Scholarship Scams, College Scholarship Scams & Tips for Avoiding it

Let’s face it: college is a serious investment, so you want to make sure to explore every avenue available to you for financial assistance.  Students now have more aid than ever at their disposal, from Federal grants and loans to private scholarship awards. 

Unfortunately, in recent years, a number of scholarship scams have emerged to prey upon unsuspecting students and their families.  While all it takes to prevent being scammed is a little research into financial aid, families are still defrauded out of millions of dollars each year.

In America, the common scholarship scams people encounter are the type involving a “scholarship search service.”  These “services” advertise to students and parents that they can do inside research and get the student more scholarships that what the student could find on their own…for a small fee, of course.  The truth about these “services” is that they require a substantial payment up front, reaching into the hundreds or thousands of dollars.  In return for such a large outlay of cash, the student and parents would just get a list of common scholarships they could have found on their own, for free!

Having to pay money for what is almost always free information is one of the typical signs of college scholarship scams.  Other common signals indicating some kind of scholarship scam are a claim of a scholarship being “guaranteed or your money back,” a notice that you won a contest that you didn’t enter, or a request for bank/credit card information to begin your scholarship search.  Just keep this in mind: you don’t have to pay to learn about and apply for financial aid!  The Department of Education offers the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is fundamental to getting financial aid from many sources.  Other free resources, like FreeFinancialAidCounseling.com, are here to provide you with free information about the FAFSA and private scholarships.  It is up to you to stay informed about genuine financial aid and college scholarship scams!

So the question is: what is the best strategy for avoiding scholarship scams?  The answer is simple.  First, visit FreeFinancialAidCounseling online to chat live with one of our representatives and get free information about the FAFSA and legitimate scholarships.  Second, file the FAFSA to get accurate information about financial aid from the Federal Government, your home state, and your school.  You have to protect yourself when it comes to paying for college, and we are here to help!

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