Grants, Scholarships and Financial Assistance

by Valerie Nelson | More from this Blogger

15 Aug 2006 08:42 AM

Dear readers, lately I have seen a lot of information about free grant money for single parents, business owners, three legged dogs, and you name any other category you like. Some of these ads are very persuasive and explain in detail different government grant programs that you are eligible for just waiting for you to call to claim your big payday. Mathew Lesko, and others who are not dressed in question mark attire have created bestselling books, prowl late night television and the internet with their bogus information about getting your free government grant money.

That's right folks (stated in a sarcastic, infomercially way) it just is not true. There is not free money waiting for you. I know this for a fact- because I am a professional grant writer. I have worked for the past seven plus years in grant development, which includes writing grant proposals for non-profit organizations. I have had many, as in too numerous to continue to count, telephone calls and email inquiries asking about grant money to open a business, or for individuals going through difficult financial circumstances. They just do not exist. Grant money from the governmetn goes to non-profit organizations. There are very arduous requirements to receive a government grant award, and the grant requests (proposals) can take hundreds of hours to prepare. If there was free money out there for the taking I would have found it- and then probably would have written a book about how to get free government money!

Seriously-there are college grants and scholarships for a lot of people including single parents. There are fellowships for people earning or working at a Masters or Doctoral level of education. There are very few grants for businesses, and unfortunately no grants that I know of for single parents.

I was looking at a website for single parents that had an alleged link for women to follow to get grants, scholarships or help with financial problems. The only site it went to was a fee for service credit counseling agency. This has absolutely nothing to do with grants or scholarships. Do not fall for this type of trickery.

If you have received a free government grant that you did not have to pay back (for other than college) and received legally- meaning you did not have to fear prison time, I want to hear about it. I promise, if I hear of any real free grants for single parents to help us pay the bills and take care of our everyday living expenses, I will let you know right here on Families.com.

Learn more about Valerie Nelson

Valerie is a Families.com blogger, freelance writer and small business owner. Valerie helps non-profit organizations with fundraising through grant development for their programs and projects.

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