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         Return to FAA/Educators |
Educator/FAA Guide to National Scholarship Databases
This page provides basic information about each of the national
scholarship databases. The intention is of this
compilation is to provide information for schools that are looking for
a database to offer their students. Many of these databases do not
license their services to individuals or prohibit individuals from
charging students to use the software or for printouts from it.
There are two reasons why a school should consider offering a
free or low-cost scholarship search service to its students:
There is no reliable means for comparing databases. The figures
provided by the vendors about the number of sources in their databases
are of questionable accuracy. Price also isn't a guide to quality, as
the more expensive databases are not necessarily better quality or
more comprehensive. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the CASHE
and FastWeb databases are the best ones available, but
to date there has been no formal statistically meaningful comparison
of any of these databases.
There are five free databases. Two of the free
databases are offered in exchange for a commitment to sell only soft
drinks from a particular vendor (Coca Cola or Pepsi) from campus
vending machines.
Three of the free databases (FastWeb, FastWeb Canada, and SRN Express)
are searchable for free over the World-Wide Web.
There are five databases available only to
educational institutions, libraries, and nonprofit organizations.
Prices range from a low of $600 to a high of $2,000 per year, with no
per-report fees. Single-user and network versions are available. One
database offers a lower annual fee ($295 single-user) for modem
access, but with a $5 per-report fee.
Many of the databases give a 50% discount to high schools and a 50%
discount for renewals in subsequent years.
There are six scholarship search software programs.
Prices range from a low of $35 to a high of $495. Only one offers a
network version, for $745. Most of these programs are licensed under
terms that preclude charging students to use the software or for
copies of printouts produced by the software.
There are four business opportunity vendors that
sell access to a scholarship database. These outfits market primarily
to individuals who wish to offer a scholarship matching service to
students and families for a fee. Prices range from $498 to $4,578,
plus a per-report fee of $10 to $25. The cheapest vendor also has a
$10/month updating fee. These vendors recommend that their search
services charge students fees ranging from $40 to $199.
The following scholarship search databases are available for free.
Schools which aren't served by Coca Cola can still buy the
Scholarships 101 software direct from Pinnacle Peak Solutions. See the
Pinnacle Peak Solutions description for details.
The TFS database contains about 8,000 sources of private scholarships,
including college-controlled awards, totaling more than 400,000
individual scholarships. The program also lists all state and federal
aid programs as well as cooperative education programs administered by
each school.
The program can print out "request for information" letters, and in
some cases includes the sponsor's actual application materials.
The TFS program lets
the school add information about local scholarships to the database.
The TFS program also includes information about 3,500 colleges and
universities and 1,500 vocational/technical schools, such as tuition
costs, living expenses, and enrollment data. The program also includes
career information and about 200 college catalogs.
The software is available on floppy disks for Windows, DOS, and
Macintosh systems, and on CD-ROM for Windows and Macintosh systems. All
versions of the software are networkable, and the school is provided
with a site license that lets them install the program throughout the
school's campus. The software and database is updated annually.
The TFS database is produced by Falcon Management Group, Inc.
For more information, call 1-800-232-4004 or 1-801-943-7676 (ask to
speak to TFS Sales), fax 1-801-943-7668, write to Falcon
Management Group, Inc.,
3690 East Fort Union Blvd, Suite 103, Salt Lake City, UT 84121, or
send email to fmg@xmission.com.
FastWeb LLC reports that the FastWeb database contains
information more than 1.3 million private sector scholarships, fellowships,
and grants worth more than $3 billion.
For more information on FastWeb, call 1-800-FASTWEB (1-800-327-8932),
fax 1-312-467-0638, write to FastWeb LLC, 444 N. Michigan Avenue,
Suite 3000, Chicago, IL 60611-3903, or send
email to webmaster@fastweb.com.
The SRN database contains listings of scholarships, fellowships, and
grants for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral education.
The SRN database lists mostly portable, private-sector,
non-need-based aid. A few awards (less than 20%) list financial
need as a criterion. The database does not list
institutional awards. The award listings in the SRN database contain
more detailed information than can be found in most scholarship
databases and scholarship listing books. The database contains more
than 7,000 portable awards offered by more than 1,500 organizations worth
a total of more than $23 million. New, verified scholarship
information is being added to the SRN database continuously.
Every program listed in the database is verified every year.
SRN will conduct individual student searches
for free on the Web
or by mail for $25.
