Are online scholarships reliable or just scams?
I am worried that with the rise of in debt college students a despicable group of companies or individuals that only seek to scam and fraud didn't come to be in response. If so who shouldn't you trust? #finance #money #scholarships #fraud
4 answers
Margaret’s Answer
Lindsey’s Answer
This is a good question, Hayden. There are a lot of sites out there that offer scholarships- some are well known and others are much harder to find, which doesn't necessarily mean it's a scam. It's SO important though that you understand that these things do exist so that you can avoid the ones that you get a bad feeling about, and may very well be scams. The best advice I can offer you is: Never give a site any type of credit card information or personal information like a social security number. Read a few articles about this (from credible sources, like this one: http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-admissions-experts/2012/02/01/what-are-the-most-common-scholarship-scams and https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/grants-and-scholarships/how-to-spot-scholarship-scams) so that you know how to spot potential scams. If every you do get a bad feeling about an offering you've found, ask an adult about it! Send it to your parents/family member, guidance counselor, teacher, or even here on CareerVillage! Also, before entering into a scholarship contest, run a quick Google search about that website and the name of the scholarship to see if there are any 'scam warnings' about it.
Are there any sites in particular that you're worried about?
If you have any additional questions for me, please let me know! Best of luck Hayden!!
Terrell’s Answer
Everything these days can be considered a scam, but just take steps to validate before committing.
1.Verify the website url info
2. Check with friends or family that have used online scholarships
3. Check for reviews or comments