The
best way to avoid being the victim of a scholarship scam is to
remember the old adage: If it seems too good to be true, it
probably is. If a scholarship search service promises you a
scholarship, run the other way. If someone insists that for $5
or $30 or $50, he will guarantee you a scholarship, it is
definitely a scam.
Yes,
there are lots of scholarship dollars available, but the truth
is that no one can secure a scholarship for you but you. Only
the prospective student can do the work of filling out forms,
sending transcripts, and writing essays.
A
legitimate
scholarship search service
provides
information that is current and accurate; it does not provide
scholarships.
A
legitimate scholarship search service is an information
source. Take Scholarship Experts for instance. They have
invested the resources to explore and compile scholarship data
from all over the map. A good scholarship search service has a
team of research specialists that constantly updates award
information.
What
good is 1998's award information to a 2001 high school
graduate? When looking for a valid, trustworthy scholarship
search company, verify that the information you are getting is
current. Look for a service like Scholarship Experts that
compiles their own database of awards and delivers up-to-date
data.
Remember,
it costs money to operate a scholarship service. It is a
simple fact that someone has to pay. Perhaps it is
advertisers. Perhaps it is customers. Make sure you know who
is paying for the service so you can adequately assess the
quality of the product and monitor what happens with your
personal, private information.
If
you, the customer, the consumer, are paying, then chances are
good that the service is structured with your needs and goals
uppermost. That is why a fee-based scholarship search service
makes sense. The service exists to serve the customer, without
whom there is no service. Consider another old adage: You
can't get something for nothing....unless it isn't worth
anything.