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A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further their education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria, which usually reflect the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award. Scholarship money is not required to be repaid.^[1]

Types[link]

The most common scholarships may be classified as:

• Merit-based: These awards are based on a student's academic, artistic, athletic or other abilities, and often factor in an applicant's extracurricular activities and community service record. The most common merit-based scholarships, awarded by either private organizations or directly by a student's intended college, recognize academic achievement or high scores on standardized tests. Most such merit-based scholarships are paid directly by the institution the student attends, rather than issued directly to the student.^[2]
• Need-based: In the United States, these awards are based on the student and family's financial record and require applicants to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to qualify if the scholarship is a federal award. Private need-based scholarships also often require the results of a FAFSA, which calculates a student's financial need through a formula that looks at the expected family contribution and cost of attendance at the intended college.^[3]
• Student-specific: These are scholarships where applicants must initially qualify by gender, race, religion, family and medical history, or many other student-specific factors. Minority scholarships are the most common awards in this category. For example, students in Canada may qualify for a number of aboriginal scholarships, whether they study at home or abroad. The Gates Millennium Scholars program is another minority scholarship funded by Bill and Melinda Gates for excellent African American, American Indian, Asian Pacific Islander American and Latino students who enroll in college.
• Career-specific: These are scholarships a college or university awards to students who plan to pursue a specific field of study. Often, the most generous awards to to students who pursue careers in high-need areas such as education or nursing. Many schools in the United States give future nurses full scholarships to enter the field, especially if the student intends to work in a high-need community.
• College-specific: College-specific scholarships are offered by individual colleges and universities to highly qualified applicants. These scholarships, given on the basis of academic and personal achievement, usually result in either a full-ride to the college, or for a reduced rate of tuition.

Some scholarships have a "bond" requirement. Recipients may be required to work for a particular employer for a specified period of time or to work in rural or remote areas; otherwise they may be required to repay the value of the support they received from the scholarship. This is particularly the case with education and nursing scholarships for people prepared to work in rural and remote areas. The programs offered by the uniformed services of the United States (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration commissioned corps, and Public Health Service Commissioned Corps) sometimes resemble such scholarships.

• "Athletic:" Awarded to students for showing exceptional skill in a sport provided by the college.

Local scholarships[link]

It is typical for persons to find scholarships in their home region. Information on these can be found by asking local institutions and organizations. Typically, these are less competitive as the eligible population is smaller.

• Guidance counselors: When starting to explore scholarship opportunities, most high school students check with their guidance counselors. They can be a reliable resource for local scholarships.
• Non-profits and charitable trusts: Most non-profit organizations have at some point of their history founded scholarships for prospective students. The Good Schools Guide, a guide to schools in the UK, states "Charitable grant-making trusts can help in cases of genuine need," and goes on to outline several instances where this may be the case, including an "unforeseen family disaster" and a "need for special education".
• Community foundations: Many counties and cities and regions have a local foundation dedicated to giving money in the form of grants and scholarships to people and organizations in the area.
• Music teachers: Some music teachers offer reduced-cost or free lessons to help low-income children gain access to an arts education. In addition, some local non-profits provide free music classes to youths.
• Foundations: Certain foundations in the United States offer scholarships for entrepreneurial endeavors.
• Trade union|Labor/trade unions: Major unions often offer scholarships for members and their dependent children.^{[citation needed]}
• Houses of worship: The local house of worship may or may not have any scholarships for their members, but the religious organization or headquarters may have some available. Of course, theology study is highly encouraged.
• Chamber of commerce: Many chambers of commerce offer (usually small) grants to students in the community, especially those planning on careers in business and public service. Even if they do not offer any themselves, one can usually get a listing of members, and many of them may offer small scholarships to local students.
• Other volunteer organizations: Many organizations offer scholarships or award grants to students whose background or chosen field overlaps the field of the organization. For example, local chapters of professional societies may help the studies of exceptionally distinguished students of the region. Similarly, charity organizations may offer help, especially if the late parent of the student was a member of the organization (e.g., a Masonic lodge might help the orphan of a lodge brother.) This kind of scholarship is mostly ad hoc.
• School: Old, well-known schools are often endowed with scholarship funds.
• University: Old, well-established universities may have funds to finance the studies of extremely talented students of little means. Eligibility often requires that a student belong to some special category or be among a nation's best. However, universities provide information on scholarships and grants, possibly even internship opportunities.
• PSAT/NMSQT: In the United States, students are offered the opportunity to take the PSAT/NMSQT test, usually in their junior year of high school. National Merit Scholarship programs are initially determined by the scores received on the PSAT/NMSQT test. Some private scholarship programs require applicants to take the PSAT. The test can be used as preparation for the SAT.
• Disabilities: Students with disabilities may be able to apply for awards intended for people with disabilities. This may be disabilities in general or in relation to a specific disability.^[4]

