Scholarship Guide: Scholarship Websites

When searching for scholarships in the Internet use the following criteria to evaluate each site you use:  

1.    What does the Mission/ ”ABOUT” page say about the organization providing this information?

2.    Who is the author/publisher/organization? What is their purpose or perspective?  Who is the information they provided intended for?

3.    Does the author/publisher/organization have credibility and expertise?  Who are they associated with in providing this information?

4.    What does their privacy statement say about how they collect and use your information

 Remember...

 If you are not sure about the credibility of a Website compare its information to that provided by other sources and/or look for magazine or newspaper articles in a periodical database that critique and evaluate the Website’s information.

The purpose of evaluating a Website is to help yourself find authoritative and accurate information that is useful for your information needs.  Sometimes, it isn’t easy to know whether or not a particular Website has accurate and authoritative information, even when you ask yourself the evaluative questions.

Scholarship scams are false offers by companies or organizations to provide you with scholarships or scholarship information in exchange for a fee.  They may take many forms and can be difficult to identify until after they have succeeded in scamming many students.

Websites for Information on Scholarship Scams:

Watch out for web sites that promote their scholarships using lines such as:

• "The scholarship is guaranteed or your money back."
   
• "You can't get this information anywhere else."
   
• "I just need your credit card  or bank account number to hold this scholarship."
   
• "We'll do all the work."
   
• "The scholarship will cost some money."
   
• "You've been selected by a 'national foundation' to receive a scholarship" or "You're a finalist" in a contest you never entered.

(From the Federal Trade Commission)