There are a broad range of opportunities for finding scholarships. These sources are listed below:

• Private sources
• Employers
• Places of worship
• Civic organizations
• Online

There are many private sources of scholarship funds available to all students. A walk through a shopping mall typically encompasses a visit to many department stores and chains, and very often these organizations have funds available. Large multinational organizations, and businesses also have funds available, while smaller organizations may also have funds. The opportunities are truly unlimited.

Employers are another prime source of scholarship funding. Very often employers have funds held back for their employees education. Whether you are an employee, or the dependent of an employee, this is another realistic avenue to explore.

Places of worship that a student regularly attends may be one source of scholarship funding to consider. Very often places of worship have funding held back for educational opportunities for their parishioners or members. Chambers of commerce, local government and other such organizations are other realistic organizations that students may wish to consider exploring.

There are a wide number of search engines to be found online when it comes to searching for scholarships. One factor to remember is that scholarships are there to help you pay for your education. We would urge extreme caution if any search engine or organization asks for a fee, credit card number, or social security number before conducting a scholarship search for you. A number of scholarship search engines are listed on this page.

We are often asked about how to write a letter to appeal for scholarship funding. A scholarship appeal letter is your opportunity to connect with an organization to convince them of your suitability to receive scholarship funding. This one page can not come across as too direct or harsh. It needs to convey a sense of belief in your ability. It must also illustrate a belief that the scholarship funds would have a positive impact in your studies. Ideally, the letter would illustrate how the scholarship would ultimately help you achieve academic success and thus career dreams.

If time is short and you do not have time to research different organizations in depth, you can consider copying and pasting a standardized email about yourself to different organizations. If you follow this route, it is important that your email is general enough so that it does not indicate carelessness or exclude you from being considered by an organization. For example, while it may be wise to share how you always wanted to captain your own cruise ship to someone in the cruising industry, it would not help your appeal sending such information to the aviation industry.

•    Introduce who you are and why you are attending Lynn University
•    Outline a little about your background and family
•    Explain why you are in need of scholarship funding
•    Explain how a scholarship could help you achieve your dreams.
•    Outline your admiration for the organization that you are writing to and why you have specifically chosen them to write to
•    Thank them for their consideration.

•    Address the scholarship email to an individual. Research the name of the person you are emailing when possible, rather than Sir/Madam.
•    Do not write too much. You do not want the reader to get bored!
•    Be positive about yourself and how you can make a difference.
•    Try to make it evident that you are familiar with the organization you are emailing.

•    Make sure to run your email through a spellcheck before sending
•    Run the email through Grammarly
•    Review the email one last time before sending
•    If sending a large volume of emails, make sure you are sending the correct email to the correct organization

Congratulations on your scholarship! Before these scholarship funds are transferred into your student account, a thank you letter to the donor is required.

In addition to a show of gratitude, your letter should give the donor(s) a sense of who you are.  To guide you, here are a few things you should include:

• Scholarship name
• Personal information: -where you’re from (hometown, country)

                                              - your family

                                              -your goals, hobbies, sports

• Academic information: -what year you are in

                                                -your major, GPA, and anticipated graduation date

                                                -what you like about Lynn University

• Gratitude:  -how their scholarship will help you achieve your goals

Along with your thank you letter, please send us a photo of yourself. You also are welcome to send photos of your family (including pets) –especially if you mentioned them in your letter.  The photos may be informal pictures.  Please identify yourself in group photos. Your letter and photo are due before the deadline date listed on your award letter.

The minimum word count is 250 words. Once received, it will be formatted and processed. We will then contact you to come by the University Advancement office in the Schmidt Building to sign your letter.  Letters will be processed on a first come first serve basis.

Thank you letters from students demonstrate to donors how much we all appreciate them.  With their help, talented students like you receive a quality education.  We hope in the future you, too, will remember Lynn and give back by extending a helping hand to other students.

Please note, that if you have previously received this scholarship, you are required to write a new letter and send in a new photo.

If you send in a family photo, you must identify yourself in the photo for the Donor.

For questions about the scholarship thank you letter and photos, contact me at 561-237-7269 or email tbarioli@lynn.edu.