Many SF State students are not applying for grants, even though there are 1.3 million scholarships available in the United States.

Due to reasons related to laziness, lack of knowledge about the process and beliefs of discrimination, students hesitate to apply for the free money.

“Apply for as many scholarships as you can,” said Bob Chang, SF State financial aid advisor.

Awards are available for a variety of categories such as nationality, community college transfer students, churches and vegetarianism.

“If you are the only one applying then they give it to you,” Chang said. “The thing is that people don’t want to spend the time.”

Chang’s advice for students who want to apply for scholarships is to take one weekend off partying and spend it on writing scholarship essays. They can always party the next weekend, he said.

Students should apply even if their GPA is not impressive. They might still qualify for scholarships and grants, Chang said.

Some students who have applied for many scholarships have become frustrated because they never received any grants from their hard work and time spent writing essays and filling out applications.

“I applied a year ago to eight different ones,” said Spanish major Christine Wiseman, 18.

Wiseman said her teachers in high school advised graduating seniors to apply for them, but she never had any luck in receiving scholarships.

Others can relate to the frustration that Wiseman encountered because they said the same thing happened to them.

“I applied but didn’t get the money,” said theater major Joletta Hardman, 21. “I stopped applying because the time I spent, I could have been working.”

Freshman molecular biology major Alex Miramontes, 18, applied for a scholarship through the company his father works for and secured $1,000 scholarship.

Miramontes said he fit the scholarship foundation’s criteria and that he was of the right age. He also said it helped that they liked his essay.

There are certain scholarships that are available to students of certain ethnic groups and nationalities, such as such as the Maria Elena Yuchengco Memorial Scholarship for Filipino-American journalism students.

Business students may apply for the Chevron Scholarship, which is listed on the SF State financial aid Web site.

Students from the Information Systems and Business Analysis department qualify for the award. In order for students to be eligible, they must at least be part-time students, and maintain a 3.0 GPA. It is an annual grant that ranges from $250 to $1,000.

While many scholarships exist, some students said they do not know how and where to get information on them.

The One Stop Student Center has a wall dedicated to informing students about scholarships. There are also counselors at the financial aid office who help students apply.

But some students have negative attitudes toward the scholarship application process.

“I didn’t apply because I’m white and I’m not a genius,” said Kinesiology major John Pirruccello, 23.