College students have a strange relationship with money.

We'll apply for a credit card to get a "free" t-shirt in the student union.

We'll fill out those student loans applications and spend our entire careers paying it back.

But when you tell a student you're giving away scholarship money — free money — getting people to apply is like pulling teeth.

I applied for every scholarship I could find. I won one particular journalism scholarship three consecutive semesters, because no one else applied for it. That following term, I got a funny letter from the committee apologizing because they got three more applicants and they wanted to give them an opportunity to get some cash.

Sadly, in today's economy, you have to look a little harder to find the free money. A lot of those funds are gone now. When money goes unused, it goes away. I've worked on scholarship committees for various organizations and sometimes we couldn't give the money away.

With that in mind, please note:

March 5 is the deadline for the 2010 Adcraft Scholarship. Sorry, it is a local Michigan posting, but I will start making a point of notifying you of free money for school whenever I get the information. If you know a Michigan advertising student, please forward the info.

Junior ad jobs don't pay that well when you graduate. It's hard enough just finding the job, so why not start your career with as little debt as possible?

Remember that "free" t-shirt can end up costing you thousands in credit card fees.


Image courtesy of stock.xchng.