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Often, scholarship opportunities also serve as opportunities for students to think about and respond to pressing issues of the day, and one of the problems weighing most heavily on society in the last year has been the global economic crisis.  While the recession has begun showing signs of abating, it is still creating serious problems in several areas of life, ranging from paying for school to owning a home.

Homeowners have been facing threats of foreclosure due to a combination of factors related to the recession, and this problem could still get worse before it gets better. The real estate website Foreclosure.com is sponsoring a scholarship essay contest that invites college students to propose solutions to the ongoing spike in foreclosures. With a $5,000 top prize for the scholarship essay that best explains "how to solve the foreclosure crisis," the Foreclosure.com Scholarship Program is this week's Scholarship of the Week.

Prize: Top prize is $5,000 and four runners-up will receive $1,000

Eligibility: Students who are currently enrolled in or have been accepted to an accredited college, university, law school or trade school in the United States.  U.S. citizenship is required.

Deadline: December 31, 2009

Required Material: A completed online scholarship application, along with an essay of 1,000 to 2,500 words addressing the essay topic. Scholarship applications will be judged on writing ability, creativity, originality, and overall excellence.

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

by Kara Coleman

Five years after Jimmy Wales founded Wikipedia, more than one million articles have been contributed to the free-for-all Internet encyclopedia. The open editing format allows for an unlimited amount of information to be shared all over the world but unfortunately, some teachers don’t consider Wikipedia to be a credible source...or they simply want their students to do a little more searching for information. Here’s how to make more informed choices when searching for works to cite.

When you Google your topic, don’t just click on the first link that pops up. Check out the site’s address before you visit. Remember, ANYONE can post ANYTHING on the Internet: An English professor at my community college was known to occasionally log on to Wikipedia and edit articles, just to see if her students were using the site.

College and university websites are reputable. If MIT posts an article about its latest technological breakthrough, take that information and use it. The same holds true for sites belonging to trade journals. A writer for an aviation magazine is talking directly with people who design, build, work on and fly airplanes in order to write articles for other people who design, build, work on and fly airplanes. Their information has to be accurate.

It’s also acceptable to cite articles from credible news sources like CNN or The Wall Street Journal. These are publications everyone is familiar with and they have years of coverage to show for it. The bad apples are few and far between.

Something to keep in mind when doing online research is that if something is true, it’s probably going to be on more than one site. If you come across conflicting pieces of information, be sure to check a number of other sources. And you don’t have to ignore Wikipedia completely: The bibliographies at the end of each article can provide some valuable links!

This summer, Kara Coleman graduated from Gadsden State Community College with an Associate of Arts degree. She is currently studying communications with concentration in print journalism at Jacksonville State University Kara's writing has been featured in Teen Ink magazine and she is a children's author through Big Dif Books.

by Kayla Herrera

Sometimes the location of a college or university can draw you in more than the school itself. This can be said for someone who wants to attend college in a big city or someone who wants more of a college town setting. Me? I wanted to go home again. I went to a technological school in the place where I once moved away from. Even though my major of choice was not technical in nature, I told myself I could make it work.

At my school, the humanities department is not taken care of very well. The curriculum seldom expands and many professors are not quite sure what they are doing. There is a career fair every semester but companies mainly come for engineers, leaving us humanities majors left out and forced to try harder to find jobs and make connections without the school’s assistance.

How did I do it? I focused on extracurricular activities. I searched for internships and small writing jobs on my own or through professors at my school. That is how I scored my first internship and first freelance writing job – just by asking around and putting myself out there. Also, get involved in a club or organization that relates to your career interests. If one is not available, create one; chances are, there are other students who share your goals.

If your field is the minority at your school, you’ve got to stick your neck out there and really make yourself known. Classes at my school are limited so I rely on outside experience to round me out. You cannot be shy: Send your resume around even if positions haven’t been advertised and contact potential employers to introduce yourself. Putting forth that extra effort will only get you that much more ahead outside the classroom.

