Are you a rising senior attempting to figure out how you are going to pay for college? Are you a current college student looking for ways to keep yourself out of debt in the long run? No matter which end of the spectrum you may be on, this list of scholarship sites will provide something for everyone. There is no doubt that college is expensive and now even the smallest jobs require a college degree. If you aren’t a millionaire, don’t worry, there are ways for you to pay for school too. Imagine graduating from college without the loom of repaying your student loans following you. This scenario is certainly possible. With this list, take the guesswork out of wondering where you should be looking for scholarships. There is only one thing you need to do. You guessed it, keep reading to see some of the best scholarship websites for high school students and college students.
Later, if you find this list of sites helpful, check out our other scholarship lists here.
Why Scholarships Can Be Helpful to Pay for College
College costs are on the rise like never before. According to an article on Forbes, college costs have increased eight times faster than wages. Student loans now make up one of the largest sectors of debt that the average person has. Therefore, it’s essential to do something that will allow you to not only go to college and enjoy the experience but to not regret it later. You must be wondering why the cost of tuition has increased so much over the last decade. However, just as going to college is not cheap, neither is operating one. With more professors having higher level degrees and the need for more staff as campuses grow, the cost of tuition must raise with it. Scholarships are a vital tool in ensuring that your education is affordable for you and your family. The best part…you don’t have to pay them back. If you are reading this as a high school senior and beyond, we hope that you have applied yourself enough to receive the merit-based money that is all around you as well. If not, there is still money available to you, and you’ll need to work a little harder to get it. Fortunately, there are literally scholarships and contests for everything.
What to Do Before You Sign Up for Scholarship Sites
It’s important to remember that you can’t just jump into applying for scholarships without a plan of attack. There are some things you should do before you get started.
- Ditch the novelty email. If no one has told you by now, it is vital to have a professional email address. This email is typically your first and last name at whatever domain you choose. Use this email address for all scholarship correspondence and check it frequently.
- Keep track of your scholarships. As you begin applying for scholarships, you will need a mechanism to keep track of what you have applied for. This tracking can be in an excel spreadsheet, a folder full of all your saved applications, or even an app.
- Be aware of scams. One thing you do need to ensure that you do is to make sure you stay away from scam sites and scholarships. These scam scholarships often refer to themselves as sweepstakes or contest, with little to no requirements. They may even dictate that before you can submit your “application,” you must sign up for email services. It’s important to remember that if someone or a company is giving you a scholarship, there will need to be an effort on your part.
- Be prepared! Before signing up for your first scholarship site, you need to mentally prepare yourself for the work you will need to put in. There are very few scholarships which don’t require effort on your part. Even merit-based scholarships will potentially need copies of transcripts or even letters of recommendations. Make sure that you line up your resources early. Ask teachers ahead of time who you are close with about writing recommendations and be prepared to write essays. You also should make sure that you have your test scores and educational resume ready when needed.
The Best Scholarship Sites for Students
Cappex
Cappex is a robust site which gives users not only helpful scholarship information but so much more. All you need to do to begin applying for scholarships is to create an account. However, even without an account, you can scroll through all awards to get a feel for what is offered and how much. However, to start applying, you must create a free account.
After creating a profile, you can see scholarships which match accurately to you. You also can save scholarships to your account to apply later. Cappex also automatically enters students in a drawing every month for a $1000 scholarship.
How is this site different from others:
- Cappex stands out from its peers because it consistently produces the most scholarship results.
- It also provides the ability to track scholarships on your account.
- Cappex provides robust search capabilities. Although you can be automatically matched with scholarships, students still can search using a vast number of filters. This information includes award amount, location, deadline, and much more.
If Cappex piques your interest, sign up and be entered to win their $1000 monthly scholarship here.
ScholarshipPoints
ScholarshipPoints.com is an intuitive, easy to use web site which allows students to earn tuition rewards. It is free to join online and participate in the website. Students can earn points which translate into entries in scholarship drawings.
