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Avoiding College Scholarship Traps

If you are trying to get a child into college next fall, then you are probably looking for scholarship information. No matter what your economic situation is, costs of a college education have dramatically increased in recent years, and everyone hopes for a little money to offset the expense, right? The problem is that those who would take advantage of others know this, too, and so scholarship scams are a pitfall that you need to know how to avoid.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, there are some promises or claims being made on a regular basis by those who would seek to deceive the parents of college bound students. They often use similar tactics such as claiming to "guarantee" money or notifying you that you are a contest finalist in a national competition (for which they only need your "up-front fees"), but you may never have heard of the contest. These groups are not legitimate scholarships groups, and their intent is only to trick you when you are in a vulnerable situation.

Keep in mind a few things about scholarship money. First, no one can guarantee money to you for college. It's just that simple. Some groups may have better skills at matching your student to scholarship opportunities, but ultimately, that's all they are - opportunities. And, while there are quite a few sources of scholarship money where a competition is involved, those scholarship organizations don't need to seek you out. They expect you to look for them. So, if your student is a finalist in their competition, you will know that he or she has entered the contest. If you aren't familiar with an organization that says your student is a finalist, you need to do exhaustive due diligence before any money trades hands.

Another favorite ploy is to capture your attention with "millions of dollars are going unclaimed." Watch out for this phrase as well. The truth is that while there are some monies going unclaimed, those monies are usually offered through private organizations whose eligibility criteria include family members of certain companies. Company X may have $30,000 to give away to its employees who have college bound students, but if all of Company X's employees are without college bound students, then the money sits idly by, and cannot be claimed by virtue of their own criteria. This money isn't available to anyone, no matter what fee you pay to get access to this list. You would know if your company offers scholarship awards to your children!

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