Controversy[link]

It has become more prevalent today that scholarships are misconceived to have a discriminatory quality to them. For example, as demonstrated by student-specific scholarships, minorities are thought to have a priority over Caucasian students when it comes to receiving these scholarships.

These beliefs are known to come from college students themselves who have been affected by their failures at obtaining adequate financial aid. Mark Kantrowitz, Publisher of the FinAid and Fastweb web sites owned by Monster Worldwide and author of the Amazon.com bestseller Secrets to Winning a Scholarship , has explained that the average family tends to overestimate their eligibility for merit-based awards and underestimate their eligibility for need-based awards. These high expectations lead to disappointing results, and many people tend to find someone else to blame for their faults. In turn, the most persistent target of this disapproval tends to be high-profile, minority-based scholarships.

Although many people believe the minorities are responsible for their inability to find scholarships, studies have shown that Caucasians receive 72 percent of all scholarships while their minority counterparts only receive 28 percent. The misconceptions have led many people, including Colby Bohannan, to create “Caucasians Only” scholarships in hopes of bringing equality to higher education.

Other sources of information on scholarships are libraries, newspapers, the yellow pages, and Internet search engines.

See also[link]

Look up scholarship in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Athletic scholarship
• Bursary
• Demyship
• Exhibition
• Fellowship
• Financial aid (educational expenses)
• List of North American scholarships

Notes[link]

References[link]

• DiFiore, Laura, et al. "Tips on Finding Scholarships." FreSch! Free Scholarship Search. 1997.
• Martin, Michel. "Scholarships: Who Gets Them and Why?" Tell me More 17 Mar. 2011. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 19 Mar. 2012.

Zara Phillips MBE
Born	Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips (1981-05-15) 15 May 1981 (age 31) St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London
Alma mater	University of Exeter
Religion	Christian (Church of England)
Spouse	Michael Tindall (30 July 2011 - present)
Parents	Mark Phillips Anne, Princess Royal
Relatives	Peter Phillips (brother) Elizabeth II (grandmother) Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (grandfather)

Zara Anne Elizabeth Tindall MBE (née Phillips; born 15 May 1981), known commonly as Zara Phillips, is the second child and only daughter of Anne, Princess Royal and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips and is 14th in the line of succession to the throne. She is married to former England rugby union player Mike Tindall, but has kept her own name for professional purposes, referring to herself otherwise as "Mrs Tindall".^[1] She is listed as 14th in the line of succession to the 16 Commonwealth realms as Mrs Michael Tindall.^[2]

An equestrian, Phillips won the Eventing World Championship in Aachen in 2006. The same year she was voted 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year by the British viewing public (an award her mother won in 1971). She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2007 New Year's Honours List by her grandmother for her services to equestrianism.She has also carried an Olympic flame at Cheltenham Racecourse on her horse Toytown ^[3]

Early life[link]

She is the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of her birth she was sixth in line to succeed her grandmother, the Queen. As of the birth of her niece Isla Phillips in 2012, she is 14th in the line of succession to the thrones of 16 independent countries.

She has an older brother, Peter Phillips, born 15 November 1977, and two half-sisters, Felicity Tonkin, born in 1985 to her father by his brief affair with Heather Tonkin,^[4] and Stephanie Phillips, born 2 October 1997 from her father's second marriage to Sandy Pflueger.

At the request of their mother,^[5] the children of the Princess Royal do not hold any royal or noble title, nor are they automatically entitled to royal status by right of birth, as they are the grandchildren of a monarch in the female line.