SRN is also available to colleges, universities, high schools,
corporations, foundations, and libraries for annual lease in
Macintosh, Single-User Windows and Networked Windows versions.
These annual lease prices include a semi-annual update.
For more information about SRN, call 1-301-670-1260,
fax 1-301-670-1281, write to
Scholarship Resource Network, Daigle and Vierra, Inc., 555 Quince
Orchard Road, Suite 200, Gaithersburg, MD 20878,
or send email to
M. Carol Daigle at daiglec@rams.com
or Josey Vierra at vierraj@rams.com.
The following scholarship search databases are available mainly to
high schools, colleges, universities, and nonprofit organizations.
The CASHE database contains between 150,000 and 200,000 (over 180,000)
scholarships sponsored by more than 3,600 (nearly 4,000)
organizations. This database is available to high schools, colleges,
and universities in two different formats, CASHE-PC and CASHE ONLINE.
When a school licenses CASHE-PC, they receive
the software to conduct the search at the school. The cost to high
schools is $495 for the single user version and $990 for the network
version. The cost to colleges and universities is $995 for the single
user version and $1,990 for the network version. CASHE-PC is updated
twice a year in August and January. CASHE-PC is a DOS program; a
Windows version is not yet available.
When a school subscribes to CASHE ONLINE, they receive software that
lets them conduct searches online via modem. The cost is $295 for the
single user version and $590 for the network version, plus a fee of $5
per search. CASHE ONLINE is updated continuously.
Nonprofit organizations can license CASHE-PC or CASHE
ONLINE at the school rates, or contract for a special rate depending
on volume. A version of CASHE is also available to certified financial
planners.
The organizations we've encountered that use the CASHE database charge
students $10 to $30 to conduct a search. Schools that provide the
CASHE database to their students typically charge anywhere from $5 to
$15 per search, with a few schools charging nothing.
For more information, call 1-800-462-2743 or 1-308-234-9700, fax
1-308-236-6013, or write to CASHE, PO Box 640, Kearney, NE 68848.
Educational institutions may license a copy of the NSRS database for
$795, with annual updates costing $395, provided that they agree to
not charge students for this service. (NSRS charges students $75 to
search their undergraduate or graduate listings, $95 to search both
sets of listings.)
For more information about NSRS, call 1-800-432-3782 or
1-707-546-6781/6777, fax 1-707-546-6785, write to National Scholarship
Research Service (NSRS), 2280 Airport Boulevard, Santa Rosa, CA 95403,
or send email to nsrs@msn.com.
The high school
version costs $695 per year. The college
version costs $2,000 per year, and first-time college subscribers
receive a 486 PC. Subscribers receive quarterly updates to the database.
Individuals may search the database directly by mail for $9.50.
For further information about START-PC, or to conduct an individual
START search, please call Christina Hall at 1-800-741-3863, write to
START, 4370 South Tamiami Trail, Suite 313, Sarasota, FL 34231, or
send email to
startpc@aol.com.
This section lists commercial software products that include a
database of scholarships. Some of these software products have license
terms that preclude charging students a fee for using the software or
for copies of results produced using the software.
The DOS version (386 processor, 512K RAM) costs $295
(single-computer) or $495 (multicomputer/network) with 50% off on annual
renewals. Windows and Macintosh versions are available as part of
ExPAN for a site license fee of $995 ($895 for College Board members).
The Windows software runs in Windows 3.1 or higher, including Windows
95 and NT. A 486 with 8mb RAM is recommended for the Windows version.
For more information, call
1-800-CBEXPAN (1-800-223-9726) or 1-212-713-8165 or write to
Department A6234, College Board Publications, Box 886, New York, NY
10101-0886 or
The College Board, Guidance Publishing, 45 Columbus Avenue, New York,
NY 10023-6992, or send email to
expan@collegeboard.org.
The following organizations are business opportunity vendors that sell
access to a scholarship database to individuals wishing to offer a
scholarship search service.
CAS claims that their database contains more than 300,000
privately funded scholarships. According to a CAS sales
representative, the database contains
almost 400,000 scholarships and definitely more than 375,000
scholarships, but they haven't yet updated their sales literature. The
CAS sales representative emphasized that they do not count
government financial aid, but she could not provide any information on the
number of sponsors (addresses) listed in the database. CAS says that
the typical student receives 20-30 sources per profile.
When an individual contacts CAS, they receive information about the
business opportunity, some sample sales brochures, and a sample
scholarship search report.
