Show Me the Money: The Facts About Scholarship Finders

With college tuition skyrocketing, many students are looking for outside help to fund their education. Of course, the first and most reliable place to seek out assistance is through financial aid programs. But if your kids don’t qualify for financial aid, they can always apply for a scholarship. Scholarships are financial gifts that don’t need to be paid back, and are awarded based on certain criteria. There are academic scholarships, religious scholarships, scholarships based on ethnicity–the list goes on and on. With millions of scholarships available in the United States, the chances one fits your child’s qualifications are high. But how can you help your kids find one with their name on it?

The Research Search
Research is the best way to find that special scholarship. Unfortunately, many students don’t have the time to look or just haven’t had much luck in their search. There are services available that do the searching for them. These scholarship finders charge a fee to compare a student’s profile with a database of scholarship opportunities. They often print or email a specialized report that lists all the potential scholarship opportunities available for which a student may qualify, along with information on how to apply, deadlines, etc. The key to getting the most for the money is to be persistent in the scholarship hunt. If your kids do decide to go this route, make sure they utilize the list provided to them by the company, and if some of the scholarships don’t match their qualifications be sure to talk with the company about the discrepancies.

Do-It-Yourself
In addition to paid services, there are also free Internet search engines that can help match students to appropriate scholarships. Collegedata.com offers a search engine that takes the most common eligibility criteria like GPA, gender, residency, ethnicity, religion, and area of study, and matches it to the scholarships in their database. The drawback to relying on this kind of search is that it is often too broad. Students establish their criteria, then wind up with a long list of potential scholarships, many of which will likely be outside their realm of qualifications. Other sites that offer free comprehensive scholarship searches include scholarship-monkey.com, brokescholar.com, and collegeboard.com. For more links to free scholarship search engines head to www.college-scholarships.com and click on “Free College Scholarship and Financial Aid Searches.”

Not-So-Free Money
Though there are legitimate companies that offer these services for a fee, there are a lot of scam artists who claim to have secret information, guarantee your money back, or make other outlandish promises. The Federal Trade Commission recently launched an investigation into these unscrupulous activities and released an alert with information on how to avoid these scams. According to the FTC, the following advertising lines are red flags:

• “The scholarship is guaranteed or your money back.”
• “You can’t get this information anywhere else.”
• “I just need your credit card or bank account number to hold this scholarship.”
• “We’ll do all the work.”
• “The scholarship will cost some money.”
• “You’ve been selected by a ‘national foundation’ to receive a scholarship” or “You’re a finalist” in a contest you never entered.

The FTC suggests parents and students looking into paid scholarship finding services should investigate the organization, get references, and request the offer, services, and policies in writing. To learn more about these scams, visit the ftc.gov/scholarshipscams, and, if you do encounter a scam artist, file a complaint on the FTC website.

If a company is legitimate and does deliver a comprehensive list of scholarships, you have a very good chance of recouping your investment in the service. But it will take a lot of action on your child’s part to find the scholarship and complete the application process. They’re giving your family the map and directions to the rainbow, it’s up to you to find the other side…but there may just be a pot of gold waiting.