College scholarship scams have become increasingly more common these days. Scholarships that are collectively worth billions of dollars are available to college-bound students, but the key is to decipher which are real and which are scams.
Legitimate scholarships will never ask for a student’s bank account or social security number. They will never charge an application fee or a processing fee to apply. They will never guarantee that a student will be awarded a scholarship, simply for applying.
Legitimate scholarship applications will require some effort. Typically, an essay is required, often a letter of recommendation, and sometimes an interview. There needs to be some criteria on which “winners” are chosen. A “red flag” should go up when a student wins a scholarship for which they never applied.
To be rewarded with a scholarship of any kind, students need to engage and put in some real effort. That said, the effort can certainly be worth it. Students just need to look in the right places.
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Discover.com offers a scholarship database that includes 4 million scholarships that are collectively worth over $22 billion. College Board’s BigFuture website offers a scholarship quiz to match students with 6,000 scholarships providing $4 billion per year. Scholly, featured on Shark Tank, is the No. 1 college scholarship application. It’s available free of charge and has awarded more than $100 million dollars to date. A Drexel University student created this app to help students find scholarship money they may be eligible for based on answers to a few basic questions.
High school guidance offices have applications for local scholarships. For example, scholarships are often offered by groups such as the Rotary Club, Elks, PBA, Home & School Association, Education Foundations, Women’s Clubs, and Democratic and Republican organizations. Although the awards may be on the smaller side – between $500 and $5,000 – the competition is limited to local, graduating students. Organizations with which parents or students are affiliated (religious organizations, Scouts, 4-H, and workplaces) typically offer scholarships that students have a good chance of securing.
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Many companies offer scholarships in the form of tuition reimbursement to employees, including Starbucks, McDonald’s, Chick-Fil-A, Chipotle, Taco Bell, Pizza, Amazon, UPS, and Walmart.
According to Christopher Gray, the Drexel University graduate who developed Scholly during his scholarship search, millions of dollars of scholarship money go unclaimed each year. College-bound students may want to seek a piece of that pie by looking at legitimate sites.
Susan Alaimo is the founder & director of Collegebound Review, offering PSAT/SAT® preparation & private college advising by Ivy League educated instructors. Visit CollegeboundReview.com or call 908-369-5362.