During her schooldays, latterly at Gordonstoun, she excelled at many sporting activities. She represented her schools in hockey, athletics and gymnastics.^[6] She later qualified as a physiotherapist specialising in Equine Physiotherapy, from the University of Exeter.^[7]

Marriage[link]

On 21 December 2010, Buckingham Palace announced her engagement to rugby union player Mike Tindall, who plays for Premiership side Gloucester and the England national team. She received a diamond and platinum engagement ring from Tindall.^[8] She lives with Tindall at their home in Gloucestershire. The couple met during England's Rugby World Cup-winning campaign in Australia in 2003, being introduced by Zara's cousin, Prince Harry.^[9] The wedding was held on 30 July 2011 at the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland.^[10][11] The bride wore a Stewart Parvin dress and the Meander tiara.^[12] This tiara belonged to her great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, who became Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark. It was a tiara that Anne, Princess Royal also wore.^[13]

Equestrian[link]

Zara Phillips riding Glenbuck at Badminton Horse Trials 2010

Following in both her parents' footsteps, Phillips is an accomplished equestrian.^[14] In June 2003, she announced that she had secured a sponsorship deal with Cantor Index, a leading company in spread betting, to help cover the costs of her equestrian career.

Riding her horse Toytown, she collected individual and team gold medals at the 2005 European Eventing Championship in Blenheim and individual gold and team silver medals at the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, making her the reigning Eventing World Champion until 2010.

Despite winning team gold at the 2007 European Eventing Championships in Italy, she failed successfully to defend her own individual title after a problem in the show jumping phase of the competition.^[15]

It was announced by the British Olympic Association that Phillips would be riding Toytown for the British equestrian team at the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 in Hong Kong.^[16] However, an injury sustained by Toytown during training led to her being forced to withdraw from the team. Zara previously missed the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, when Toytown suffered a similar injury during training.^[17]

On 25 October 2008, she fell from her horse, Tsunami II, at the 15th fence of a cross-country event at Pau, France, and broke her right collarbone. The horse broke its neck after it had tipped over the hedge and was put down.^[18]

Royal engagements[link]

Phillips supports many charitable causes. In 2003, she and Princess Anne took part in the first UK double ship-naming ceremony in Southampton. Princess Anne named the P&O Cruises liner Oceana, and Phillips named its sister ship Adonia.

She frequently attends various events for charity and has taken to supporting certain causes herself, mainly for spinal injuries, equestrian charities and children's causes. In 2005, she auctioned one of her evening gowns (worn at the London premiere of the film Seabiscuit) to raise money for tsunami relief. She also undertook a visit to New Zealand in her role as patron of The Catwalk Trust. From 1998 to 2005 she served as the president of Club 16-24, a group which encourages young people to take an interest in racing. She is linked to INSPIRE, the Salisbury based medical research charity which helps to improve the quality of life of people with spinal cord injuries, and Sargent Cancer Care for Children, the UK's leading children's cancer charity.

She appears at events for The Caudwell Charitable Trust, which is targeted at children with special needs, disabilities and serious illnesses. She has continued her family's long patronage of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and has visited on many occasions. In 2006, she took part in a special charity day for Cantor Index, whose staff were killed in the 11 September 2001 attacks. In 2007, she became patron of the Mark Davies Injured Riders Fund.^[19] To help with Sport Relief 2008, she posed for her first official royal portrait by artist Jack Vettriano.^[20] In 2009, she attended a celebrity poker tournament in Monaco in aid of Darfur, Sudan.^[21] In September 2010, she attended the 2012 London Olympic Ball alongside cousin Prince Harry of Wales. In October of the same year she attended another celebrity poker tournament, this time in London, in aid of Cancer Research UK, of which she is Royal Patron.

Clothing design[link]

In 2009 it was announced that Phillips would be designing her own range of equestrian clothing for Musto Outdoor Clothing.^[22][23] The range is named ZP176 after the team number Zara was given when she first represented her country. The range was officially launched in July 2010.^[24]

Titles, styles, honours and arms[link]

• 15 May 1981 - 1 January 2007: Miss Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips
• 1 January 2007 - 30 July 2011: Miss Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips, MBE
• 30 July 2011 – present: Mrs. Michael James Tindall, MBE

Arms[link]

Arms of Zara Phillips Notes Zara bears her father's arms on a lozenge[25] Escutcheon Per chevron azure and Or, in chief a horse courant argent, and in base a sprig of forget-me-not flowers, slipped and leaved proper.

Ancestry[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Zara Phillips at the Internet Movie Database
• Zara follows mother's trail to the top