FindTuition/CollegeXpress Site Review

findtuitionFindTuition.com/CollegeXpress

http://www.findtuition.com

This search engine allows you to search by eligibility, major, college, and other criteria. Begin by clicking on the START HERE button (pretty obvious, right?). The page that follows is one big ad. STOP right now and scroll down to the very bottom of the page. Do you see the link for “opt-out” in tiny print? Click on that link (you will remain on the same page). In the “Find Tuition Communication Preferences” box at the bottom of the page, you may wish to leave the first box checked so you can receive updates on your account and new scholarship notifications. Uncheck the second box if you don’t want to be contacted by “marketing partners.” The scholarship programs and colleges contained in the second email notification box will be informed if you apply for one of their scholarships anyway. By unchecking this second box, you are unlikely to miss any information relevant to your scholarship applications. Funding organizations will contact you directly using the information you provide in your application.

Scroll back up the page to the “Free information on scholarships in:” heading and select your “Special Education Interest” from the drop-down menu. Then enter your name and click the NEXT button. Then select your “HS Grad Year:” and click NEXT. Enter your email address and zip code and click NEXT. Enter your phone number (here’s where a Skype number can really come in handy). Now you’re brought to a page asking if you’re a college counselor or consultant. Scroll down and click on the “opt-out” link under the “JOIN!” button and uncheck the email solicitation boxes that just popped up. The “window” appears to freeze. Don’t panic. Just move your cursor outside this window to the underlying page and click. The window disappears and you are presented with a list of links. Since we’re looking for their scholarship search engine, click on the “Scholarship Search” link under the “Tools” column.

You will continue to see pop-up windows urging you to set up a Profile, enter contests, and more. You can opt-out by clicking the MAYBE LATER X button.

In the left-hand sidebar, you can enter one or more keywords in the “Keywords” box and click the SEARCH NOW button. You can continue to run searches using different keywords to expand your results. The other search method is to enter your GPA, SAT Composite score, and your Academic Year.

Next, you are asked to select a major or educational interest. This will take you to a new page where you are prompted to enter your personal information and set up a user name and password. We tried “women” as the keyword and had 352 results returned. Searching with “female” as the keyword returned 200 results. It should be noted that many of these scholarships are associated with only one school and are available only if you attend that school. You can choose to save or remove each scholarship from your list. Skimming through the list and removing those items that aren’t valuable to you, will save you review time and permit you to focus only on scholarships that you can use. This leaves you with a shorter, more manageable list. You can save these scholarships (one by one), but you will need to set up a Profile.

Related Links:

Sources of Money 9: FindTuition.com

YouTube: Finding College Scholarships on FindTuition.com

A Comprehensive Review of the Leading Scholarship Search Services

CollegeXpress YouTube Channel