Are you a traditional student, a parent of a traditional student or maybe a non-traditional student that is thinking and maybe even concerned about the cost of going on to technical school next fall? Maybe you are not sure where all of the money will come from to pay for that technical school education as nothing is truly free in this world.

Traditional students are considered high school students who are presently preparing to go on to a post-high high school education after high school. A non-traditional student would be someone who finished high school or obtained their GED in the past and has probably been working for the past few years and is now thinking about that post-high education they always wanted, but never did. Remember, it is never to late to get additional education and training if your goal is to have a different life than the one you have now. Regardless of the situation, paying for school is a usually a concern to most individuals and families. To help cover part of the cost students will complete a FAFSA application during this time to see if you can qualify for a PELL Grant or low interest government educational loan. However, if you can obtain a scholarship to cover some of that cost you will certainly want to do this as soon as you know about it.

Students in this area should feel fortunate that there is great support for you to get more education after high school. Not only is there encouragement to better yourself, but also there are financial scholarships that can help with this next step in life. The Wagner Area and Build Dakota Partnership Scholarship and the Yankton Sioux Tribe and Build Dakota Partnership Scholarship have been designed to help you in your educational efforts. Both programs provide funding for tuition, books and fees for a two year period. This would mean a student receiving the scholarship would have a “full ride” scholarship leaving only room and board to be concerned about. To qualify for one of these scholarships a student must complete an application and be accepted for admission to a Build Dakota qualifying program at Mitchell Technical Institute, Southeast Technical Institute or Lake Area Technical Institute, complete their FAFSA application and apply for the local scholarship as well within the application deadline period. The deadline for the scholarship is March 13. An evaluation process of the applications and interviews for the scholarship often follow and recipients are then determined and the partnership with the Build Dakota programing becomes complete for consideration. Several scholarships are available and supported by the scholarship partners.

Students receiving one of the Partnership Scholarships will find that their scholarship is worth approximately $18,000 over the two year period. What a fantastic opportunity! Our area has the support of great partners who want to help area students, regardless of whether or not you are a traditional or non-traditional student. The partnerships are looking for qualifying self motivated students who are self motivated and dedicated to working for educational success. To obtain an application or more information contact Dana Sanderson at 605-491-0804. Remember, a deadline for every scholarship or educational program is a deadline! There are no exceptions! For this reason it is important to seriously consider your options, know/decide what you want, know why you want it and understand how hard you will need to work to achieve that goal.