The sample sales brochures provided by CAS contain some incorrect and
misleading information. For example, one brochure claims that "Every
year more than $135 million in scholarship money goes
unclaimed, many [sic] because students and parents do not know
the money is available and guidance counselors lack a ready
means for uncovering these special opportunities". Another claims that
"The National Commission on Student Financial Assistance
reported that of the $7 Billion dollars available to students
to fund their educations, only $400 million was claimed. That
left $6.6 billion dollars unclaimed! The problem is that 95% of
the students apply for the same 5% of the aid available". A third
brochure gives the impression that winning private scholarships is
easy, saying "All you need to do is apply to the sources which we give
you. They have the money set aside to pay for someone's college and it
might as well be you. Then sit back and let private corporations,
universities, foundations, and other charitable organizations pay for
your education. ... So get started now and start enjoying the benefits
of a FREE COLLEGE EDUCATION."
CAS charges a scholarship search service a one-time fee of $495
plus $25 shipping and handling. There is also a $25 processing fee per
report.
The CAS package, in addition to providing access to the database,
includes two albums with 12 audio cassettes to explain the business, a
flip chart presentation and sample sales brochures.
CAS makes the following guarantees to their search services:
You may have your
students choose one of the two following guarantees. First,
those students that receive 6 or more sources are guaranteed to
receive at least $100 in aid. If they do not receive at least
$100 in aid, we will have issued a $100 US Savings bond. In
order to receive the bond the student will need to provide
rejection letters from all sources provided by Collage Academic
Sources, a letter of acceptance from their college, and a copy
of their profile.
The second guarantee states that those students that receive at
least six sources of financial aid will receive at least $1,000 in
financial aid from the sources they received. If the student does not
receive at least $1,000, C.A.S. will rerun the profile for the student,
with the student's updated application information, for up to four
years (i.e., freshman to senior year, or junior year through their
masters program). If the student fails to receive $1,000 they must
submit a copy of the rejection letters from each of the sources he/she
was given, if there was financial aid received, a letter stating the
amount received, his/her student profile."
CAS recommends that their consultants, as they call their search
services, charge between $89 and $129 (with the $100
savings bond guarantee) and $169 and $199 (with the $1,000 guarantee).
The search services we've encountered that use the CAS database charge
$45 to $159 for the basic service (i.e., lowest price charged by the
search service).
The CAS sales representative says that they have 200-300 active
consultants, each submitting 10-15 applications per month, with the
result that CAS processes 600-800 applications every week.
For more information about CAS, call 1-801-371-9385, fax 1-801-371-9386, or
write to College Academic Services (CAS), 2255 North University
Parkway, Suite #15, Provo, Utah 84604.
CBSI has discontinued offering the FAFC database to new
home-based business clients. Current clients will continue to be
supported.
This database is a licensed version of the FUNDS database from
Nebraska. Scholarship search services that use the FAFC database are
not allowed to identify themselves as using the FUNDS database,
because the owners of the FUNDS database exercise no control over
CBSI's use of the database. The FAFC database
contains 150,000 to 200,000 award listings. No information is available
about the number of sources (addresses). CBSI says that the typical
student receives 15-30 matches in the database. CBSI refused to disclose
how many scholarship search services use the FAFC database.
When an individual contacts CBSI, they receive information
about a group of 38 business opportunities, one of which is Financial Aid For
College (#15). This information includes several glossy brochures and
two cassette tapes, but somewhat sparse on specifics. More details are
provided in subsequent contacts by an assigned "program advisor".
The CBSI brochures and tapes contain some incorrect and misleading information.
For example, despite the owners of the FUNDS database no longer being
located in Maryland, the tape still claims that FAFC uses a "national
computer database out of Washington, DC". The tape claims that the
database contains "200,000 awards worth over $25 billion",
contradicting one of the
printed brochures which claims that the database contains "over 150,000
awards of student financial aid worth over $30 billion". The tape also
claims that "private foundations, corporations, individuals, charitable
organizations and agencies gave over $75 billion last year through
grants, awards, fellowships, and private gifts to students for
financial aid". One of the printed brochures attributes this
claim to "recent studies" by the American Association of Fund Raising Councils.
The tape also repeats the unclaimed aid myth, claiming
that "The problem: Most students don't know where to go or how to find
this available financial aid. According to a two-year study by the
National Commission on Student Financial Assistance and the House
Subcommittee on Post-Secondary Education, $6.6 billion of financial
aid from the private sector has gone unclaimed each year. That's
enough for every student to get $600 per year!" This statement is
repeated in sample marketing materials provided by CBSI.
