It’s the most stressful time of the year. With the end of the semester upon us, I find myself, along with many other students, opening my textbook for the first time, beginning projects I should have started months ago, and taking every extra credit opportunity I can get.

On top of all this end-of-semester madness, there is the added stress of transferring. I am having a terrible time with it.

Deadlines are only the beginning of my problems. I am one of those people who sent my applications off at 11:30 p.m. on the last night I could apply. Now I have to deal with deadlines for registration, deadlines for sending in transcripts and deadlines for committing to what school I will transfer to.

However, dealing with deadlines is not my biggest concern. What worries me the most is the cost of tuition.

I remember when I graduated from high school and I thought it was the stupidest thing to celebrate. Essentially, we were celebrating going from free schooling to having to pay for an education!

Luckily, EC was within my price range. Universities, on the other hand, are a different story.

And, as if universities don’t cost enough already, last Thursday the University of California Board of Regents voted to increase student fees by 9.3 percent. This will result in an extra $662 charge for California undergraduates attending California universities. The increase is intended to help offset some of the effects of the recent budget cuts.

With tuition on the rise and my income definitely not following suit, I, like many others, need to come up with big bucks quickly.

Loans are not an option, and although I don’t have a lot of money, I guess I have just enough for the state to deny me financial aid. This means I am left with scholarships.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, I thought scholarships were for those who are smarter than me, more athletic than me or more artistic than me.

Fortunately, I discovered that this isn’t true. We all can obtain free money through scholarships even if we can’t solve for X, run a five minute mile or paint a masterpiece.

Fastweb.com is a great place to start when looking for scholarship opportunities. It is a great resource because it finds scholarships online and e-mails them to you. Furthermore, after you complete a short questionnaire, Fastweb will filter the scholarships it finds and send you only scholarships pertaining to your major or your interests.

For example, I am interested in video and music. Fastweb sends me all the scholarship opportunities it finds in which I can submit a video entry, write a song or write essays relating to music or video.

With this great site, you can apply for scholarships and enjoy it because you will always be doing what interests you or writing about what interests you in the process.

You can also find information on scholarships through El Camino’s website at www.elcamino.edu/studentservices/fao/main_scholar.asp.

Make the most of these resources and take advantage of the scholarship money that is out there waiting for you. Just leave some for me because I’m definitely going to need it.