Tag Archives: CollegeScholarships.org

Our Top 10 Favorite Scholarship Search Sites

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Top 10 ListOver the last several years, we’ve checked out nearly 100 scholarship search sites and apps.

Along the way was born our mortarboard rating system as a quick summation of the site’s overall value in your scholarship search. Taken into consideration in our rating system was information such as transparency of ownership and what the owner seemed to hope to achieve, the quality of the scholarship information shared—whether scholarship “fillers” and contests or solid leads for scholarship seekers, additional valuable information to help students through the scholarship hunting and application process, and use of tactics such as bait and switch or lures to get your information to sell.

Our Top 10 Sites for Scholarship Hunters Are:

LGBT Student Scholarship Database—There isn’t anything fancy here, just lists of quality scholarships aimed at students participating in the LGBTQ community. You can check them out here or read our review here.

CollegeNET/Mach 25—We were impressed with the fact that there is no requirement to share personal information, the ease of use of the Mach 25 search engine, the multiple ways to search for scholarships, the keyword search’s gender-specific returns, and the sheer number of scholarship returns to choose from. Their search engine is here or you can read our review here.

SchoolSoup—This site seems to come through where it counts: helping you find high-quality scholarships. Although the rest of the site leaves a bit to be desired, the scholarship search engine/database is one of the best we’ve seen. You can find it here or read our blog post review.

CollegeScholarships.org—This site is definitely worth your time to explore. It’s attractive and easy to navigate. There are no distracting ads and no requirement to give any personal data (unless you apply for CollegeScholarship.org’s scholarships). There’s lots of valuable information here as well as scholarship links that you won’t see elsewhere. You can read our full review here.

Career One Stop/Career InfoNet—The site has a high trustworthiness quotient, and it has other interesting stuff on it. And most importantly, the scholarship results themselves look really good—no contests, no challenges, no “scholarship” giveaways. If the only problem with a search engine is that you get too many meaty results, then we say bring it on! Visit them here or check out our full review.

College Board/Big Future—This site also gives you lots of information. That and the variety of ways to search, the choice of whether or not to share information, and the ease of use make this a great site to spend some time on. And while you’re there, you can sign up for your SAT! Check our College Board and Big Future or read our full review here.

CollegeData—The CollegeData site is worth your time and effort. The fact that you don’t need to create a profile unless you want to save your search results, the large number of scholarship returns, and the well-targeted search results are all big pluses. There’s a good chance you’ll find something worthwhile here or check out our full review.

FinAid—This site is well worth spending time exploring, although we think that its value as a web portal for college and scholarship information far outweighs its usefulness as a search engine. Visit FinAid or read our review.

Peterson’s—Peterson’s gives you a huge return of scholarships for the relatively painless sign-up process, has some helpful information for the application process, and includes other worthwhile features. We think that overall, the site has enough benefits to make it visit worthy. You can visit them here or check out our complete site review.

Scholarship Mentor—We liked this site. It has its limitations, certainly, and parts of it aren’t current. But most of the links still work or at least take you to the site where you can explore further. Do be sure to check the deadline dates on the sponsor site for the most current information. You won’t get made-to-order results from this site, but the information looks genuine and meaty, and we think Scholarship Mentor is worth the visit. Read our full review here.

If you subscribe to our blog, you can get ALL our reviews and links in one easy-to-read book for free! Subscribe today and receive “Scholarship Opportunity’s Guide to the Best & Worst Scholarship Search Sites & Mobile Apps.”

What are YOUR favorite scholarship search sites?

This Scholarship Search Site Is a Gold Mine of Information

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CollegeScholarships.orgGrab a cup of coffee, because you’ll want to spend some time on CollegeScholarships.org

http://www.collegescholarships.org

When trying to determine if scholarship sites are trustworthy, provide credible information, and aren’t trying to make a buck off visitors, we like to know who’s running the show. We particularly like to have this information in hand if we’re expected to share our personal data, which you will need to do if you intend to apply for one of CollegeScholarships.org’s scholarships. The About Us page gives the usual spiel about helping people pay for college, but there is no indication anywhere on the site (or the Web) of who “we” are. The only contact information on the site is the email address “[email protected]”

Despite the owners’ apparent unwillingness to be more forthcoming about who they are, we like this site. It contains valuable application information and scholarship links, it’s well organized, and it’s easy to use. We suggest you read the Home Page. It’s packed with important information on how to best use the website and provides links to salient topics on the site. Item #4 on this page points to the site’s search engine, powered by Google, that only includes “reputable websites” so “you won’t have to worry about arriving at any questionable websites or resources.” (You can also find a link to this search feature in the left-hand sidebar under “Spam-Free Searching.”)

