Before you begin, you need to have a firm foundation. Armour, weapons, and knowledge.
With the rise in tuition and everything prices for college, there has been a rise in scholarships offered–and of scams offered. And they’ve gotten better and better. They can come from anywhere: a workshop or seminar that seems completely legitimate, on the web, in your mailbox, in a store. You need to be on your guard and run everything through a check before you sign your money, or even your identity, away.
Armour
These resources will help to guard you against attack. Beware of scholarship offers too good to be true: they probably are!
National Fraud Information Center: http://www.fraud.org
Council of Better Business Bureaus: http://www.bbb.org
Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov
The bad guys use wording that may be any of the following, or similar: “This scholarship requires a handling fee.” While some may ask for $5, anything more is probably a scam unless it’s an artistic competition, which usually have larger entrance fees. However, to be safe anytime this happens always contact the BBB and your guidance counselor/career director.
“We’ll do all the work for this scholarship.” Haha, yeah right. All legitimate scholarships require you to do SOMETHING. Keep that in mind.
“You can’t get this information anywhere else.” Umm. Yes you can. And they’re all free. Listed below, some examples.
U.S. Department of Education, books, the finaid website, directories such as Peterson’s Scholarships and The Scholarship Book, internet search sites such as FastWeb and Niche, your counselor or career director, the library, or the college or university you plan to attend.
“We need your credit card or bank account number to hold this scholarship for you.” Never ever ever. Scholarships are FREE MONEY. Don’t ever fall for this: if you are asked, refuse and report the organization to the Federal Trade Commission.
“You have been selected by a ‘National Foundation’ to receive a scholarship or you have won a scholarship when you have never applied for the scholarship or entered the contest.” This is of course a scam, but if you’re curious run it by the three armour sites I listed.
“We guarantee we’ll find at least 10 scholarships.” Typical. Any guarantee to find any number of scholarships for you is fraudulent and will end up costing you money and time.
“You are eligible to receive a free scholarship and financial aid package. Please call us to schedule your appointment at XYZ hotel to pick it up.” Usually when you go to pick up your package, you and your parents will be subjected to high pressure sales methods meant to suck you dry of your money to “help” you with your scholarship search. You can get any of their help by reading books and talking to your counselor.
Weapons
Next, a starting base is really helpful. I’ve found these general monthly scholarships through my own search. I’m sure you can find others, but be sure to be careful of those scams. Be the Berean of Scholarships, if you follow me. I’ll tell you in a later post about what search engines I used to find these gems.
By the way, just because I have something on my list doesn’t mean it’s safe. I’ve collected these, but I’m still looking through them and checking if they’re safe. The below sites are safe, but if one of them is a site that wants you to answer surveys or do some type of daily activity to be entered into a monthly drawing, that may not be a financial fraud, but I call it fraudulent. I call it a time fraud because it steals your precious time, daily, hourly, that you could have been spending on your own hobbies, with your family, preparing for REAL scholarships, going to Disneyland, or shooting rubber bands at the wall. Ignore the time frauds. I included them to keep you awake and make sure you’re paying attention. Got to be skeptical of the right things!
Monthly:
| GPA Isn’t Everything Scholarship | $1,000 cappex.com | Monthly |
| Scholarship Lucky Draw | $250 http://gocollege.com/lucky-draw-scholarship.html | Monthly |
No Essay $2,000 Scholarship College Prowler
Purpose: To support students who are entering college within the next 12 months.
Eligibility: Applicants must be high school or college students or planning to attend college within the next 12 months. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or legal residents. Winners can use the scholarship award to help cover tuition, housing, meal plans, books, computers, or any education-related expenses.
Need-based: No, this scholarship does not consider financial need.
Deadline: End of every month.
Award Amount: $2,000.
How to get an application: Applications are available online.
Contact Information: 5001 Baum Boulevard
Suite 750
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Website: Go to the Scholarship’s Website
$1,000 Easy College Money Scholarship Cappex
Purpose: To assist high school and college students with college expenses.
Eligibility: Applicants must be current high school or college students or be planning to enroll within the next 12 months.
