Does that mean you're stuck with paying $20,000 for your kid's education? Not at all. Even if the college itself doesn't give your child any money, there are plenty of other places to get funds from.

Go to your local library or do an online search. You will find literally hundreds of private organizations that offer scholarships for students. Each one has different requirements but they all usually fall into one of several criteria.

The first criteria is that some of these organizations offer scholarships based on grades and SAT scores. In these cases, simply submit this information to the organization. They will get back to you and let you know if you're going to get a scholarship.

Some organizations base scholarships on essays. They pick out the students who wrote the best essays and these are the ones who get scholarships. There may be three scholarship awards for these essay contests.

Then there are organizations that offer scholarships based on some affiliation that you have such as if you had a family member who fought in a foreign war. Then there are organizations like the Masons, Elks and Rotary, that offer scholarships if a family member is part of their organization. Most of these organizations are districted and usually give out only one or two scholarships per district.

So, as you can see, there are more ways for your kid to get money for college besides just getting good grades. But they do help.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to College