We gave it a test drive and used “scholarships for women” for our search. It returned a whopping 210 million results. We scrolled through pages of returns and couldn’t find a single spammy link. We like this search engine so much we incorporated it into our own website. Each return has a link to the scholarship’s funding organization, where you can learn more about the scholarship, eligibility requirements, and deadlines, and access their online application.

Click on any of the tabs running along the top of the page to locate information on scholarships, grants, and student loans, in addition to useful links. The left sidebar allows you to Browse Scholarships, locate Resources, Browse Grants, and learn more about Student Loans.

Clicking on the “Minority” link takes you to a page with Types of Scholarships, Minority Scholarship Resources, as well as individual sections for each minority. Looking over the “Minority Categories,” you may be pleased to discover you’re a minority! (At least for scholarship purposes.) There are categories for Asian, Black, Hispanic, Interracial, LGBTQ, Native American, White Male (yes, it’s listed), and Women.

Clicking on the “Athletic” link will take you to a page of excellent links to reputable scholarships as well as provide you with valuable information. Unlike other websites that claim to have athletic scholarships, this one delivers on that promise. No spam. No fees. No wasted time. It even provides scholarship links by sport.

Searching by “Degree Level” allows you to scan for scholarships for undergrads with special links for adults, nontraditional, and re-entry students. There is a “Best Scholarship Selections for Undergraduates” heading that provides scholarship links for students with disabilities, foster children, military dependents as well as a “Popular Scholarships for Women and Minority Undergraduates” (the same links as you’ll find under Minorities). In addition, there are links to scholarships by major. You’ll also learn strategies for finding scholarships to fund Graduate-level study and doctoral programs along with links.

Other links worth exploring under the “Browse Scholarships” sidebar are “By Subject” and “By State.” These allow you to search for scholarships being offered in the state you plan to attend college and by your major. Also under “Browse Scholarships” is the link for “By Student Type.” This will take you to a page with nearly three dozen student-specific scholarships including those for disabled students, nontraditional, first-generation, at-risk, firefighters, and military. There are even categories for vegans, left-handed, and tall students.

The last link in this section directs you to “Our Scholarships,” a page of scholarships sponsored by this website. They provide numerous scholarships for students who blog, design websites, use Twitter, those who major in Library and Information Sciences, engage in political blogging, or who are a minority or a woman.

Scroll down the Home page and take a look at the “Browse Grants” links in the left-hand sidebar. Click on “Overview” and you’ll find information designed to help you find the right funding sources, locate Federal and State grants, and understand grant categories and non-government grants. There are grants listed for nontraditional students, low-income and disadvantaged students, minorities, women, and grants for military students and their families. Subject-specific (major) grants and degree-level grants are also covered.

All these pages contain a huge amount of information. Unfortunately, many of the links are embedded in the text so you will have to hunt for the information you need. The primary links often take you to another page of more text and links, which will take you to another page, etc., and it’s easy to lose track of which pages you’ve been to and which links you’ve already researched. On most pages, however, there is a list of pertinent scholarships at the bottom of the page, and these scholarship listings are worth taking a look at.

CollegeScholarship.org’s Resources pages are a gold mine of information and some actually provide scholarship links. The College Books page gives information on how to manage the cost of textbooks, which can be considerable, and gives a number of links to scholarships specifically for students to buy books. The Resources pages are worth every minute you spend reading them.

CollegeScholarship.org is definitely worth your time to explore. The site is attractive and easy to navigate. There are no distracting ads and no requirement to give any personal data (unless you apply for CollegeScholarship.org’s scholarships). There’s lots of valuable information here as well as scholarship links that you won’t see elsewhere.

We give CollegeScholarships.org 4.5 out of 5:

4 1/2 Mortar Board Rating