Students cannot expect scholarships and financial aid to fall into their lap, so do your homework, do your research and try to find the one scholarship that will work for you and then apply for it. There are many places to look for scholarships so this section is designed to provide you with a starting point.

It can be very hard to find a good scholarship site but one thing you should be very careful of are sites that charge you access to view or search scholarships. You should not need to pay money to search for scholarships - so keep to the free resources they are just as good and sometimes much better!

Free Scholarship Resources
• International Scholarships - they have an online database that is open to all students. You will need to register an account but once that is done (at no cost) you can have access to view and search international awards.
• International Education Financial Aid - similar to the site above offering students a free resource of international scholarships for study around the world
• Education UK Scholarship Search - specific to the UK, this directory provides a free scholarship search like the 2 sites above.

Another very good free resource is Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other major search engine. All you need to do is search on terms like "manufacturing scholarship uk" or "business scholarship london". Use a variety of terms to get some good results back!

How to spot a scholarship scam!
Scholarship scams are all over the place, and as an international student you are a prime target for people to scam you out of money. The general rule of thumb when it comes to scholarship scams are:

1. If you must pay money to get money, it might be a scam.
2. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
3. Spend the time, not the money.
4. Nobody can guarantee that you'll win a scholarship.
5. Legitimate scholarship foundations do not charge application fees.
6. If you're suspicious of an offer, it's usually with good reason.

Am I eligible for a scholarship?
Eligibility depends on the scholarship. There is no general rule of thumb on whether you are eligible for a scholarship. All scholarships vary in their eligibility requirements, some ask for a certain TOEFL score, some ask that you are from a certain country. You will need to do your own research to see if you are eligible for a scholarship.

How do I apply?
As with eligibility, there is not set rule on how to apply for scholarships. Some ask for a specially written piece of work, some ask for you to be pursuing a certain field and some just require you to complete an application form. If you find a scholarship that you think you may be eligible for, contact the award administrator of that award.