1. MYTH: They are only available to women or underprivileged youth.

FACT: While there are many scholarships available primarily or exclusively for women, and several specifically for youth in general or underprivileged you in particular, they are not even the majority, let alone all aviation scholarships. The few largest women’s organizations provide the majority of scholarships for women and do a great job advertising their scholarships, while the press love kids—and underprivileged kids specifically—and have a field day with this tear-jerker. So these groups often get featured in the news media and the search engines when you are looking for scholarships online. However, there are actually far more scholarships—for every field of aviation—that have no gender or age requirements at all.

2. MYTH: They are all location-specific and there aren’t any in my area.

FACT: While there are many scholarships that require you live or train in a particular area, they are in the minority. The majority of scholarships are either sponsored by national organizations or private donors who want to help people achieve their aviation goals regardless of their zip code. Also, there may be a local scholarship that you simply haven’t heard about. Many local organizations do not have an advertising budget or advertising experience and so rely heavily on word-of-mouth.

3. MYTH: Applying for a scholarship is a long and complicated process.

FACT: It can be confusing, especially the first time around, and especially without someone to guide you through the process. Nevertheless, just about all scholarships have the same basic elements they want you to submit, and follow the same basic procedures throughout. The Aviation Scholarship Directory 2008 has step-by-step instructions to take the mystery out of the process and make it as straightforward as possible.

4. MYTH: The judges are only looking for the best and the brightest. I wouldn’t qualify.

FACT: The scholarship committees naturally want to invest their money where it will do the most good; that is exactly how they see their donation, by the way, as an investment. However, the committees may be looking for different qualities and criteria than you assume. Granted, some scholarships (especially college scholarships) are looking for you to have lots of extracurricular activities, leadership experience, honors, awards and employment history. If you don’t have a laundry list of community service, though, don’t sell yourself short. Many scholarships (even some college scholarships) put more emphasis on your personal qualities, such as your ambition, your ability to set and achieve goals in any area of life, your integrity and your character, than on your extracurricular activities.

5. MYTH: It takes forever to get the money.

FACT: The average is about two months from the application due date. If you apply well before the deadline, then it may seem to take especially long. However, figuring from the date the application is due, it usually takes about a month to a month and a half for the judges to review the candidates and meet to decide the winner(s), and then a week or two of paperwork before notifying the recipients. After this, it usually takes a couple of weeks to get the check out to you or the educational institution, depending on the donor’s policies. The process may be a little faster or a little slower, but figure about two months as a good estimate.

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