Need-based: No, this scholarship does not consider financial need.
Deadline: End of every month.
Award Amount: $1,000.
How to get an application: Applications are available online.
Contact Information: 600 Laurel Avenue
Highland Park, IL 60035
Website: Go to the Scholarship’s Website
ScholarshipPoints $10,000 Scholarship Edvisors
Purpose: ScholarshipPoints awards monthly awards up to $1,000 and quarterly awards up to $10,000 to be used at any college.
Eligibility: High school or college students attending or planning to attend a college or university. There are no minimum GPA requirements or essays. The scholarship may be used at any college for any educational expense such as tuition and fees.
Need-based: No, this scholarship does not consider financial need.
Deadline: Monthly.
Award Amount: Up to $10,000.
How to get an application: Applications are available online.
Contact Information:
1250 Hancock Street
Suite 703N
Quincy, MA 02169
Website: Go to the Scholarship’s Website
CKSF Scholarships Common Knowledge Scholarship Foundation
Purpose: To support high school and college students.
Eligibility: Applicants must register online with CKSF and complete quizzes on various topics. Students may be U.S. high school students in grades 9 to 12 or college students.
Need-based: No, this scholarship does not consider financial need.
Deadline: Monthly.
Award Amount: $250-$2,500.
How to get an application: Applications are available online. Online registration is required.
Contact Information: P.O. Box 290361
Davie, FL 33329-0361
Phone: 954-262-8553
Email: info@cksf.org
Website: Go to the Scholarship’s Website
Delete Cyberbullying Scholarship Award Delete Cyberbullying
Purpose: To get students committed to the cause of deleting cyberbullying.
Eligibility: Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and attending or planning to attend an accredited U.S. college or university for undergraduate or graduate studies. Applicants must also be a high school, college or graduate student or a student planning to enter college.
Need-based: No, this scholarship does not consider financial need.
Deadline: June 30 or monthly?
Award Amount: $1,500.
Number of Awards: 2.
How to get an application: Applications are available online. An application form and an essay are required.
Contact Information:
2261 Market Street #291
San Francisco, CA 94114
Email: help@deletecyberbullying.org
Website: Go to the Scholarship’s Website
SuperCollege Scholarship SuperCollege.com
Purpose: SuperCollege donates a percentage of the proceeds from the sales of its books to award scholarships to high school, college, graduate and adult students.
Eligibility: Applicants must be high school students, college undergraduates, graduate students or adult students residing in the U.S. and attending or planning to attend any accredited college or university within the next 12 months. The scholarship may be used to pay for tuition, books, room and board, computers or any education-related expenses.
Need-based: No, this scholarship does not consider financial need.
Deadline: End of every month.
Award Amount: $1,500.
How to get an application: Applications are available online.
Contact Information: Scholarship Dept. 673
2713 Newlands Avenue
Belmont, CA 94002
Email: supercollege@supercollege.com
Website: Go to the Scholarship’s Website
Knowledge
And now, knowledge! Chances are you have no idea what you are doing or where to start with these scholarship thingies. An excellent place to start is your library, and I mean it. I found three books there and I now have a favorite that works wonderfully for me. However, I recommend you check them all out, scan through them, and get a feel for which one suits you best.
WHAT I’M READING
Winning Scholarships For College, Third Edition: An Insider’s Guide
by Marianne Ragins
^ My favorite
Get Free Cash for College: Secrets to Winning Scholarships
by Gen Tanabe
^ My second favorite
FastWeb College Gold: The Step-by-Step Guide to Paying for College
by Mark Kantrowitz, Doug Hardy
^turned out to not be relevant to me because it’s mostly for low income and I am not. At least, my parents aren’t.
Chances are you’ll find other books. My suggestion is borrow them all and take a month to read the first two or three chapters in all of them, and check the table of contents to compare them with each other. Then, return the ones you found not applicable to you, and renew the ones you liked! Also, start keeping a notebook. On the first page, write down the names of the books you liked, in case they have holds and you have to return them but want to reference them later. Since I like electronics, I do this with evernote, a free online web service.
Have a good day! And good luck to you.
Financial Freedom 4 College 