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by Kara Coleman, Scholarships.com Virtual Intern

Thousands of college students across the country have been making their way home from school to spend the summer relaxing and taking a break from studying. But how do you keep from forgetting everything you’ve learned throughout the academic year? Here are a few simple tips:

• Rack up the credit hours. The most obvious way to keep your study skills sharp over summer break is to not take a break at all. Most schools offer summer classes – some full-term, some mini-mesters and some online. Even just taking one class during the summer can be good for your brain.
• Hit the books. While lounging poolside this summer, why not do a little reading? You don’t necessarily have to tackle War and Peace, but try for something a little deeper than Cosmo or Entertainment Weekly. Visit GoodReads.com to browse books in any genre and find something that will keep you turning pages all summer long!
• Help someone else. I spent last summer tutoring two eighth-grade girls. Even though we just worked through pre-algebra books together, it really helped the girls to remember all that they had learned and it was a great brain booster for me, too!
• Just play. Whether you're right-brained or left-brained, puzzle games are a fun way to keep your mind active. Sudoku – a wordless crossword puzzle that involves the numbers 1-9 – is available in book form as well as via download on Kindle. Also available for free via Kindle is Grid Detective, a game where players unscramble words.

How do you choose to keep those brain juices flowing over the summer? Let us know what works for you!

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

They say the best things in life are free...and though we don’t know who exactly "they" are, we couldn’t agree more: As a Scholarships.com member, you have access to a customized scholarship search, detailed financial aid information, an organized college search, standardized test study guides and more all at no cost to you. Think your friends might like these gratis goodies as well? Spread the word about Scholarships.com through our Tell A Friend Scholarship and you'll have a chance to win money for college – $1,000 for you and $500 for one of your buddies!

To enter, simply copy your personalized TAF referral link (you can get it here) and blog it, tweet it, email it, IM it or Facebook it. For every one of your friends who creates a profile on our site by clicking your link, you will be entered to win a $1,000 award; there’s no limit as to how many people you can send your link to and if you win, one of your friends who created a Scholarships.com profile using your link will be chosen at random to win $500. That’s WAY better than a friendship bracelet!

Remember, the more friends you refer, the more entries you’ll get until the June 30th deadline. For more information, visit our Tell A Friend Scholarship page and for additional scholarship opportunities, conduct a free scholarship search today. Good luck!

At this point in the year, high school seniors and transfer students know where they’ll be heading in the fall...unless they don’t. It’s not uncommon for a student to have second thoughts about the school they committed to or receive the news that they didn’t get off the wait list at their school of choice after enrollment deadlines for other potential schools had passed. If this sounds like you, you don’t have to put your post-secondary aspirations on hold: NACAC’s Space Availability Survey has revealed hundreds of schools that are still accepting freshman and/or transfer applications for the fall semester. Check out a sampling below:

• Albertus Magnus College
• Birmingham-Southern College
• Canisius College
• Drew University
• Eastern Illinois University
• Florida Atlantic University
• Gonzaga University
• Hofstra University
• IUPUI
• Johnson & Wales University
• Kalamazoo College
• LSU (Baton Rouge)
• Massachusetts College of Art and Design
• North Dakota State University
• Oregon State University
• Pace University
• Queens University of Charlotte
• Rutgers University (Camden)
• Southern Vermont College
• Truman State University
• University of Kansas
• University of Utah
• Valparaiso University
• Wilkes University
• Xavier University
• York College (CUNY)

The list will be updated regularly here – will this information help you in your college search?

The academic year is winding down but so is the amount of time left to apply for Scholarships.com’s Short & Tweet Scholarship: Applicants now have just one week to enter to win a $1,000 scholarship or Kindle for college!

Whether this is the first you’re hearing about this award or you’ve applied multiple times since the contest relaunched on April 2nd, here’s a quick refresher on what you need to do to create a scholarship-worthy entry:

• Follow @Scholarshipscom on Twitter.
• Mention @Scholarshipscom in a tweet answering the question "What was the most important thing you learned this year *AND* why?" Once you do this, you are entered to win a $1,000 scholarship or one of two Kindles.
• You may enter as many times as you want until May 14th but please limit your tweets to three per day (and no tweeting in class!). Each tweet will be a stand-alone entry and tweets that are submitted by non-followers, exceed 140 characters, do not include @Scholarshipscom, do not answer the entire question or are submitted after the May 14th deadline will not be considered. On May 15th, the Scholarships.com Team will begin reviewing Short & Tweet entries to determine which tweets are most deserving of the awards.

Think you have what it takes to take the Short & Tweet prize this time around? Get thee to Twitter and wield those 140 characters wisely! For more information about this scholarship and others, conduct a free scholarship search today. Good luck, everyone!

Note: The Short & Tweet Scholarship is offered by Scholarships.com and is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Twitter.

Today is National Decision Day for college applicants and while determining where you’ll be headed in the fall is huge, knowing what you’ll be studying once you get there is just as imperative. With the economy the way it is, pursuing a growing job field would be ideal. With that in mind, check out some of the fastest growing jobs in America below:

• Home Health Aides: Expected Growth by 2012 - 56%
• Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts: Expected Growth by 2012 - 54.6%
• Medical Assistants: Expected Growth by 2012 - 52.1%
• Physician Assistants: Expected Growth by 2012 - 49.6%
• Computer Software Engineers, Applications: Expected Growth by 2012 - 48.4%
• Physical Therapist Assistants: Expected Growth by 2012 - 44.2%
• Dental Hygienists: Expected Growth by 2012 – 43.3%
• Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software: Expected Growth by 2012 - 43%
• Dental Assistants: Expected Growth by 2012 - 42.7%
• Personal and Home Care Aides: Expected Growth by 2012 - 41%
• Network and Computer Systems Administrators: Expected Growth by 2012 - 38.4%

Would you consider pursing any of the positions listed above? Will the current labor market impact your decision on what you’ll major in? Let us know in the comments section.

by Lisa Lowdermilk, Scholarships.com Virtual Intern

If you had to guess, what percentage of students start college and actually finish it? According to a study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, only 46 percent of students who started college earned degrees in 2010. Hefty student loans and interest rates, stress and being academically unprepared are amongst the many reasons college drop-outs cite; some students report being as much as $50,000 in debt before graduation with no viable means of paying it off.

