

For a more detailed search profile, visit https://www.absolutelyscholarships.com, which locates scholarships for students in high school, college and graduate school.

And if you’re willing to spend 20 minutes to fill out Sallie Mae’s online form at https://www.wiredscholar.com, the student loan lender will search more than 600,000 scholarships.

Students who already know which scholarships to seek can visit their Web sites directly.

Athletes, for example, should check out the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. at https://www.ncaa.org/about/scholarships.html. Those with parents in a union can see what the AFL-CIO offers at https://www.aflcio.org/scholarships/scholar.htm. And students interested in military service should visit https://www.armyrotc.com/scholar.html.

Many service groups also provide scholarships through their local chapters.

Rotary International, an organization devoted to providing humanitarian service, funds study in a foreign country. Students can learn about the scholarship at https://www.rotary.org/foundation/educational/amb_scho.

Students interested in post-graduate work can apply for such prestigious scholarships as the Rhodes (https://www.rhodesscholar.org), Truman (https://www.truman.gov), Fulbright (https://www.iie.org/fulbright) and Luce (https://www.hluce.org).

Before beginning their scholarship searches, students should visit the Federal Trade Commission’s Web site at https://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/scholarship/index.html to learn about scholarship scams.

For those in need of additional financial assistance, the Department of Education provides information on government aid at https://www.ed.gov/finaid.html.

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Times staff writer Christine Frey covers personal technology.