It can often be difficult to determine whether a scholarship from an outside company or organization is a legitimate resource or not. At the University Scholarship Office, we have a strict vetting criteria through which we evaluate all outside scholarship opportunities sent to us, and we make a strong effort to only publish opportunities we feel are safe and valuable to students. This article will explain some of the criteria we look for, and we hope it will help you in evaluating outside scholarships on your own.
First Point: The Dollars and Sense
Shortly after the University Scholarship Office was created, it was decided that we would only advertise outside scholarship opportunities with a reward amount of $750 or more. Our primary goal is to support the academic achievements of UNC Charlotte students, and we believe that by only posting opportunities that meet this threshold we are providing our students with only highly rewarding scholarship opportunities.
Second Point: Deadlines, Deadlines, and Short Deadlines
Our office does not post outside scholarship opportunities which have deadlines less than 30-days away. Rushing to complete essays and submit applications will not produce the best results for students, and we try to post as many opportunities as possible so there will always be another opportunity with a later deadline. When looking through the outside scholarship spreadsheet, we encourage students to pick opportunities which are not due for several months, thus giving the student ample time to submit a stellar application.
Third Point: Application Fee or Application Free?
While it is rare for us to see them, we never post opportunities that have application fees. There should not be a “pay wall” for any scholarship opportunity. If you are applying for a scholarship, the point is to be getting money for school, not spending it. Unfortunately there are a high amount of scholarship scams online, so we encourage students to never pay an application fee for a scholarship.
Visit The CollegeBoard to learn more about scholarship scams, and the tactics that scammers use to con students.
Fourth Point: Avoid TMI (Too much information)
Some scholarship opportunities that come across our desk are simply asking for too much information from the student. Some companies will create a scholarship with the goal of simply collecting data from applicants. Collecting some personal information is normal for external scholarships, but sometimes the information requested is excessive. For example, outside scholarship opportunities that ask for student’s social security numbers are not legitimate.
We also look into the legal terms and conditions for each scholarship to see what the company intends to do with the information collected. If there is any indication that the company will sell the student’s information to a third-party, we will not list the opportunity.
Fifth Point: Legitimacy
Sometimes the companies that send us outside scholarship opportunities are simply not legitimate. What do we mean by that? Below are some common examples of illegitimate companies:
- The scholarship page is the only thing on their website: This is more common than you might think. It is very easy to create a website these days, and there are many companies will only have one page on their entire website, and it’s a scholarship. Strange, right? How could a company possibly make money if the only thing they do is advertise a single scholarship opportunity? Looking at the website structure, the number of pages, and other content is a great signal of legitimacy.
- The purpose of the company matters: What does the company actually do day-to-day? Many of our outside scholarship opportunities are from law firms, blogs, review websites, retailers, and academic organizations. If the company does not appear to have a legitimate purpose, we will not list the scholarship opportunity. Be particularly diligent when viewing opportunities that are posted by companies outside of the United States, or opportunities from companies who sell social media followers.
- We are proud members of the grammar police. The following is a quote from an outside scholarship opportunity we received: “A students who apprehend higher education may best be applied to our scholarships for students.” It is extremely common for illegitimate companies to have several serious spelling and grammatical errors in their scholarship advertisement. It is a sign that the website was thrown together hastily, and that the person managing the website may have alternative motives. A good scholarship opportunity should be clear, detailed, and free of major grammatical errors.
Conclusion
After going through the five points above, each outside scholarship opportunity is either added to our list or declined. Accepted opportunities are posted to our external scholarship spreadsheet and advertised to UNC Charlotte students.
We do our best to have a stringent review process to protect our students from serious issues like identity theft, or theft of intellectual property. Even with our review process, it is important that every student carefully review the external scholarship’s terms and conditions before applying. We can never be 100% sure that all opportunities on our list are reliable, but we do our best to ensure the legitimacy of each scholarship.
It is important to mention that since these scholarships are externally based, questions about specific deadlines, documents, or criteria needs to be addressed to the individual, company or organization that is providing the scholarship. If you ever have any questions about scholarships in general, please do not hesitate to contact our office via email, phone, or online.
The original blog was written by Taylor J. Valley, a Graduate Assistant in the University Scholarship Office at UNC Charlotte, and a student in the Master of Public Administration program. It was most recently edited by Katie Franck, an Undergraduate Project Assistant in the University Scholarship Office, and a student in the Bachelor of Science Psychology program.