In most cases, the schools to which you apply will automatically consider you for a whole bundle of scholarships, solely based on your general admissions application and your FAFSA (Free Application For Federal Student Aid) data. BUT, there are usually at least a handful other scholarships for which you may need to submit an additional scholarship application. These can be for big, GiAnT, HUGE amounts of money, and are usually renewable, which means you can count on them year-after-year.
Examples of these are Presidential & Diversity Scholarships, Foundation Scholarships, and Department Scholarships. You can also investigate if a school is trying to recruit a particular type of student OR if they are trying to build interest in a particular degree or program. Extra scholarships might be made available to draw students to these types of opportunities.
To find out about potential scholarship opportunities at the schools which YOU are considering, contact the Financial Aid Office and/or check out the Financial Aid portion of their website.