Grants. Loans. Merit-based aid. Need-based aid. Scholarships. The world of financial aid can be overwhelming in and of itself.
Most students look to grants and scholarships first, because it’s aid you don’t have to pay back.
Institutional scholarships can be handy, but colleges only have so much money devoted to scholarships. In addition to applying for aid at your college, you might also consider financing your studies with private scholarships. (Private scholarships are simply scholarships funded by private companies or entities.)
If you choose that route, you might run into a different problem. There are so many private scholarships for high school students out there that it can be tough to find ones relevant to your personal situation. That’s why it’s important to know where to find scholarships.
Luckily, there are quite a few scholarship websites to help you search for additional aid. Private scholarship websites run the gamut, and we’ve rounded up a list of the best of the best scholarship websites for you.
What Are the Best Scholarship Websites?
Figuring out where to find scholarships shouldn’t be the thing that holds your student back. So here’s a list of college scholarship websites to find money for college.
Fastweb
Fastweb is perhaps one of the most famous scholarship search engines—and for good reason. After you create a simple profile, Fastweb offers a curated list of scholarship matches, which you can filter by your strengths, interests, student activities, and skills. You’ll also have the ability to sort scholarships into Interested, Applied, I’ve Won!, and Not Interested categories.
The site also boasts a list of “Quick Links” to scholarships for certain identities, like veterans or high school students.
Ease of Use: Easy
Requirements: None, although a profile yields curated matches
Popularity: Very popular
Scholarships.com
Scholarships.com is a little less flashy than Fastweb, but it’s still known for being one of the greats. In order to access the scholarship search tool, you must make an account. This will include information like current grade, birthday, and email address.
Scholarships.com also includes a scholarship directory available to casual browsers; although that involves more manual work for the scholarship hunter.
The site offers the name of the scholarship, the deadline to apply, and the number of awards given. Like Fastweb, it offers a list of quick links for special identities.
Overall, the site isn’t as appealing or inviting as Fastweb, and ads are often wrapped around the scholarship info, making it hard to get the information you want at a glance.
Ease of Use: Medium
Requirements: None, although a profile yields curated matches
Popularity: Very popular
JLV College Counseling
This simple, hidden gem of a site is a fan favorite. While it doesn’t offer a searchable database, it does provide a myriad of scholarship lists based on diverse identities—including scholarships by age, athletics, disability, gender, hobbies/interests/talents, major, military status, and more.
You can also take a bird’s eye view of all the scholarships listed on the site sorted by deadline. The site is neatly and intuitively organized, but the lack of a robust database might make filtering through all of the options a slog for potential scholarship hunters.
Ease of Use: Medium
Requirements: None
Popularity: Hidden gem
Cappex
Cappex is another major league player in the scholarship search field. In addition to offering scholarship matches, it also helps students find the right college for them.
While Cappex offers a little teaser of potential scholarships without an account, you absolutely need one in order to view scholarship details and to start applying. Required account information includes the student’s first and last name, date of birth, unweighted GPA, address, and phone number.
Once you create an account, your scholarship matches are neatly laid out in a table that tells you the scholarship name, amount, how much effort the scholarship will take, and how much competition you’re up against.
Under the Next Steps header, you can keep your search organized by choosing your status with that scholarship from a drop-down menu.
Ease of Use: Easy
Requirements: Profile
Popularity: Very popular
Unigo
Unigo is a scholarship engine that doubles as a college search tool. It’s similar to Scholarships.com in that it offers both curated scholarship matches (if you create an account) and a scholarship directory (if you decide not to).
Creating a profile involves handing over a lot of personal information before you’re presented with your matches. You’ll have to identify as a student, parent, or counselor. Then, you’ll submit your student’s education level, high school grad year, name, email address, birthdate, and zip code.
The scholarship search page offers large buttons that say things like “I will apply for” and “I will not apply for,” but it’s not obvious what clicking these buttons does. On this same page, you can filter scholarships by name, deadline, and award amount.
Ease of Use: Difficult
Requirements: None, although a profile yields curated matches
Popularity: Popular
Big Future
Big Future is one of the official websites of the College Board. As such, it offers a lot of different resources, including classroom resources, career guidance, and college search info. With a little digging, you can find the scholarship directory, BigFuture scholarships, and an informational page that breaks down scholarships, grants, and loans.
The College Board scholarship website prompts you to enter as much information as possible, but none of the fields are required. It doesn’t offer any filters once you get your results, although each individual scholarship page includes details like eligibility requirements, application requirements, and sponsor contact information.
Ease of Use: Medium
Requirements: None
Popularity: Popular
Going Merry
Going Merry is a well-kept scholarship secret. You need a profile to access their curated matches, but it’s quick and easy to sign up for one—just sign up with Apple, Google, or your email.
The scholarship dashboard sorts your scholarships by matches, favorite, ignored, and local scholarships. It’s worth noting that local scholarships are often tough to find on your own, but they usually have less competition. There’s also a sidebar that lists scholarships with upcoming deadlines at a glance.
Once you choose a scholarship category, you can filter results by deadline, completion time (in minutes), award amount, number of winners, and number of applicants. The interface is a little cluttered, but Going Merry is specific where other engines stay vague.
Ease of Use: Medium
Requirements: Profile, one essay for multiple scholarships
Popularity: Up and coming
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Scholarship Owl
Like Going Merry, ScholarshipOwl’s claim to fame is that it applies to scholarships for you. You have to create a profile to access their services, and you’re required to fill out most of the fields, including birthday, gender, current school level, field of study, and more.
Your scholarship dashboard is super streamlined. It shows only the name, award amount, and deadline, as well as a link to the scholarship’s terms and conditions.
Unlike other scholarship search engines, you need a subscription to access the service that allows you to apply to more than one scholarship at a time.
Ease of Use: Medium
Requirements: Profile, one application for multiple scholarships
Popularity: Up and coming
Road2College
And while we’re at it, we can’t help tooting our own horn.
For each month, Road2College publishes its own list of scholarships that have deadlines within each particular month.
While these sites all offer myriad types of private scholarships, there are certain strategies to use when doing your searching, finding, and applying for them.
These strategies have a lot to do with why some students are more successful in receiving aid than others.
The more your student can learn about these strategies, the better.
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Use R2C Insights to help find merit aid and schools that fit the criteria most important to your student. You’ll not only save precious time, but your student will avoid the heartache of applying to schools they aren’t likely to get into or can’t afford to attend.
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