Scholarship Search Web Sites

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1 FastWeb.com Scholarship Search Web Sites FastWeb lets students create a personalized profile that can be matched against our expansive databases of colleges and scholarships. As the oldest and most popular free online scholarship matching service, our database has over 800,000 scholarships totaling more than $1 billion. FastWeb also notifies students when new scholarships are added and application deadlines are approaching. FastWeb provides more than scholarship information. For students searching for a college, FastWeb can match their background with two and four year colleges across the country. Within minutes, our comprehensive college database gives students a list of schools matching their preferences and a complete profile of each school. Students can also sign up to be recruited by colleges Scholarships-4u.com Scholarships 4u allows students to search for scholarships using several categories including college majors, athletics, religion, culture heritage, and many more. CollegeView.com Collegeview provides scholarship searches, financial aid information, college and career information. Collegeboard.com This online tool helps you locate scholarships, internships, grants, and loans that match your education level, talents, and background. Complete the brief questionnaire and Scholarship Search will find potential opportunities from our database of more than 2,300 sources of college funding, totaling nearly $3 BILLION in available aid! Keep in mind that the more personal information you enter, the better the odds that Scholarship Search will be able to match you to financial aid sources. So don't be shy and be sure to complete all the sections of the questionnaire. United Negro College Fund The United Negro College Fund has a database of over four hundred scholarships. Students can search the web site, review application criteria, procedures, deadlines and apply on line.

2 NextStudent.com NextStudent offers a comprehensive set of tools and resources to make college funding simple, including an interest rate calculator, information on federal and state programs, a glossary, FAQ, "Top Tips" and more. This valuable tool allows you to enter your personal and academic information into a scholarship search engine that searches our database of more than 9,000 funding sources comprised of more than 700,000 individual awards, and selects those awards matching the student's profile. It provides each funding source's eligibility requirements, due dates, number of awards, award amounts, and contact information. Fastaid.com The World's largest and oldest private sector scholarship database offers 20 years of Scholarship Research and is constantly updated. Scholarships.com Scholarships.com is the Internet's premiere free college scholarship search engine & financial aid resource, connecting students and parents with financial aid opportunities. Our search engine matches your profile with our database of college scholarships. Search results include award summary and a custom application request letter. Collge-Scholarships.com College Scholarships provides links to several scholarships search web sites.

3 Scholarship Search Advice Start Locally! You are going to have the greatest success finding scholarships by starting with your parents, your employers, and your local organizations. You also increase your odds of actually winning a scholarship by hitting your local organizations first. You may only be going up against a few other local students, versus the entire student population of the country. When you hear "pay for search" scholarship search firms boast about "obscure" scholarships, this is what they are talking about. When you hear things like "75% of all private financial aid went unclaimed last year" they are talking about financial aid offered by employers to their employees most of the time. Employers. Have your parents ask their personnel administrator if their company offers any sort of financial aid, tuition reimbursement, or scholarships, for employee's children. Most major companies do offer this benefit. If you have a job, ask your own company if they offer this sort of benefit. Volunteer work. Have you done any volunteer work? Perhaps at your local hospital? Do you help out at the food bank? Are you involved with the Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts? All are excellent sources. Organizations. What professional or social organizations are you or your parents involved with? 4H, JayCees, Lions Club? Association for Internet Addiction? You name it. If you or your parents are a member of an organization, ask them and see if they offer any kind of scholarships. The next thing to check with is organizations that represent what you are planning on studying. Many such organizations offer scholarships to students who are studying what they support, even if you are not a member. For example, the American Medical Record Association offers several scholarships for those planning on making a career in Medical Record Administration, but there is no requirement you be a member. Many organizations that do permit non members to apply for scholarships, however, do expect you to join the organization after receiving the scholarship. Unions. Are you or your parents a member of a Union? All the major labor unions offer scholarships for members and their dependent children (AFLCIO, Teamsters, etc.) Church. Check with your church. Your local parish may or may not have any scholarships for their members, but the Diocese or headquarters may have some available. And if you have been very active in your local church, they may be able to help you in other ways. Chamber of Commerce. Check with your local Chamber of Commerce. Many offer (usually small, less than $500) grants to students in the community, especially those planning on careers in Business and Public Service. Even if they do not offer any themselves, you can usually get a listing of members, and many of them may offer small scholarships to local students. High school. This is really obvious, but surprisingly enough, many students don't bother to check with their High School Guidance Counselors, Principles, Teachers, and other administrators. Many high schools have scholarships specifically for their own students.

4 Take the PSAT! While you are in high school, you will be offered the opportunity to take the PSAT test, usually in your Junior year. I strongly suggest you take this test!! Not only does it help you prepare yourself for the SAT later on, many National Merit Scholarship Programs are determined by the scores you receive on the PSAT test. Some private scholarship programs require you to take the PSAT. Your College or University's Financial Aid Office. But don't expect them to be all that helpful. Many are staffed with students just like you, on work study programs. Many offer access to computer databases (often for a $5 or $10 fee), have a collection of books with sources, and will have a bulletin board with posted notices of scholarships. But you are in competition with every other student in the school for those same funds. While the Financial Aid Office is a MUST to check for assistance, do not expect them to hold your hand. The burden is on YOU to find the funding. On the other hand, once your financial aid office has offered you a financial aid package, don't hesitate to question it. Think they overestimated your family's income? Think they are offering you too little? Ask, and negotiate with them. Remember... MOST financial aid packages are going to be VERY heavy on loans. Do what you can to get them to offer you m ore "free" money and less loans! The Chairperson or Head of the Department at your school. This is an often overlooked area to find scholarship information. Once you are in school, check with the head of the department you are studying in. They may have information available on scholarships and grants, possibly even internship opportunities that the financial aid office does not have. The Library. Another really obvious source! Ask the librarian to help you research sources of scholarships. The Web. But be prepared to spend A LOT of time! Hit the major search engines, and run searches on scholarships, financial aid, organizations, colleges, universities, grants, and anything else you can think of. On the keyword of "scholarships" expect to find one in thirty hits are for scholarship search services that charge you a fee. Avoid sites that ask for money, as there are way too many great free sites that offer the same service. Newspapers. Read your local newspaper every day especially during the summer, watch for announcements of local students receiving scholarships. Find out where you can apply for the next year for that same scholarship. Watch also for actual announcements of local firms and organizations offering scholarships. If your local newspaper has a "library" (most do) ask the librarian at the paper to help you find scholarship information posted in the newspaper in past issues. Do not expect to find much information from your local newspaper, but it is another source. Yellow pages. Find out if any professional or social organizations have a chapter in your city. Call them and find out if they offer any scholarships, both nationally and locally. You may even want to check with major corporations in your area.

5 Beware of Scholarship Scams There are six signs a company is running a scholarship scam, according to the Federal Trade Commission: 1. "The scholarship is guaranteed or your money back. Companies cannot guarantee scholarships, and refunds often have conditions that make the money impossible to get back. 2. "You can't get this information anywhere else. Most university scholarship offices have a list of available scholarships. 3. "May I have your credit card number to hold the scholarship? Sometimes companies charge credit card or bank numbers without permission of the account holder. 4. "We do all the work. Scholarship applications contain information to which only the person applying should have access. Students must apply for their own scholarships. 5. "The scholarship will cost money. Students should not pay companies that claim to hold a scholarship. Free money doesn't cost anything. 6. "You've been selected by a national foundation. This almost always is a gimmick. Advertisements that claim students have won contests are gimmicks, too, especially when the student never entered a contest.