Scholarships are Free

In the scholarship quest there are many companies, and individuals , who charge to find scholarships. DO NOT PAY.

Yes, there are some legitimate scholarship search companies, but students and their families, can do as well or better than any company. After all, the students and their families have a real interest in finding as much money as possible for the students. Companies, only care as far as they get paid, they have no real interest in the students. Students are better served saving any money they’d spend on a search for their college education and doing the search themselves.

There are more scam companies than legitimate and it’s often hard to tell the difference. One sure fire sign a company is a scam is the promise to get a student a certain amount of scholarship money. They can’t guarantee anyone will receive any amount of scholarship money since they have no control over the application process. If they offer to complete a student’s application, chances are they will lie on the application. Companies who promise more than they can deliver are scams.

Sometimes companies, both scam and real, will add a money back guarantee, this does the student no good. To begin with, students depending on a scholarship company won’t continue to look for their own scholarships. When the company fails to amass the money the students need, it’s too late to find other sources. Also, the ‘guarantee’ will be worded in such a way that few students actually get their money back.

One tactic they use in their “guarantee” is to promise to find three scholarships for a student. Well, pashaw, all colleges offer scholarships. All the company has to do is send a student 3 of their college of choice scholarships. Plus, most students can visit with their high school counselor for 5 or 10 minutes and have the names of at least 3 scholarships. But, once a company locates three scholarships, they don’t have to refund the money paid.

There is no need to pay money when there are multiple scholarship searches available to students online. Students need to register for these, but there is no charge. Registering simply makes the search easier for the students. This keeps the student from wading through hundreds of scholarships they can’t use. A list of several free scholarship searches can be found here.

Read the descriptions carefully, not all searches will benefit all students. Not all of these searches will benefit all students, for example there is a Pacific Northwest Scholarship Guide, that will only benefit for students living in the Pacific Northwest. But, students, serious about college and scholarships will find help here.