Be a Return to College Student

Grant Sources, Tips, and Strategies

Plenty of adults never finished a college degree the first time around. Many more wish to advance their careers with second and even third degrees or change career tracks entirely. Because the population of adults wishing to return to school is quickly growing, so too are the grant programs that help financially support and encourage.

Within this broad category of grant aid is a diverse array of students, all with particular needs:

  • Adults changing careers
  • Minorities
  • Women trying to re-enter the workforce
  • Professionals returning to school for advanced degrees
  • Displaced workers eager for advanced career training or new career footholds.

If you’re returning to college then you already possess some higher education under your belt: Associates degree, Bachelors or Masters degree perhaps. What makes this re-entry so challenging and deserving of grant support?

College Re-entry: The Bumpy Ride

Any adult that has been divorced from the college scene for any period of time faces challenges when it comes to making plans for a return to college. Challenges could include: children and spouse/partner, work responsibility, financial responsibility, navigating the financial aid and admissions processes, as well as big hairy monsters like fear and lack of self-confidence.

Aid for Returning Adults from Colleges and Universities

One of the best sources for grant money is directly through your college or university financial aid department. You must ask an Admissions or Financial Aid representative to provide you with a list of general aid programs for which you might qualify as well as special grant programs that could provide even higher levels of aid for returning adults like yourself. Here are a couple examples:

  • The Osher Re-entry Grant program, made available through the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, is an example of a school-specific aid program aimed squarely at the needs of adults returning to college. Further requirements include financial need, age limits between 25 and 50, and part-time college enrollment. Awards are $5,000 usable for tuition.

Women and Minorities: Return to School with Lucrative Grant Funding

More organizations than you can imagine offer grant money particularly for women and minorities who wish to return to college. Why? These populations face many more challenges when it comes to getting back into higher education: they have financial disadvantage, social battles, personal problems, and family responsibilities that bind them more tightly.

  • The Jeanette Rankin Foundation Women’s Education Fund provides educational grants to women over the age of 35 who wish to attend college for the first time or as returning students. Financial need and motivation are chief qualifying factors. Awards are $1,500.

Squeeze Federal and State Grant Funds

Fill out and file the FAFSA—Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Do not dismiss the possible grant aid you may qualify for from the Federal Aid or state aid programs. In fact once you get the FAFSA done and filed the rest of the work is done for you by the federal government.

  • Pell Grants, Work Study Grants and specialized career grants for nurses, teachers and healthcare workers are all potential sources of free financial aid even for returning students.
  • State funded grant programs may include very targeted return to school grants, displaced worker grants, and vocational and trade school grants. Also many states fund their own nurse and teacher incentive grants.

More Tips and Tricks for Finding Grant Sources for Returning College Students

  • Many communities have thriving Community Foundations that you may never about. These organizations offer various types of financial support to local and regional residents, including grants and scholarships. Even if aid is packaged into a few hundred dollars, it’s well worth your time to explore.
  • Local professional unions and associations often maintain funding for members of trade associations—these could be a solid source.
  • Shop local women’s clubs, minority organizations, workforce education centers, VFW, Soroptimist, and Elks Clubs, and more.
  • Tangential to grants specifically for school, you may also find child-care grants.