Every prospective student is well aware of the fact thatscholarships can help pay for higher education, but few individualstruly understand the different types and what the qualificationsare in order to obtain one. While there are many differentclassifications of scholarships, the category that is mostmisunderstood is that of merit scholarships. Any current highschool or college student needs to be aware of the potentialprograms that are available to them, and merit scholarships are notbased on income nor do they have monetary restrictions. Becausethey do not require a student to be of a certain race orsocioeconomic status, merit scholarships could prove to the bestoption for hard working and achieving individuals.The majority of merit scholarships are based upon work that hasbeen previous