College Scholarships

Where to search for college scholarships

Have you ever heard people say something to the effect of: “There’s tons of free money out there! You just have to go find it!”? If you’re like most parents, you’ve probably wondered, “OK, so where is it? Where should I look?”

Great question.

There are several different categories of places to look for scholarships, each with their own pros and cons. We’ll start with the most well-known places to search for scholarships and move toward the less well-known ones.

Given that each of the scholarship strategies described below have their pros and cons, I recommend you use them all to supplement one another, rather than exclusively rely on one or two.

Online scholarship databases

There are many scholarship databases online that compile thousands, sometimes millions of scholarships, and match your family to them based on your child’s year in school, GPA, state and city of residence, extracurricular interests, and so on.

Some of the most popular scholarship databases include Cappex, Chegg, The College Board, Fastweb, Scholarships.com, and Scholly.

Pros: Nothing comes close to the sheer number of scholarships that can be found through online scholarship databases. Chances are, your child’s background information will meet eligibility criteria for hundreds of scholarships.

Cons: The cons of using online scholarship databases aren’t exactly the databases’ fault. Nevertheless, I’ll describe them.

First, many of the scholarships found on these databases will end up receiving thousands of applications, simply because most families find scholarships through these websites. In other words, the competition for many of the scholarships is quite high.

Second, there are many “low-quality” scholarships found through these databases, such as those that have few eligibility requirements, whose primary goal is to collect physical and email addresses to send further promotions to.

Despite these cons, you can find several “diamonds in the rough” through online scholarship databases. Therefore, I recommend you include online scholarship databases as part of any college scholarship search.

College applications

While completing various college applications, your child will likely come across questions asking whether they would like to be considered for certain scholarships. Some of these scholarships opportunities are extended to all applicants, whereas others are only extended to students who meet certain eligibility criteria (e.g., state of residence, ethnocultural background).

Pros: Scholarship opportunities extended through college applications are the easiest to come across. To discover them, you simply have to go through the process of applying for college. If you’re reading this guide, you probably will or already have done that!

Cons: Again, given that these scholarships are so easy to find, many students will apply for them. While that shouldn’t be a deterrent, know that these scholarships will have greater competition for them.

School counselors

While a large number of scholarships can easily be found through online scholarship databases and college applications, many others aren’t listed in either of these sources. High school and college counselors may know about several scholarships not listed on larger databases that your child is eligible to apply for; all you have to do is ask.

And don’t feel limited to only asking your school’s counselor. Typically, counselors at other local schools are also happy to help you find great scholarships.

Pros: High school and college counselors are often able to point you to high-paying, low-competition scholarship opportunities that you simply wouldn’t have known about otherwise. They can also help you sort through the hundreds of scholarship opportunities you come across on online scholarship databases.

Cons: School counselors often have a large number of students they are required to support. Therefore, the onus will largely be on you and your child to approach them for help. Moreover, school counselors simply won’t know about the many scholarships listed on online databases, as well as niche scholarships you can find on your own (see the following section for more information). Therefore, you shouldn’t exclusively rely on school counselors for your scholarship search.

Manual searches for private scholarships

The greatest hidden gems are typically found through conducting manual searches for private scholarships (i.e., niche scholarships).

The best approach to finding private scholarships is to first list everything about your child’s and family’s background, including your ethnocultural background, place of employment, and place of residence, as well as your child’s gender, extracurricular interests, disability status, etc.

Next, you should conduct online searches via Google or similar search engines for every single item on your list to see what scholarship opportunities are available to your family. For example, if you search for scholarships for students with disabilities, you may come across Nitro's awesome resource: 131 Scholarship Opportunities for Students with Disabilities.

Pros: Private scholarships typically have the lowest competition, for the following two reasons: they often don’t appear on online scholarship databases, and they have very targeted eligibility requirements (e.g., belonging to a specific ethnocultural group).

Cons: Finding private scholarships that your child is eligible for perhaps requires the most effort and creativity of all the listed approaches. Your search will be most effective after deep brainstorming about your child’s and family’s background.

When to search for college scholarships

I’ll break down this shorter section in two ways: the best time of year to search for scholarships and the ideal grade levels during which to search for scholarships.

First, what’s the best time of year to search for college scholarships?

Most scholarship applications tend to be due in the fall (October–November) or spring (March–May).

That said, several scholarship applications your child is eligible for will likely be due outside of these months. Therefore, it’s worthwhile to conduct a quarterly scholarship search and plan ahead.

And during what grade levels should you search for college scholarships?

Most scholarships require students to be in 12th grade or in college at the time of application.

How to stay organized with college scholarship applications

Keeping track of all of the great scholarship opportunities you find can be challenging. Therefore, I strongly recommend you stay organized with a spreadsheet containing the following pieces of information for each scholarship:

• Name of scholarship

• Scholarship website

• Application due date (and if submitting via regular mail, specify whether it needs to be postmarked or received by the due date)

• Eligibility requirements*, such as:

  • Grade in school

  • Race/ethnicity

  • Citizenship

  • Disability status

  • Extracurricular activity participation

• Application requirements, such as:

  • Transcripts

  • Test scores

  • Résumé or CV

  • Cover letters (including name and address of recipient)

  • Essays (including the number of essays, essay prompts, and word or character count)

  • Recommendation letters, including:

    • The number of letters

    • Types of letters (e.g., from a teacher or from a coach)

    • How letters should be sent (e.g. uploaded to online application vs. mailed, mailed directly by recommender vs. included in larger application envelope)

  • Additional materials (e.g., art portfolio, athletic highlight reel)

  • Interviews

• Submission method and instructions (i.e. regular mail vs. email, name and address of recipient)

*Please note that eligibility requirements can sometimes be confusing. If you have any questions or need further clarification whether or not your child qualifies for a certain scholarship, please get in touch with the scholarship organization immediately. They’ll be glad to help.