Looking for scholarships without getting scammed

Scholarships are real and worth the effort. So is the industry that sells fake ones, and it often looks official.

Where to look

Start close to home. Your college’s aid office, your high school counselor, local community groups, religious organizations, unions and employers all fund awards with fewer applicants than national contests.

The U.S. Department of Labor runs a free scholarship search at CareerOneStop. Free searches are as good as paid ones; nobody has a secret list.

What to do

• Never pay to apply for a scholarship
• Never give card or bank details to claim an award
• Report outside awards to the aid office
• Ask for loans, not grants, to be reduced first

Warning signs

Treat these as reasons to walk away: a fee to apply or to claim an award, a request for bank or card details, an email saying you won something you never entered, or pressure to decide today. The Federal Trade Commission collects reports of these schemes.

No legitimate scholarship needs your FSA ID or your Social Security number to tell you that you were selected.

If a scholarship costs money to win, it is not a scholarship.

When you win one

Tell your college’s aid office about every outside scholarship. Total aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance, so the school may adjust other parts of your offer. Ask it to reduce loans before grants.