Given this info, it’s really important that you consider if college is right for you before applying, especially if the field you’re thinking about going into doesn’t require a degree. There are still plenty of great job opportunities for people who think college may not be for them, including air traffic control and locomotive engineering. That’s not to say, however, that a college degree is overrated. According to a study conducted by Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce, bachelor’s degree holders earn 84 percent more than high school graduates during their lifetimes. And while there are still plenty of jobs that don’t require a degree, virtually every employer will prefer a college graduate over a high school graduate.

My goal here is not to discourage anyone from attending college; instead, I want to present both sides of the argument so that you can commit 100 percent to furthering your education or, alternatively, seek out a job that doesn’t require a degree. It’s better to recognize now that you won’t be able to commit to college than be forced to drop out and pay back $50,000 in student loans later. No matter which path you choose, one thing’s for sure: You’ll have to work hard if you want to succeed!

Lisa Lowdermilk is a soon-to-be published author (her first novel is a murder mystery for young adults set in the future), an avid video gamer and an artist. She enjoys watching thrillers, trying different restaurants and attempting to breakdance. Lisa completed her Associate of Arts degree entirely online and is now majoring in professional writing at the University of Colorado Denver.

In this scholarship of the week, Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation wants you to consider the role patents play in the invention cycle? What would the world be like without the patent system? Then create an original video that conveys why you think the patent system is important for a chance to win a cash prize or scholarship. Your video should be creative and concise. Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation is devoted to promoting intellectual property rights, so please do not use copyrighted material in your video. Submit your video along with the required supporting materials by July 1st for a chance to win!

For more on this scholarship and other scholarship opportunities, conduct a free scholarship search today!

Once students receive those coveted acceptance letters and pay their enrollment deposits, many think it’s smooth sailing until move-in day. Not so: If a student decides to slack off in class or play fast and loose with the law, a college can and will withdraw an admissions offer. Yikes! So how do you keep your spot in the class of 2016? Follow these simple steps:

• Just say no to senioritis. It’s tempting to mentally decorate your dorm room or post endlessly on your school’s admitted students Facebook page but doing so takes your attention away from classes, exams and other commitments you need to uphold in order to graduate. If your grades plummet and you exceed your absences, that high school diploma you worked so hard to achieve could be withheld and the college that once thought so highly of you could have second thoughts.
• Keep it legal. We get it. You’re about to graduate from high school and you want to celebrate but make sure you do so legally! Getting caught at a party where drugs and alcohol are present could get you arrested and when that news makes it to the school whose name is emblazoned on the brand new hoodie you’re wearing, your place in the incoming freshman class could go to a waitlisted student with a clean record.
• Spend free time constructively. You know what they say about idle hands...so make sure yours are anything but after you commit to a college. Take on a new hobby, secure an internship that relates to your intended major or even get a head start by taking summer classes.

What are some other ways to ensure you retain your acceptance? Let us know what worked for you in the comments.

Many students think they know what it takes to get into the college of their choice but with record-low admissions rates, insufficient financial aid and increasing student loan debt, the path to higher education is not as clear-cut as it once was. Good grades and high standardized test scores aren’t enough anymore – the incoming freshman class at Berkeley, for example, includes an expert Ping-Pong player, an Irish dancer and a figure skater, as well as a TV star and a champion roller skater – but what if you don’t have the access to even that kind of basic information? The filmmakers behind "First Generation" hope to explain just that.

Adam and Jaye Fenderson's first feature film follows four students – an inner city athlete, a small town waitress, a Samoan warrior dancer and the daughter of migrant field workers – through as they apply to college and attempt to be the first members of their families to attend college. "First Generation" explores how, despite these students all possessing valuable attributes inside and outside of the classroom, the absence of college graduates in a family can result in a lack of financial support and a shortage of knowledge about the college admissions process as a whole.

Check out the trailer here when you have a minute and let us know what you think. If you are or will be a first generation college student, could you relate to the individuals featured? Do you think "First Generation" should be viewed by all students applying to college? Weigh in in the comments section!

Bubble gum in your hair. “Kick me” signs. He said, she said. These are all sticky situations we try to avoid in life – and for good reason! – but here’s one that could pay off big for your college education: The Duck Brand Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest.

The Henkal Corporation's Duck Brand Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest is open to legal residents of the United States and Canada, including the District of Columbia but excluding Puerto Rico and the Province of Quebec. This scholarship contest rewards individuals for creating prom attire made completely out of – you guessed it – Duck brand duct tape. To be eligible for the $5,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $500 scholarship awards, each couple must submit:

• One color photograph (professional or amateur) of the couple together in prom attire
• Each individual's full name, address, telephone number, email address (if applicable) and age/grade level, and the name of the closest major city to the individual's hometown
• A release form signed by each individual and, if any entrant is a minor (under 18 years of age), that individual's parent or guardian
• The name, address, and telephone number of the high school or home school association which is hosting the prom and the date the prom was held

The deadline to submit your adhesive attire is June 13th so there’s still plenty of time to get creative. For a registration form and official contest rules, interested students should visit the Duck brand website or conduct a free Scholarships.com scholarship search today!