Have you ever seen the commercials or print advertisements for Upromise? Just as some programs allow you to rack up frequent flier miles, Upromise allows you to shop to your heart’s content and rack up money for college instead.

Started in 2001, Upromise is a national program that allows consumers to earn anywhere from one to 25 percent on goods and services purchased from more than 600 retailers and more than 8,000 restaurants. Upromise also has a credit card that allows users to save up to 10% on groceries and dining out.

Sounds like a sweet deal to us. Are any of you already reaping the benefits of Upromise? Leave a post and share your experience with other CampusCompare users.

The Fulbright grant program is all about promoting exchange program opportunities  for U.S and international students.
So you can get money to learn in an international setting. Sounds like a pretty cool deal. The Fulbright program is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State. The Department provided $198.8 million in 2007 to the Fulbright Program. Foreign governments, through binational commissions or foundations abroad, contributed an additional $63.2 million directly to the Program.

The Fulbright Program awards approximately 7,000 new grants annually. And there have been approximately 286,500 “Fulbrighters,” 108,160 from the United States and 178,340 from other countries, have participated in the Program since it started over 60 years ago.

The Fulbright program operates in 155 countries around the world. But with so many countries in the mix, sometimes international politics come into play.

Recently, the Fulbright scholarship opted out of allowing Palestinian students to study in the U.S. They were planning on withdrawing the scholarships because of Israel’s ban on Palestinians leaving the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government said Palestinians can’t leave Gaza except for medical emergencies and that means studying abroad.

But this week, the American State Department just reinstated Fulbright grants to seven Palestinians who are planning to do advanced study in the U.S.  The Department doesn’t think students should be punished for political unrest in the region.

Even though seven Palestinian students will be allowed to leave Gaza and come study in the U.S., there are still 600 or so Gazan students awarded Fulbright scholarships that are not allowed to leave.

The irony is—that it is by educating and training young ambitious students that paves the way for peace. So education shouldn’t be punished because of war. 

Education and particularly studying abroad in a different country  promotes dialogue and diversity…the necessary ingredients for bringing about peace.

If you will be studying abroad check out our blog for tips for staying healthy and safe.

Everyone should have the right to an education.

That’s been a long standing belief in our nation.

So colleges and the U.S. Department of Education want to make sure that no one is left out based on a disability. Being  blind, deaf, or if you have a learning disability shouldn’t hold you back from thinking you have every opportunity to succeed. 

To give you even a better shot, there are lots of grants for students with disabilities.  Here are a few that impressed us:

The Casey Martin Award, sponsored by Nike, was established in this pro-golfer’s name. The award goes to an athlete with disabilities or severe social disadvantages.

The Mary Switzer Research Grants are available through the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Service. If you are an outstanding student and studying a post-graduate degree, you can get up to $65,000 to complete research in the field of disabilities and special education. So you can carve the way for better education for all kinds of people with special needs.

The Ethel Louise Armstrong Foundation awards not-for-profit groups grants up to $5,000 to make it possible to offer arts and educational programs for disabled and special needs adults.

There are also grants for students who have fought serious illness or diseases. You already have enough physical and emotional stress that you don’t need to add financial stress to your list. Here are some of the ones we found:

The Ohio Chapter of the American Cancer Society gives travel grant money to supporting organizations that provide various activities for cancer patients and survivors.

The Meningitis Trust Foundation offers grants for education and special equipment that helps with daily living.

If you have a parent that died from breast cancer you are eligible for the Komen Foundation Awards. The Susan G. Komen Foundation is one of the most renowned and proactive organizations involved in the fight against breast cancer.

The Cancer Survivor’s Fund makes grant money available to survivors of cancer who need financial assistance to return to their dreams of a college education.

So don’t let anything hold you back. You’ve got the support you need to get the education you want and follow your dreams.