Some of the strangest college scholarships

When people think of achievements a student could rack up that may help them acquire money for college by filling out scholarship applications, they might normally think of earning an impressive grade point average, or excelling in sports. However, the truth is there's a scholarship out there out there for virtually every attribute a person could have.

Here, we offer just a sampling of the strangest scholarships for college, originally listed on Zen College Life.

Duck Tape, a brand of Duct Tape, has doled out $5,000 scholarships and $5,000 in pocket money to couples who comprised their prom dress and tux completely out of multi-colored duct tape, and mailed a photo. The 2012 winners, identified as "Lara and Cole" on the company's website, put together duct tape formal wear decorated with flower and scroll patterns that ended up looking like a purple leopard print design.

According to the Duck Brand website, the prom king and queen of duct tape used 18 rolls of black, silver, green and purple duct tape, and spent 127 hours creating their outfits. It isn't specified whether their underwear was also made of the adhesive. Otherwise, their entire prom ensemble, from the tux jacket, to the dress to both prom-goers' shoes was comprised entirely of duct tape.

For sci-fi aficionados with a particular fondness for Star Trek, The Kor Memorial Scholarship founded by the Klingon Language Institute provides $500 to scholars of language. The instructions say applicants aren't required to know anything about the Klingon language, and the only things students need to apply are respectable academic standings, a nominating letter from a ranking academic authority figure, two more letters of recommendation, a short essay about the student's scholastic goals and a resume. Expertise in Star Trek trivia won't help students be awarded the Klingon Language Institute's scholarship. Trekkie's hoping their fandom will help with their financial planning for college should look into the $500 Starfleet scholarships offered by the International Star Trek Fan Association.

There are also thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of financial aid for school available for students who specialize in off-kilter activities. Zen College Life also points to scholarships for welding, vacuum cleaning, duck calling, playing marbles, predicting economic trends, being tall, being short, being a vegetarian, being a big fan of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and for majoring in bagpipe study.

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