Scholarship Scams

Your child heads off to college this fall and your budget is crying for help. What about using a scholarship organization to help pay for some of those college expenses?

I'm Shirley Rooker for the Federal Trade Commission.

Before you start off on your search, keep in mind that tens of millions of dollars are lost to scholarship scams every year.

But how can you avoid the frauds while helping the budget? There are some warning signs. Beware of any scholarship which requests an application fee, even a low one. Most legitimate scholarship sponsors do not require up-front fees. Instead, they deduct fees, if any, from the disbursement check.

If you're guaranteed to be awarded money, watch out! Legitimate scholarship matching services do not guarantee scholarships. And don't believe the claim that everybody is eligible.

When applying for a scholarship, the kids will have to submit their own applications and write their own essays. An organization isn't going to do it for them, no matter what it claims.

I'm Shirley Rooker, director of WTOP radio's Call For Action for the Federal Trade Commission.

January 2002