7 Ways to Spot a Scholarship Scam
Written by admin on June 13th, 2008Being prepared for the interview is your best bet that it will go well. Follow this advice from the nation’s leading college planner.
If youre a student, or the parent of a student, that is about to head off to college, youve got to be very careful, because you are on a lot of shady peoples list. You are going to get a lot of offers by phone and by mail for scholarship searches, or telling you youve won a contest or scholarship..and most of them are TOTAL scams.
Seriously, its a huge problem that costs parents over 100 MILLION dollars each year. And that is just what gets reported. Im sure the actual amount is much, much higher. So, let me tell you what to watch out forby the way, feel free to pass this along to any of your friends. First, let me give you the goal of someone who would try to scam you. Its one of two things:
1.To get you to pay for something that isnt going to help you and in fact is a total waste of money
2.To get you to disclose your personal information to them, so they can steal or abuse your identity.
With that said, heres what youve got to be careful of.
Anyone calling you to tell you that your student has won an award or scholarship, and they just need some personal information (like a bank account number or credit card number) to process your award. A legitimate scholarship is NOT going to charge a processing fee..ever. Period. So do NOT be giving that information out.
Also, beware of any scholarship that you have to pay to enter. Even if the fee is modest, you shouldnt pay anything. Many of these are just lotteries.meaning that they collect a ton of money from unsuspecting parents, and then award one token scholarshipjust so they dont get in trouble with the law.
Technically, this is legal, but dont waste your time, its still a scam. Go to a 7-11 and buy some lottery tickets instead. The result will be about the same, and hey, at least you dont have to write an essay!
Beware of high pressure. If somebody is calling or mailing you and is trying to put pressure on you, its almost a sure sign of a scam. Look, most legitimate scholarships have thousands of applicants, so they dont HAVE to pressure anybody. In fact, just the opposite, they have students lined up trying to win their money. If you are not interested, thats fine, theyll just move on to the next student, but they wont pressure you, they wont be asking you for money, and they will send the college or you a check, they WONT need your credit card number. (Sorry, that was just a little review of what weve covered so far).
Beware of any company that guarantees you will win a scholarship. Many will just take the money and run. No one can guarantee the scholarship except the organization that is giving it out.
Watch out for anyone telling you Well do all the work for you. Getting scholarships is a ton of work, and though a good service can weed out what not to waste time with, the student still has to do the work.
Many scammers will go out of their way to use official sounding names, like: federal, national, education, or foundation to fool parents into believing they are legit.
Lastly, remember that private scholarships account now for only about 3% (no, thats NOT a typo) of the total money that is out there.
My office is focused on getting you the other 97%, making sure your kid gets into the right college, and making sure you can reasonably afford your share, among other things.
Ron Caruthers is the nation’s leading expert on how to get into college and pay for it-as well as helping students choose their careers and command top money in their fields. Ron also has expert knowledge of how to prepare for a college interview.
