How do I tell if a scholarship is real or a scam?

Seeking Advise
1

Hi!

I’m searching for any scholarships that can help me pay for school. I’m going into aviation, but I haven’t found many aviation-specific scholarships, so I’m looking for others that fit my needs.

How can I tell if a scholarship is legit or a scam? I downloaded MOS after seeing an ad, and it shows some scholarships I might qualify for, but I’m unsure which are real. Same with Bold.org.

I also got an email about a Juno scholarship—does anyone know if it’s legit?

Any advice would be great. Thanks!

2

My son won enough in scholarships to cover his college costs. Here are some of the best sites we used:

  • StudentScholarships.org
  • Fastweb
  • Scholarship America
  • Kaleidoscope
  • JLV College Counseling
  • Monica Matthews’ mailing list
  • GoMerry

We did not like Bold.org or ScholarshipOwl.

Most of the time, we just applied for scholarships from the lists these sites emailed us.

3

@Derry
Quick question—some scholarships allow you to apply as early as 9th grade. What happens if you win? Do you need to have a college picked that early, or does the money sit somewhere until you decide?

4

@Vic
Good question! I don’t know from personal experience, but most scholarships will explain their rules in the fine print. Usually, they don’t require you to be enrolled in college yet.

If the scholarship requires you to be accepted into a school, you can list any college you’ve been accepted to, and later change it before they send the funds. If it requires you to be enrolled, that means they’ll only release the money once you’ve officially started classes.

5

@Derry
Saving this list for later!

6

All the scholarships on Bold.org are legit. Just be careful about how much personal information you give out—never share your SSN or banking info.

Here’s an aviation-related scholarship you might want to check out:

ADMA Scholarship

7

Same here! I feel like I’m just handing out my info for a chance at a few hundred bucks.

8

Toni said:
Same here! I feel like I’m just handing out my info for a chance at a few hundred bucks.

Yeah, I think I clicked on a sketchy one and got spam calls for three days straight. It’s tough to tell what’s real and what’s not.

9

@Reagan
I’ve been getting non-stop emails and calls too. Also, why does ScholarshipOwl expect me to pay for a subscription just to apply for multiple scholarships? That’s wild.