Published January 2013. Financial aid and student loan rules change often, so some details may be out of date. Ask us about your situation.
According to U.S. News and World Reports, an estimated 350,000 students and their families are the victims of scholarship scams. In total, the source estimates that more than $5 million go to these fake scams that collect money from cash-strapped individuals rather than help them afford an education.
When you look into scholarships for college, there are several red flags that should stand out to you and signal that an offer is really too good to be true.
One of the most popular scams involves application fees. It is important to remember that a college scholarship comes from a place of charity and exists to help a student who lacks funding. Therefore, it is counterintuitive for a scholarship program to ask you to pay up front to qualify, even if it guarantees reimbursement at a later date. In almost all of these situations, a scholarship never actually materializes.
Another offer to be wary of is mail, received through either the post office or online, that tells you a scholarship is already yours despite the fact that you never applied in the first place. Scholarship committees almost never freely offer up money without weighing the merits of an applicant. In most cases, these scams are trying to convince you to send in a processing fee which they will then keep, and the promised funds will never actually hit your bank account.
In general, any scholarship that offers sweeping claims is probably trying to sell you something rather than give you financial aid. These may seem like common knowledge tips, but the numbers speak for themselves, and an alarming amount of students fall victim to scholarship scams every year.
For scholarship assistance, the financial aid consultants at College Financing Group have years of experience separating the good programs from the bad and helping deserving students increase their odds at receiving a monetary award.