College scholarships are immensely valuable, especially now that tuition costs at public and private universities are on the rise. Like any smart student, you’ll take all the free financial aid you can get. Unfortunately, there are disreputable individuals and organizations looking to make money off of your eagerness to secure such assistance. So here’s four tips on how to avoid scholarship scams.
1. Legitimate scholarships rarely charge a fee. Whether it’s a particular college scholarship application
Watch Out for College Scholarship Scams or a service that helps you search for many of them, there should not be a significant cost attached. Some reliable college scholarship sponsors and information services do charge a small fee to offset their processing expenses, but this should be minimal.
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Scholarship providers are supposed to give you money, not the other way around. So be suspicious any time one asks you to pay, especially if the amount they’re asking for seems sizable.
2. Never give out your credit card or bank account number. This seems obvious, but the number of people who unwittingly give their account numbers to con artists and identity thieves every year is surprisingly large. Legitimate scholarship programs, even need-based ones that have an honest reason to review your income, will not ask for account numbers. If a sponsor or service requests such information from you, do not give it to them and cease your dealings with them immediately; you’ve almost certainly encountered a scholarship scam.
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3. Scholarship services are not the sole proprietors of scholarship information. If any service presents themselves as the only source of information for a given scholarship, they’re lying. Legitimate college scholarships appear in directories that are available from bookstores, high school guidance offices, public libraries and even on the Internet. As long as you’re willing to put in a little bit of work, you can find any information you’re looking for on your own or by contacting the scholarship provider directly.
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4. Beware of legitimate-sounding names and titles. Scholarship scams frequently make use of appellations such as accredited, administration, agency, department, federal, foundation, etc. These will often sound similar to the name of a legitimate organization (e.g., “The U.S. Department of Higher Education” instead of “The U.S. Department of Education”). Just because a title sounds official doesn’t mean it is. Similar tricks include using a Washington, D.C. address and having an impressive-looking seal or watermark.
To learn more about how to avoid scholarship scams or to report fraudulent scholarship activity, you can contact The Federal Trade Commission and/or The National Fraud Information Center.