Living with a mental illness can sometimes make life difficult, to say the least. But many people with bipolar disorder go to college, meet their goals and thrive. College tuition isn’t cheap, regardless of your diagnosis. Luckily, there are several scholarships available, including those for people with bipolar disorder. These bipolar scholarships and bipolar grants can help defray the cost of going to school.

Bipolar Scholarships to Consider

Bipolar scholarships can help you pay for school. You don’t have to pay back these grants, which makes them even better.

The Baer Reintegration Scholarship was created to help people with bipolar disorder or other schizoaffective disorders pay for college while they’re undergoing treatment. To qualify, students must be U.S. citizens planning to go to college in the United States. They also have to actively be trying to rehabilitate or reintegrate themselves with activities like volunteerism or part-time work.

The Charles A. Olayinka Scholarship is a $1,000 award given to one student each year who writes a winning essay. The award is given in memory of Charles A. Olayinka, who had bipolar disorder.

Scholarships for Students with Mental Illnesses

Students with bipolar disorder should consider general scholarships for students with mental illnesses as well. Look on Fast Web and the website of the National Alliance on Mental Illness for more information. Some scholarships are only available at certain schools for certain majors.

Grants for Disabled Adults

Beyond bipolar grants, other grants for disabled adults are available to help students pay for college. Grants for disabled adults come from a variety of organizations, such as the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD); Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring (DREAM); the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) and many more.

Conducting an internet search will locate hundreds of possible grants and scholarships to help you pay for school. Look for more general ones as well as scholarships and grants specific to your own attributes. Make a list of the ones you like, but don’t discount the ones that seem not to pay as much as others. Winning three smaller scholarships may end up giving you more money than if you only received one larger scholarship.

With your list of scholarships in hand, make an application checklist. Many of the scholarships will require some of the same things, such as a personal essay or your high school transcripts. If you put everything together at once, you can simply make copies and save yourself some time.

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