Like grants, scholarships are sums of money (or other promised aid) gifted to students to pursue their graduate or undergraduate education—no repayment necessary.

Scholarships often reflect the mission or values of their founding donor; for instance, Colgate toothpaste offers a "Bright Smiles, Bright Futures" scholarship for minority students who wish to study in a dental hygiene program.

While scholarships are granted for a variety of reasons, the most common are student merit, financial need, athleticism, ethnicity and field of study.

Health Care College Scholarships

Association Scholarships: Nearly all health care associations offer scholarship opportunities to aspiring specialists in their field. Here's a brief list of top health care associations that offer scholarships. Get to know the associations for your specialty. Chances are good that there are several scholarship opportunities for different specialities.

Gates Millennium Scholarship: Funded by a one-billion-dollar endowment from Bill and Melinda Gates, these free college scholarships are focused on promoting academic excellence among minority students studying in the fields of public health, education, engineering, library science, mathematics or the sciences.

National Health Service Corp Scholarship Program: These student scholarships are funded by the US Department of Health and are geared toward health care students in training to become allopathic physicians, osteopathic physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants or nurse midwives.

Illinois Department of Public Health Scholarships: If you're an Illinois resident and want to study health care, you've hit the jackpot. The Illinois Department of Public Health offers several scholarships for aspiring nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurse midwives and physicians in order to promote quality health care within Illinois. This residents-only scholarship program is a good example of state-sponsored health care scholarships that are available across the nation. If you're not an Illinois resident, simply check with the Department of Public Health in your state for similar opportunities.

Minority Scholarships and Fellowship Database for Medicine, Public Health and Related Fields: This site features a comprehensive list of organizations offering scholarships—such as the American Physical Therapy Association—along with links to each donor's specific scholarship website. This is a great resource for minority students interested in health care studies.

US Army Health Professionals Scholarship Program: The military is aware of how vital health care services are, which is why they offer military scholarship programs (and even full tuition coverage) for aspiring physicians, dentists, veterinarians, optometrists, as well as clinical and counseling psychologists.

Other Major Scholarships

National Merit Scholarships: Students qualify for this scholarship by excelling on the PSAT test in high school. The 50,000 students with the highest PSAT scores nationally are whittled down to approximately 8,200 finalists who will each receive a $2,500 merit scholarship.

Truman Scholarships: Students compete for these prestigious scholarships during their junior year of undergraduate study. Winning scholars receive up to $30,000 in funding to pursue graduate studies in a variety of public service fields, including health care.