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Return To Scholarships Article Archive   Search the Article Archives Some Scholarship Offers May Be Real, But Scammers Abound By Matthew Paolini The Federal Trade Commission has posted a timely update at www.ftc.gov about a rise in scholarship and financial aid scams targeting high school seniors and their parents. As upcoming grads gear up for college, students and parents both intensify their efforts to find financial aid to pay for steep tuition and housing costs. Overwhelmed by the skyrocketing costs, they sometimes become easy prey for scholarship scammers. Everybody needs money for college and its precisely this need that some less than scrupulous companies are exploiting. A favorite venue for setting the hook seems to be free seminars, where a savvy sales pitch is delivered with the promise of a guaranteed scholarship in exchange for an upfront fee. According to the FTC, students and parents are often lulled into these agreements by a reassuring money-back guarantee, which in fact has so many loopholes that a refund is for all practical purposes impossible to receive. Other scholarship scammers tout 'scholarship awards', but require a fee or even access to credit cards and checking accounts in order to verify a students 'eligibility' for the award. No matter how smooth the con job, students and parents can look for a few common warning signs that signal a phony scholarship offer. Any mention of a guarantee, for example, should raise a red flag immediately. Any scholarship offer or 'award' that requires students or parents to surrender money, or even their credit card or banking information, is almost certainly fraudulent. The FTC does acknowledge the existence of legitimate companies that match students with real scholarship opportunities for a fee, but here, too, consumers should take care to ask the right questions. Dont fall for overblown success stories. Ask companies that make such claims for the names and addresses of people in your own neighborhood that can provide references about the quality of service and the results achieved. Finally, always get any fee-for-service offer in writing. The pressure of finding a way to pay for an expensive college education often causes students and parents to overlook one of the best sources for student aid: the Federal government! Each year, the Department of Education distributes some 80 billion dollars in Federal student aid as grants, work-study programs and loans. The opportunities available here are simply too good to overlook and theyre guaranteed to be scam-free. For more free information, visit studentaid.ed.gov, the home of Federal Student Aid on the Web! About the Author: Matt Paolini works from home as a distance learner. Visit University of Pheonix Online or University of Pheonix Degrees for free distance learning info. Bill Gates Scholarship

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