Scholarships: There are thousands of them, offered by schools, employers, individuals, private companies, nonprofits, communities, religious groups, and professional and social organizations.
Institutional Scholarships = awarded by the school your decide to attend.
Private Scholarships = Awarded by outside institutions and organizations.
Some institutional scholarships for 2 and 4 year college are merit-based. You earn them by meeting or exceeding certain academic standards set by the scholarship-giver. Other scholarships are based on a families financial need.
Many private scholarships are geared toward particular groups of people; for instance, there are scholarships for women or graduate students. And some are available because of where you or your parent work, or because you come from a certain background (for instance, there are scholarships for military families).
A scholarship might cover the entire cost of your tuition, or it might be a one-time award of a few hundred dollars. Either way, it’s worth applying for, because it’ll help reduce the cost of your education.
There are dozens of scholarships listed on Naviance , the College Board has it's own scholarships and check out RaiseMe where you can start to earn micro scholarships as soon as 9th grade.