Application - why you think you should get a textbook scholarship

Prompt: Your application needs to include a description of why you think your financial situation warrants a $250 textbook scholarship, not to exceed 500 words.

If someone can help me with my grammar and whether I did a good job in convincing why I should get that scholarship, that would be great. Thanks!

If I ever compared myself to Abraham Lincoln who walked twenty miles to return a book - I'd be exaggerating. However, according to MapQuest I have traveled 13.46 miles on the New York City MTA subway to return a book - which I guess is still a lot of distance to cover to return a book.

For me, it has always been a luxury to actually go into a Barnes & Nobles or Borders and actually buy a book. The truth is that the cost of life varies from city to city and unfortunately while FAFSA's formulaic estimates may make out my family to be able to afford college expenses, the reality of our circumstances is completely different.

If it was difficult for me to buy books before, now it's ten times worse. You see my father suffered an accident that left him incapable of working until an extended period of time. Living in the city of New York is certainly no easy place to survive and definitely when you find yourself unable to work.

This ill-fated turn of events has left my family and me without a significant income which we depended on. As it is, financial aid has been hard to come by making our situation only more difficult to juggle in terms of how we will cover direct expenses and now indirect expenses - expenses that happen to include textbooks.

My education has been extremely important to me all my life and not being able to pursuit my academic goals and ambitions because I can't afford the required material would not only be heartbreaking but ridiculously mind-boggling.

The truth is that it would be infinitely saddening and, in my opinion, unjust to not be able to alleviate this burden on the already taxing economic hardships we're facing. The only way I see myself making the best of this is by putting my mind to good use and studying my way to a better future. Books shouldn't be the problem here - they should be the solution.

Excellent work; I almost found myself applauding at your conclusion! Just a few mechanical errors, but I think you've done a wonderful job here. You have included enough details to let your reader(s) know your situation; you have a grabby hook and a very well tied up conclusion. Again, a wonderful job and I wish you the best of luck!