The Ultimate Scholarship Book 2009: Billions of Dollars in Scholarships, Grants and Prizes (Ultimate Scholarship Book: Billions of Dollars in Scholarships,)

I bought this book to look for scholarships for my high school child who will be going to college. Well, come to realize after reading through and scanning all the scholarships offered, only a small percentage are for high school students trying to raise money for college. Out of the 2043 scholarships they offer in this book by categories such as: General, Humanities/Arts, Social Sciences, Sciences, State of Residence, Membership, Ethnicity and Disability, I could only find 73 scholarships that she "might" be eligible for. They are almost all for small amounts- $1,000 or less also. It is a lot of work, for very little reward. There are less than 5 scholarships that are over $10,000 and the competition is fierce. A very large majority of the scholarships offered in this book are for college students, grad students, and adult students. I liked the book because it gives me a good "starting point", but I would say look for something geared more toward high school if that's what you need.

One of the biggest complaints about scholarship books is that you won't find enough scholarships. It is true that not every scholarship in this book will be applicable to you, but there are several reasons why I think this is the best of the bunch. First, you WILL find many, many scholarships that fit you. It will take some time, but it's definitely worth the effort and the way that this book is organized makes it as easy as it could be. Second, what this book has that others don't is information on what to do once you find the scholarships--tips on how to win the awards. I highly recommend this book to any student who is looking for money to pay for school.

This book is fantastic. The sheer amount of information and number of scholarships is a great tool to have at your fingertips. Not to mention that, in my opinion, it's grouped together well so that you can find scholarships that apply to you without having to work too hard. I most definitely recommend this to anyone who is going to attend college or helping someone attend college. It's not free like scholarship websites, but it does have tons more in it than those sites ever could.

My only problem comes from downright wrong information. I'm aware that fact checking a book like this would be almost impossible and that the writers probably rely on information given to them. But, I feel it has to be said. When checking out some of the sites I was eligible for, I noticed that the deadline dates in the books were sometimes wrong. For example, it stated that the deadline for a certain scholarship was March 31st, but when I went to the website, it was actually on March 15. Not a...Read more