The tape also states,
in reference to the awards listed in the database, that "thousands of
these scholarships and grants go unclaimed each year".
CBSI charges a scholarship search service a one-time fee of $4,578
($1,500 extra if you get one of their computers). There is also a $10
fee per report.
(Package deals for several CBSI business opportunities run $11,978 for
five programs and $14,978 for ten programs, including a free
computer.) The computer is used to submit the student's profile to
CBSI for matching against the database and for receiving back the
student's report.
CBSI suggests that their centers, as they call their search
services, charge $39.99 to $59.99 per search. The search services
we've encountered that use the FAFC database charge $30 to $75 per
search.
For more information about CBSI, call 1-800-343-8014 x2063, 1-800-545-2274,
1-317-758-4415, or
1-317-816-7190, fax 1-317-816-7329,
write to Computer Business Services, Inc. (CBSI), Suite 2063, CBSI
Plaza, Sheridan, IN 46069, or send email to
webmaster@cbsi.net
or cbsinet@cbsinet.com.
The 2063 suite or extension is a code that identifies you as having
obtained the information from their web site.
[The Federal Trade Commission issued a press release on August 14,
1996, concerning a CBSI settlement of FTC charges. The press release
is entitled
Business Opportunity Firm Selling Home-Based Computer Businesses
Pays Record $5 Million to Settle FTC Charges.
A text version of this press release is also available.]
EIS says
that their database lists 335,000 awards and does not specify how many
sources (addresses) are included in the database.
When an individual contacts EIS, they receive information about the
business opportunity and a sample sales brochure. These contain some
misleading information. For example, the sales brochure
repeats the unclaimed aid myth, saying
EIS charges their affiliates a one-time setup fee of $498 and a
monthly updating fee of $10 per month, billed quarterly.
There are options to get the updating fee waived, such as sending in
information about scholarships mentioned in a local newspaper.
The first 25 searches are free, and any additional searches cost $11 each.
EIS also sells a variety of supplies to their affiliates, such as
marketing materials, student data forms, and printout envelopes, at
prices of $100 to $200 per thousand. These promotional materials are
titled "Money For College".
EIS guarantees that the student receive a minimum of 7 potential
financial aid sources from the private sector, or EIS will return the $11
processing fee with whatever listings were found at no charge. EIS
says that the average student receives 21 listings.
EIS says that the affiliates are free to set their own prices, and
that the typical price ranges from $35 to $89.
The search services we've encountered that use the EIS database charge
$45 to $59.
EIS says that they have about 500 active affiliates and that they
process about 750 applications per week.
For more information about the EIS Affiliate Program, call
1-800-209-5339 or 1-941-922-3507 (sales) or 1-941-922-3473 (service),
fax 1-800-741-8329, or write to Educational Information Services, 4370
South Tamiami Trail, Suite 313, Sarasota, FL 34231.
This database is a licensed version of the FUNDS database from
Nebraska. Scholarship search services that use the FUNDS database are
not allowed to identify themselves as using the FUNDS database,
because the owners of the FUNDS database exercise no control over
NCBS's use of the database. NCBS says that this database contains
listings for more than 150,000 awards. NCBS was unable to say how many
sources (addresses) are listed in the database. NCBS says that the
typical student receives between 15 and 30 listings in their report.
When an individual contacts NCBS, they receive information about 10
business opportunities, one of which is "College Financial Aid". The
information includes a short brochure and a cassette tape. The tape
mentions the unclaimed aid myth, saying that "a significant amount of
financial aid goes unclaimed each year just because qualified
recipients don't know about it or how to apply for it".
NCBS charges their consultants $2,995. There is also a $15 fee per
search. If the consultant transmits the student data forms and gets
the results of the search by computer, there is a $195 support fee
after the first year. (There is no fee for faxing the forms and
receiving the results back by US mail.)
In addition to access to the "National Database", the NCBS
package includes video/audio training tapes, reference manuals,
software, client forms, sample marketing materials, a marketing
manual, and customer support.
NCBS says that the usual consultant charges between $49 and $149 to
assist students in seeking government aid and to generate a customized
financial aid report from private sources.
For more information about NCBS, call 1-800-616-6227 or
1-916-933-1533, fax 1-916-933-1551,
write to
National Computerized Business Services (NCBS), 5000 Windplay Drive, Suite 1,
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762, or send email to
info@ncbs.win.net.
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