How is this site different from others:
- This site differs from others as it is based solely on points.
- After signing up, users can play games and complete offers to earn points. The ways to earn points vary based on what is available on the site.
- There are monthly drawings each month for scholarships with amounts ranging from $1000 to $10000.
- Aside from the points-based scholarships that tare offered, ScholarshipPoints also offers a CampusLife blog and Scholarship Tips.
Join the ScholarshipPoints site here.
Fastweb
Fastweb.com is one of the most popular websites for high school students. It is free to sign up and offers amenities that many other sites do not. iThis includes the ability to not only search for scholarships but jobs, internships, loans, and more.
How is this site different from others:
- Fastweb provides a dashboard which gives you the ability to manage not only scholarship but college applications and even internships.
- On the Fastweb dashboard, you can see information about yourself, new scholarships which are available, and deadlines that are approaching.
- Fastweb will send scholarship matches based on your profile. Therefore it is vital to make sure that it is accurate and up to date.
- As you look at scholarships, you can choose the status of the scholarships which separates it from the main list and allows you to come back to it later easily.
To start searching with FastWeb, click the link. Go to FastWeb.com
FinAid
FinAid is the smart student’s guide to financial aid. Here you will find information about several topics related to financial assistance as well as scholarship searches. FinAid is a well-known resource for not just scholarships but calculators and even frequently asked questions.
How is this site different from others:
- Unlike many other websites, there is no login or sign up to use FinAid.
- When performing searches for scholarships or looking for scholarship related information, you will be redirected to Fastweb.
- There is an extensive list of calculators which are available through FinAid’s website. These include projected cost calculators, savings calculators, borrowing calculators, and many more. These calculators are essential in providing estimates for what you think you will owe or need to pay for college.
- FinAid is purely informational. It answers all the questions you may be confused about in relationship to loans, scholarships, and grants.
- This site is a sister site to fastweb.com.
Navigate to FinAid here.
ScholarshipOwl
ScholarshipOwl, at first glance, seems as if it is not as robust and glamorous as its counterparts. Its functionality seems more basic and straightforward. To begin searching for scholarships, all you must do is fill out a simple form. Scholarship owl aims to make college affordable and scholarships easier to obtain. They have even created their own award called “You Deserve It.”
How is this site different from others:
- One of ScholarshipOwl’s main differentiating factors is that it aids students in applying for multiple scholarships with just one straightforward application.
- The site is free for anyone attempting to find scholarship information. Each month of the registered users, one person is chosen at random once a month for the You Deserve It scholarship.
- Aside from providing a search engine for scholarships, the site also provides the ScholarshipOwl Academy. This academy includes a series of videos which are free and paid which aid students in learning the ins and outs of scholarships. This academy includes videos which teach things like how to read financial award letters, applying for college, the basics of essay writing, what to do after you have applied for college and more.
- ScholarshipOwl also provides discounts through a site called StudentBeans. After becoming a ScholarshipOwl member, students will get discounts to stores like Pretty Little Thing, Ego, Samsung, Acer, Topshop, and many more.
Sign up for ScholarshipOwl here.
CareerOneStop
The U.S Department of Labor powers CareerOneStop, and outside of providing a scholarship database of more than 8000 scholarships, it also allows students to explore careers, find job training, search for jobs and utilize several other resources.
How is this site different from others:
- If you are looking for a website which will remind you of deadlines and place all your scholarship applications on an intuitive dashboard, this is not the site for you.
- CareerOneStop allows users to search for scholarships without an account. Users must navigate to the link listed on each corresponding scholarship page.
- The site allows for filtering by award type, location, and level of study. Users can also search by keyword.
Navigate to the CareerOneStop scholarship area here.
