How I Got Free Textbooks!

I had heard of renting cheap textbooks, but not getting them for free! Read on to learn how I got a scholarship specifically for textbooks and school supplies.

So my post here chronicles how I applied for and received an *EASY* full-ride choir scholarship for 2 years of my college career.

Yay! Since I had been testing out of classes and doing part-time school until then, I was excited to start a school year as a full-blown college student!

While not knowing what to major in, I really enjoyed learning a lot of different things in my variety of prerequisites, such as Spanish, Chemistry, Psychology, Political Science, English, and Calculus. I also became a math tutor in the Learning Assistance Lab (LAL), joined the Ballroom Dance Club, and took a spring class in Microeconomics to test the waters and see if I was interested in business at all...

...and I became a Writing Fellow. *cue heavenly spotlight*

Apparently if a student took the Advanced Composition course at my community college (& passed), she could become a Writing Fellow (aka writing tutor) in the Writing Center, plus get a class paid for EVERY SEMESTER that she tutored!

HOWEVER, since I already had a full-ride scholarship, I didn't need a class paid for. Thus, I was given the scholarship in the form of a gift card to the school bookstore. For. Hundreds. Of. Dollars.

But here's the deal: students actually had to be recommended by a professor to take the course and start on this Writing Fellow path, then interviewed before being accepted. I was not recommended.

Sooooooo, it was time to take matters into my own hands! I reached out to a professor that had assigned a paper on which a received a good grade. I mentioned the program and asked to be recommended... and had my interview about a week or so later!

Initiating and just asking to be recommended turned out great for me! I found out later that a lot of professors don't even think of recommending students, so there are often great writers out there who don't even know about the program, nor how they can benefit.

So PLEASE, reach out of your comfort zone, or everyday life, and just ASK. INQUIRE.

Don't assume you don't qualify or can't ask for a recommendation, or see if some scholarship guidelines may be changed because of certain circumstances.

My faith has played a great role in my college journey, so this reminds me of a Bible verse: Matthew 7:7-8 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

I was a Writing Fellow for a couple semesters, had money for all my textbooks and a lot of other supplies I needed, and honestly, I just remembered that I still have some money on my community college's bookstore gift card, after graduation. (Like after my Bachelor's degree graduation from another school. I really need to use that money lol.)