• Online Colleges
  • Online College Guide
• US Colleges
  • Overview
  • By State
  • Alphabetically
  • By Career
  • By Religion
  • Scholarships
  • Education Articles
• World Colleges
  • All by Country
  • Africa
  • Americas
  • Asia
  • Australasia
  • Europe
• Careers
  • Career Guide
  • Career Planning
• Article
• Blog

Searching for Scholarships: There Are Scholarships for Everyone If They Know Where to Look

There are hundreds of thousands of scholarships in the US available every year from many different sources, including private organizations and schools. Scholarships total into the billions of dollars per year. These days it is easier than ever to find them. There are now many scholarship search engines that help students narrow down the scholarships that they are likely to be eligible for. These tools ask the student to enter information about themselves and then, using this information, they locate scholarships that may be appropriate for that student.

Think Local

In addition to using scholarship search tools, students should also use some more basic methods to look for local scholarships. Local scholarships are important because they tend to be less competitive than those available nationwide. For example a student's high-school counselor and bulletin boards at local libraries and recreation departments may offer information about local scholarships. Students should also ask about scholarships at religious or civic organizations in which they are involved and may even want to contact larger local businesses to ask if they offer scholarships to local students. A parent's or student's employer may also offer scholarships.

School-based Scholarships

Scholarships offered by colleges are a very important source of scholarships since they are often for larger amounts than private scholarships. For information on school-based scholarships, see BrainTracks article: Financial Aid From Schools: Colleges Offer Diverse Financial Help To Students".

Scholarship Search Tools

Not too many years ago, students tediously poured through library scholarship reference books in search of scholarships. Students today have the advantage of using scholarship internet search tools which make it much easier and less time-consuming to find appropriate scholarships. These tools typically ask 10-20 or more questions to build a student profile against which it will attempt to match scholarships. The questions will include those about test scores, GPA, family income, age, ethnicity, religious affiliations, disabilities, student activities, civic organization affiliations, among others.

Below are some suggestions on how to make the best use of these tools.

• Use free search tools – Search tools that charge a fee do not produce better results than free ones and often produce very poor results. There will however be numerous ads in the free tools that users should be prepared to ignore. Free tools may also use a user's registration for further marketing purposes.
• Time searches early – Many scholarships have deadlines in the fall so scholarship seekers should consider beginning searches the previous academic year.
• Use more than one search tool – Although the search tool databases have substantial overlap, there are often scholarships that appear in one database and not in another.
• Watch out for scholarships that charge a fee – Most databases don't try to exclude scholarships that charge an application fee; but, these scholarships should be ignored as they are often scams.
• Scholarship match tools aren't perfect – Searchers can't assume that they are eligible for all the scholarships that are returned from a search tool; they'll need to review the requirements carefully.
• Keep looking for scholarships even after college starts – If a student's major has changed, he or she has become involved in new activities, or his/her financial situation has changed, more scholarships may become available. Even if there have been no changes, new scholarships are often added.

Suggested Scholarship Search Services

In addition to Kaarme, there are at least 40 free scholarship search websites for US studies and many more that charge fees. Below are a selection of free services that BrainTrack's research shows as having the largest databases and as doing a good job of matching scholarships to a student's profile. Keep in mind that many of these, while free, may require registration of student information that is then used for marketing purposes.

• Fastweb.com – This may be the most used free scholarship search service; it is recognized by many as among the best tools due to the size of its database and matching capabilities.
• College Boards FUND FINDER
• Next Student
• Student Aid on the Web scholarship search service
• Scholarship Experts
• CollegeNets Mach25 Scholarship Finder

Suggested Scholarship Search Services for International Studies

For those that are seeking scholarships for studies outside the US, there are similarly many scholarship search websites. Below are several that BrainTrack's researchers consider of greatest interest to scholarship seekers.

• IntScholarships.com – This free scholarship search site is organized regionally and has a built in search engine. It covers scholarships and financial aid for undergraduate, post graduate, doctor or PhD, and non degree studies.
• International Scholarship Resources - A free site that covers international scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships for international students.
• Scholarship Online - Has a searchable list of international scholarships across various countries.
• Scholarships 4 Development - This site has a focus on scholarships targeted for students of developing countries.
• eastchance.com - Several hundred scholarships available in European Union (EU) countries are listed.

About    Contact    Privacy Policy