College students across the country struggle with debt from college tuition payments, and University of Massachusetts students are no exception.

With the cost of higher education rising by the year – paired with descending funds from the state – there is less money to go around for the student body in need of financial aid, making loans a necessary solution to their financial burdens.

But that isn’t the only way to solve the problem, says Susan Whitbourne, the director of the Office of National Scholarship Advisement (ONSA) at UMass.

Scholarships – offered on the college-wide, university-wide and nation-wide levels – can turn a few hours of work into thousands of dollars worth of endowments, lightening the burden of paying back student loans that many students will unfortunately have to encounter after graduation.

“The amount of time you spend on Facebook every day … just fooling around could be productively spent on a scholarship application,” said Whitbourne.

Whitbourne believes that not enough UMass students are taking advantage of the scholarship resources offered to them. But students offer plenty of reasons for not taking the time to apply, among them a lack of understanding of how the application process works.

“[I] don’t really know much about where to apply, who’s giving out money,” said Anthony Strickland, 22-year-old junior accounting major at UMass.

All the different schools on campus offer a number of scholarships exclusively to students within their college. The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, for example, is offering approximately 110 scholarships this academic year, according to Jackie Brousseau-Pereira, director of external affairs for SBS.

She also said specific departments offer scholarships as well, such as political science majors, who can qualify for 28 scholarships that are dedicated to those students.

Whitbourne believes publicity is crucial to attracting students to apply.

“The hardest thing is publicity and getting the people to listen to the publicity … and believing that they can compete for these scholarships,” said Whitbourne.

Edward Blaguszewski, executive director of news and media relatios, noted the average student debt of students that graduated in 2010 was $25,420. This number is slightly less than the state’s average debt of $25,541 for students in four-year institutions, according to a study conducted by the Project on Student Debt.

While students used to be able to count on financial aid to ease their finances, the state budget has cut funding for higher education in recent years. In this fiscal year, the government has allotted $952.9 million, down from roughly $1.2 billion in 2009. Blaguszewski attributes this decline to the recent economic crisis and demands for other funding projects, such as healthcare and kindergarten through high school schooling.

This lack of funding has resulted in a spike in University fees, so that the institution could cover the cost of operation. From 2007 to 2010, tuition and fees has raised $1,811 per year for in-state students and is $3,129 for out-of-state students, according to UMass’ Office of Institutional Research.

“We haven’t raised these rates because we wanted to,” said Blaguszewski. “There’s a millions of millions of dollars hole in the budget and the cost of operations goes up as well as trying to maintain what you’re doing.”

With rising fees and less funding from the state, students are left with a greater balance to cover through loans. However, scholarships can serve as a financially effective tool that can limit the amount students owe back to lenders and reduce hefty charges as a result of interest rates.

“If you can fill that [cost] with scholarships rather than loans, you’re [going to] be much better off,” said Blaguszewski. “So seeking those scholarships is really important.”

Megan Drummey, a 20-year-old sophomore psychology and communication major, believed high school encourages the process more than college, and said parents have more of an influence in the application process when students are living at home instead of living off on their own at college.

“I think it’s more encouraged when you’re first entering college rather than like to keep up with it while you’re actually here [at college],” said Drummey.

It may just come down to simply motivation for students, as 23-year-old and senior anthropology major Ivan Trabka explains.

“I would say it comes down to motivation,” said Trabka. “I would say it comes down to having your hands on your means. A lot of students don’t know the actual value of money because we don’t touch it.”

The idea of applying for a national scholarship may seem intimidating for some students, said Whitbourne, but she explained that most of the applications she reads from students from other schools are not quality applications.

And applying to a national scholarship may only require a few hours worth of work that could ultimately turn into thousands of dollars. A detailed personal statement, two or three letters of recommendation and an essay specific to the template is all that is necessary to apply.

“If you apply and you do it smartly, your chances are better than if you don’t apply at all,” said Whitbourne.

Students can visit the ONSA at 408 Goodell Building where they can fill out the ONSA Internal Application, which helps advisors pinpoint which scholarships the student has the best chance of receiving. In addition, students can talk to their academic advisors for more information regarding scholarships that pertain specifically to their respective colleges.

While there is no guarantee that one will receive a scholarship nor the idea that the endowments will cover the entirety of a student’s debt, setting aside an afternoon for an application could prove to be the financial lift that helps minimize the burden of paying for college.

“It can be very competitive,” said Blaguszewski. “There are no guarantees and you may invest time that doesn’t yield a result, but, you know, there are no guarantees in life either. You need to invest the time and make the case persuasively and you need to do the research.”

Stephen Sellner can be reached at [email protected].