Advertisement

If you have to pay money to get money, it's probably a scam.

Every year, several hundred thousand students and parents are defrauded by scholarship scams. The victims of these scams lose more than $100 million annually. Scam operations often imitate legitimate government agencies, grant-giving foundations, education lenders and scholarship matching services, using official-sounding names containing words like "National," "Federal," "Foundation," or "Administration."

Advertisement

This section provides advice on how to identify such scholarship scams, how to distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent organizations, how to protect yourself from scholarship scams; and what to do if you are scammed.

In general, be wary of scholarships with an application fee, scholarship matching services who guarantee success, advance-fee loan scams and sales pitches disguised as financial aid "seminars".

• Common Scholarship Scams
• Protecting Yourself from Scholarship Scams
• Evaluating Scholarship Matching Services
• Evaluating Financial Aid Consultants
• How to Report Scams
• Consumer Education Materials
• How to Investigate Suspicious Offers
• The College Scholarship Fraud Prevention Act of 2000