In addition to being a Scholarships.com virtual intern, Michigan Tech student Kayla Herrera is a media coordinator for the Michigan Tech Youth Programs, a writer for The Daily News in Iron Mountain, Mich., and a writer for Examiner.com. She love a tantalizing, action-packed video game and can't get enough of horror movies (Stephen King's books always have her in their grip, though she prefers the old over the new). Writing is what she has always done, and that is what she is here to do.

by Radha Jhatakia

College means different things to different people. For some, it’s a time to party and enjoy being away from home. For others, it’s a time to study and earn a degree. And for others still, it’s a time to utilize resources for post-college opportunities, like internships and volunteer work. These experiences help students develop skills that can be utilized in their careers of choice. But what if you have multiple majors or are considering work in a variety of fields after graduation? Is there one opportunity that can benefit all your future endeavors? You bet!

Take me, for instance: I am a communication studies major and I hope to go into marketing and public relations. Apart from communication skills, I will need to learn business techniques so I joined a business organization at my school. Good thing I did – I was immediately offered a job with the corporate relations board. Though the position is purely voluntary, I will learn a lot about the various aspects of working in the business world as well as organization and time management skills, presentation techniques and proper etiquette in the professional world.

These skills can definitely be applied to the careers I am interested in but the benefits continue: These skills can be applied to any profession in any field. All employers appreciate an employee who can manage time and work, give efficient presentations and is precise with their work. I encourage you today to get involved today, whether the position is paid, volunteer or for course credit. There is no harm in applying – I applied to be one of Scholarships.com's virtual interns and now I have some writing experience which is useful in every career!

Radha Jhatakia is a communications major at San Jose State University. She's a transfer student who had some ups and downs in school and many obstacles to face; these challenges – plus support from family, friends and cat – have only made Radha stronger and have given her the experience to help others with the same issues. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, reading, cooking, sewing and designing. A social butterfly, Radha hopes to work in public relations and marketing upon graduation.

by Jacquelene Bennett

To write an honors thesis or to not write an honors thesis? That is the question. If you are a senior in college, you know the dilemma that I am talking about.

At the beginning of their last year as undergrads, college seniors are presented with the option of doing an honors thesis - typically a 25- to 30-page research paper or paper that concentrates on a single subject within your declared major; you must not only demonstrate what you have learned while attending school but you will have to defend your work to a committee. Being a senior in college comes with a lot of stress and pressure – finding a job, filling out grad school applications, and completing capstone projects and papers are just a few of the things on a college senior’s to-do list – so why would anyone think of taking on another anxiety-filled task?

The pros of undertaking this type of project is that you will not only have a substantial piece of writing to present to grad schools and future employers but the work you’ve done will be reflected on your university diploma and resume. The cons of this project are the massive amount of work and time you have to devote to it. Honors thesis requirements differ from school to school but you’d be hard pressed to find a college where the experience is an easy one.

So is writing an honors thesis right for you? Well, that is a decision that you (and your advisor) have to make. After much debate, I found I do not have the time or enthusiasm to write an honors thesis...but if you do, good luck!

Jacquelene Bennett is a senior at the University of Redlands where her areas of study are creative writing, government and religious studies. When she is not studying or working, you can usually find her eating frozen yogurt or blogging about her day. She has a cactus named Kat and believes that Stephen Colbert is a genius. Jacquelene works hard, laughs hard and knows that one day you’ll see her name in lights.

This weekend is San Diego Comic-Con, the biggest event of the year for fans of comic books, graphic novels, online comics, and virtually anything else related to comics or the surrounding culture. While no one in the Scholarships.com office is making the trek to Comic-Con this year, we are looking at ways to help students who love comics pay for school. If you're looking for something to do while all your favorite webcomics are on hiatus, consider applying for some of these scholarship awards.

If you're interested in reading comics, you may also be interested in writing or drawing them, and creative writing and art scholarships are both widely available. Even if you're less interested in art and more interested in science fiction (comic conventions are nerd meccas, after all), there are scholarship opportunities for you. We encourage you to take a few moments to do a free college scholarship search and check out our information page on unusual scholarships, which features some interesting awards that may work for you. To give you an idea of some of the scholarship opportunities available for comics enthusiasts, here are a few examples.

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards: Aspiring artists and writers are asked to submit portfolios of three to eight pieces in this annual scholarship contest. Winners receive up to $10,000 in college scholarships.

L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests: Amateur illustrators and writers participating in the quarterly L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contest can receive awards of up to $5,000 for creating an original illustration or short story with a science fiction theme.

Starfleet Academy Scholarships: Any active member of Starfleet, the official Star Trek fan club, is eligible for a Starfleet Scholarship. Members can be attending community colleges, four-year colleges, most technical schools, junior colleges and universities or graduate school.