Which scholarship websites are actually legit?

Looking for reliable scholarship websites. There are so many out there, but I want to avoid scams or ones that just collect personal info. Where have you had success?

ISTS manages scholarships that are legitimate.

My son won enough in scholarships to pay for college. The best sites we used were:

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

We didn’t have a good experience with Bold or ScholarshipOwl. Most of the scholarships we applied for came from email lists we signed up for.

@Finley
This is really helpful! How much time did he spend applying? And when you say he won enough, do you mean for all four years or just part of college?

Clove said:
@Finley
This is really helpful! How much time did he spend applying? And when you say he won enough, do you mean for all four years or just part of college?

He applied for 79 scholarships that required essays and spent about 320 hours since August. He’s a slow writer—sometimes 3-4 hours for 300 words. His longest essay took him two weeks to write. But once he had a strong 1000-word essay, he was able to reuse and tweak it for most applications.

He didn’t do any of the searching; I found the scholarships, and he just picked the ones he wanted to apply for and wrote the essays. We focused on ones that paid at least $1 per word.

He has enough to cover all his college expenses. He’s going to community college for two years before transferring to a university, so he didn’t need a massive amount of money.

@Finley
That’s an interesting way to look at it, like an after-school job. Might have to start thinking about it that way.

Clove said:
@Finley
That’s an interesting way to look at it, like an after-school job. Might have to start thinking about it that way.

That’s exactly how we treated it. Some weeks were busier with school and sports, so he couldn’t put in job-like hours, but he stuck with it. He wanted to quit at one point—he got 26 rejections before he won his first scholarship five months in. But once the money started coming in, it was worth it. His essays really made the difference. We also had someone else read and give feedback on them before submitting.

@Finley
He’s lucky to have that support! I’m planning to do the same, going the community college transfer route. If I apply to a lot of scholarships, do you think I could get enough to cover everything and even get money back?

@Finnick
Yes, he got refunds. His scholarships added up to more than he needed for community college, so he got money back. But every school handles extra funds differently.

Some schools won’t refund overages, while others will let you carry funds over to the next semester or even the next year. Before accepting a scholarship, check how your school applies outside scholarships. Some will use them to replace their own grants instead of lowering your out-of-pocket costs.

If you plan ahead, you can make sure you don’t lose any money. My son worked with the financial aid office to move scholarships around so he could keep everything. If you’re applying to a school, call their financial aid office and ask how they handle scholarship overages. That way, you can maximize your money and avoid surprises.

@Finley
That’s really smart advice. Thank you!