There's money for college in duct tape. Being left-handed has cash rewards, too, as does being tall or exceedingly nice. And anyone who likes to flap his arms has a chance to go to college free.
A mountain of college scholarships based on almost every imaginable qualification is available -- more than 2.4 million awards worth more than $14 billion each year, according to Sallie Mae, the corporation created by Congress to provide financial aid and information.
"The days when only the class valedictorian and the football quarterback get a college scholarship are long gone," said Sallie Mae spokeswoman Martha Holler.
With college tuition skyrocketing, many students are scrambling for ways to finance their higher education, yet millions of dollars in scholarship money goes unused for lack of applicants each year, financial aid experts say.
More students could attend college if they took time to research, experts say. Every college and university has an extensive list of scholarships available, and there are myriad Web sites with large databases that are free to search, including www.collegeanswer.com and www.collegeboard.com.
When students look, they can find all kinds of scholarships -- traditional and less so. Some are based on need and academic achievement, though a rapidly growing number of schools are using money to woo top students regardless of need. Washington College in Chestertown, Md., for example, offers a four-year, $10,000 to $13,500 annual scholarship to members of the National Honor Society or the Cum Laude Society.
Athletic scholarships remain popular, though there are variations. At Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, a nearly full scholarship goes to the student with enough spirit to be the mascot, "the Hawk," and flap through every basketball game.
Some scholarships are open to all, such as one sponsored by Henkel Consumer Adhesives Inc. The company awards $5,000 to the couple who attend their school prom wearing the best outfit or accessories fashioned out of Duck brand duct tape.
Only 'Zolps' need apply
Others are more restrictive: Loyola University in Chicago provides full-tuition four-year scholarships to Catholics with the last name of "Zolp" on their birth and confirmation certificates.
Though some of these scholarships sound peculiar, the fact is that "they are not unusual," said Ann Wright, vice president for enrollment at Rice University in Houston. There are so many, she said, because many donors have specific ideas, relating to their own personal stories, of how they want their money spent.
"This is how we get into a bind, with very narrow geographic scholarships or with people who have specific religious backgrounds -- left-handed Lithuanians," Wright said. "That's why we do our very best to encourage people to say what they want but create some flexibility in the award."
There are scholarships for tall people: The Carolina Tall Club awards scholarships based on academic and personal achievement, school activities, volunteer work and other qualifications -- but only to males who are at least 6-foot-2 and females at least 5-foot-10.
There are scholarships for those who are left-handed: One, at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., was created by Fred and Mary Beckley, who were married after pairing up on the tennis team there in 1919 because they both were left-handed. It is awarded every year to left-handed students based on academic achievement.
And there are scholarships for students with average grades -- including one for telecommunications students at Ball State University in Indiana endowed by graduate and late-night talk show host David Letterman.
Sometimes scholarships can take their recipients into fields they never dreamed of entering.
'Pavement Scholar'
Daniel Larson, 22, is a senior at Michigan Technological University in Houghton who became a Pavement Scholar, a program started by a man who made a fortune with an asphalt-paving business. The scholarships provide nearly full tuition for four years to students who study pavement as part of their civil and environmental engineering majors. Larson said he liked the subject so much that he is now going to make it a career.
"The scholarship brought me in. . . . I wouldn't have thought about it before," he said.
At Hiram College in Ohio, the Hal Reichle Memorial Scholarship is available for students based on their anonymous acts of kindness. (Reichle, a Hiram graduate who died in the Persian Gulf War, was known for his kindness.)
The award is not given every year, because, the school Web site says, "understandably, qualified recipients cannot always be located."