BigFuture
BIgFuture.com is the College Board’s college and scholarship website. The site’s name speaks for itself. Not only will you find information about scholarships, but you will also find information concerning creating a college road map, major exploration, college information, and of course, resources regarding paying for college. These include the family contribution calculator and finding ways to pay for college.
How is this site different from others:
- Being that this site is a part of the College Board, you will find helpful information regarding defining the various types of aid. You will see a Financial Aid 101 section which provides details on filling out the FAFSA and your CSS profile for non-federal assistance.
- You will also find tips on BigFuture for putting together a winning scholarship application.
- Scholarships are added to BigFuture on an annual basis.
- You can search for various types of aid, which include internships, grants, continuous or one time awards.
Sign up for BigFuture here.
Unigo
Unigo is a robust scholarship search website which gives you the ability to find whatever scholarship you may be looking for. Upon coming to the site, you see a variety of scholarship options across the top header. These include easy scholarships, monthly scholarships, and a parent option which directs you to the scholarship directory.
How is this site different from others:
- Unigo provides filters and search categories which you won’t receive anywhere else. Students can heavily drill down by a variety of types, schools, and more. This function only further increases your chances of finding a scholarship for you.
- The site has an easy to use and colorful layout which draws your eyes to areas of importance.
- Though it does not have as many non-scholarship resources, it’s eye is literally on the prize. You will need to do more for managing the scholarships you apply for. However, that is nothing an excel spreadsheet can’t solve.
Sign up for Uningo here.
Scholarships.com
Scholarships.com is a well-known site which now boasts more than 19 billion dollars in scholarship money. Listings are kept up to date, and all you need to do is create a simple and free profile to begin. Scholarships.com provides a vast directory of scholarships and various other student resources to prepare high school students, college and even graduate students for their next steps in life. College is never too expensive when someone else is paying for it.
How is this site different from others:
- com allows you to search for scholarships, grants, and even internships.
- All you must do to get started is to create a free and easy profile. You will not have access to the scholarship search until you do so.
- Once you have created an account, you can see which scholarships match your profile and opt-out of anything you are not interested in.
- The site provides information on all scholarships, including award amount, number of awards, and other needed information. However, it also does not offer a dashboard which will keep track of your scholarships but instead links you to an external source.
Navigate to Scholarships.com here
Chegg Scholarships
Chegg is most known for its homework help, test preparation, and online tutoring; however, they also have a scholarship area. Chegg Scholarships is an excellent resource for students looking to obtain money for college. If you already have a Chegg account, you can use this same account to work with Chegg Scholarships. This allows you to save scholarships to your account and apply for them later.
How is this site different from others:
- Chegg scholarship allows you to browse over 25000 awards and even save them to your account.
- Scholarships can be searched by level (high school or college) as well as other characteristics like age, GPA, or application type.
- Aside from the scholarships functions, the site also allows you to search for colleges and add colleges to your college list. Once they have been added, you can then compare them side by side. This functionality is all available on the Chegg Scholarships site.
Navigate to Chegg Scholarships here.
Finding college scholarships is not easy. Not only does it take time, but it also takes massive amounts of patience and perseverance to push through. These scholarship websites for college students and high school students listed above are some of the most used and most trusted options for finding scholarships. Though all boast a plethora of different functionality, the goal is shared. That goal is getting you the most money possible to go to college and have less debt when it’s over. If you’re looking for a site to aid in managing your applications and deadlines, Fastweb and Cappex are two great options. If you can manage things on your own Uningo boasts a powerful search that can find just about anything. Fastweb is also a great resource, and outside of high school and college scholarships, it is one of the best scholarship websites for graduate students as well. No matter which site you use, the scholarship money is out there and available to you. Use the information in this guide, tips, and websites to find information, internships, and most important money. Happy Hunting.
Did you find this post helpful? Check out our detailed guides to scholarships in different states here.
Lastly, this post is part of our Ultimate FAQ for Applying to Scholarships. Be sure to check that comprehensive guide out.
