The Deal With Current Scholarships and Donations to the Education
Some of the problems with typical big or small scholarships are that they have a lot of competition, and they require a lot of preparation. First, you might spend hours searching for a scholarship you are eligible for. Once you do, you might need to document your grades, acquire recommendation letters, write about your (and maybe your parents') financial information, add medical or military records, and more. It's not uncommon for an application to require writing a personal essay as well, which can feel intimidating for those who are not that creative and/or have to write in their second or even third language. And even if you apply for a lot of scholarships, there is no guarantee that you will get any of them. That's a bit harsh!
Moreover, you can usually apply for scholarships only if you are going to college: that means you have to select a whole degree and go for 3–4 years of studying. In today's world, you have to be flexible and fast, which means college studies might be too much for someone who just wants to receive some small scholarships and start studying how to code or work with cybersecurity. Moreover, you might not be able to dedicate entire years and push all of your other commitments aside. You want to begin instantly applying your new skills in the job market instead of putting it off for another few years.
How Are BitDegree's Small Scholarships Different?
Here in BitDegree, we believe that everyone deserves a chance at education – that's why we started the simple scholarships for online classes that can be sponsored via the blockchain system. Why is the blockchain system used for these micro-scholarships? Mostly for efficiency and transparency: the processes of education and funding can be automated, which decreases costs, and the blockchain-based credentials ensure that each transaction is recorded and stored for later use if needed.
Why would you go for this type of simple scholarships? Think of it like a microloan. When someone wants to start their small local business and needs a bit of finance to get them going, they don't need to apply for a big loan from the bank. Instead, they can go for a peer-to-peer option – a microloan, something they can use and pay back quickly. The main difference between microloans and small scholarships is that the money goes toward your education, and you don't have to pay back anyone.
The purpose of these small scholarships for online classes is to help students achieve microlearning without financial strain. Let's face it: sometimes even $10 is a lot of money when it comes to choosing whether to improve your skills or support yourself and your family. In applications like the one cited below, you can clearly see that even a small amount can help:
"I am a university student. My subject is Textile Fashion and Design. Personal branding is a tremendously important skill for a fashion designer. I believe that no one can survive in such a profession without branding. That's why I always thought of getting enrolled in a standard personal branding course. Unfortunately, I found out that a standard course from a well-reputed institution is still very difficult for me financially. I earn some money by tutoring and writing in newspapers and magazines. With those earnings, I need to pay for my academic studies, food, healthcare, books, and other utilities, so it's very difficult for me to get enrolled in a course and become a versatile world citizen, even though I have a burning desire to learn and lead my community."
This is the story of one of the students who was recently sponsored to get the "Eye-opening Look At Personal Branding: How to Become a Thought Leader" course.
Another benefit of these small scholarships is that you can choose various courses and improve different sets of your skills. You can apply for web development scholarships by choosing courses that teach JavaScript, HTML, and other front-end or back-end programming languages. If that's not your preference, you can try getting data science scholarships for courses that teach Python, data management, and analysis. There are many courses on the list, so you can try and get affiliate marketing, graphic design, cybersecurity scholarships, and basically anything your heart desires!
Applying for BitDegree's Small Scholarships
The best thing is, BitDegree has a simple application for scholarships online. It only has 5 steps:
- Go to https://www.bitdegree.org/courses/certificates/scholarships/apply
- Press "Start Now" and log in with your BitDegree user profile (if you are not registered on BitDegree, now you will be prompted to do so).
- Choose a course you would like to enroll in. Browse course categories or simply type in a keyword, and you will get relevant suggestions. Choose the one that seems the most helpful and useful in terms of reaching your professional goals!
- Fill in your personal details: first and last name, country, phone, personal photo, and a short story as to why you should get this scholarship. Remember, this is an easy no-essay scholarship, so you don't need to write 1000 words. Still, the better your text can show how the skills you acquire will help you in the future, the bigger is the chance one of the sponsors will choose you. For example, if you are applying for web development scholarships, you might tell us why you want to learn web development, how it can help you get a job or start working as a freelancer for extra money. Talk about how the selected course will provide benefits for your future. It would also be beneficial to provide links to some of your social network profiles (like LinkedIn or Facebook) to make the identification easier.
In this step, you will also see what your deadline for completing the course is. If you fail to finish in time, you might not get awarded the micro-scholarship for completion.
5. The last step of applying for these small scholarships is to verify your identity. We can't sponsor minors or fake people, after all! For this step, you will have to upload a photo of you (you can simply take one with the camera of your device) holding two things: a sheet of paper with the word "BitDegree" and today's date written on it, and a proof of identity (your passport, ID or driver's license).
That's it – after you upload the image, you will be redirected to the completed micro-scholarship application form to check if everything is okay! Such a simple scholarship's application process allows more people to try online learning and helps them gather more skills that are highly sought-after in today's job market.
Once your small scholarship's application goes through, make sure to finish your course until the deadline strikes, and enjoy your blockchain certificate and scholarship award!
A More Transparent Future
There is a reason why BitDegree started these small scholarships and based them on the blockchain. There is no question that education is important, but the form of how it is achieved is rapidly changing: massive open online courses (MOOCs) already have more than 101 million users worldwide, and the numbers will only continue to grow. Sadly, not everyone gets to try this way of rapid skill acquiring just yet – some financial aid is needed. Big scholarships, intended for colleges, are not helpful here, and a new solution is needed.
The public has already proven that it's ready to sponsor education (either through charity organizations like CAE, Giving USA, or crowdfunding projects), but these solutions need to be secure and transparent when it comes to microlearning. BitDegree has already come up with such a transparent solution: small scholarships that are easy to apply for without writing long essays or preparing extensively. Moreover, the program is based on a blockchain system that provides transparency so you can see who has funded who and how the money has helped. And if you are on the receiving end, you will get a blockchain certificate that cannot be tampered with and a micro-scholarship, which will be transferred as you complete the course.
So if you have ever wanted to start an online course but didn't get a chance to because of your financial struggles, now is the best time to try. Go here and try BitDegree's easy no-essay scholarships!
