Colleges Are Offering Scholarships To Low-income Students, but This Could Be a Scam

Nowadays, a wide range of scholarship programs are available to college students through their school’s financial aid office, the Department of Labor’s website, or through private scholarship services, among other places.

Colleges are now offering new scholarships to students.

Colleges are now offering new scholarships to help college students financially; Catawba College, for example, has announced 28 new scholarships. According to WBTV, the 28 new scholarships were either created or increased to Presidential level with a $150,000 endowment level and are awarded to Catawba’s top merit students.

Abby Walter, a May 2022 graduate, credits Presidential Scholarships for helping her grow into a strong, confident leader during her four years of college.

“Because of the mere existence of an endowed scholarship, I am currently working as an intern for Congressman Hudson and have experienced and learned so much in political field,” said Oluwafikemi Fawehinmi, a 2022 graduate, to wbtv.com.

Colleges began offering scholarships to students who thought it would be impossible to attend college after learning how much it would cost and how long the process would take. The Michigan College Advising Corps program, which began in 2010 and has helped over 20,000 students across the state, made it possible by assisting high school students in determining and achieving their both short- and long-term goals through continuous training and ‘providing guidance to a team of advisers, all recent college graduates,’ according to Michigan News.

“I would guess we have hundreds of our kids that wouldn’t have gone to college, wouldn’t have reached their fullest potential without this program. I think it’s incredible that the university of Michigan is paying for this program to help kids get into any college.” Bob Zwiers, a teacher at Holland High School said.

River Parishes Community College has also announced a new scholarship opportunity for Class of 2022 high school graduates along with a parent or guardian to receive approximately $1,000 scholarships to encourage a parent or guardian to learn new skills that could improve family lives, which Chancellor Quintin Taylor, interim, believes would be “the opportunity to transform the fortunes of individuals, families, and communities.”

Wabash College has also announced new scholarships to assist low-income students, awarding $10,000 to six Pell Grant recipients each year and continuing to promote the scholarship among exemplary students with socioeconomic barriers to earning their college degrees – According to the journal review, Wabash has also invested beneficial resources in increasing access and graduation of young men in order to increase the population in higher education.

What is College Scholarship Scam, and how can you avoid it?

According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), there have been cases of students being duped by college scholarships, which makes it very similar to actual grants and scholarships for college.

According to Wral.com, approximately 50% of those who participated in the survey were asked to pay money before applying for the scholarship, which is a red flag that the person you’re dealing with might be a fraudster – 73 percent of those said they had actually paid money before applying for a scholarship.

Because a significant number of applicants have fallen victim to scholarship scams, guidance to distinguish between genuine scholarship opportunities and scams is required for both parents or guardians and, of course, applicants.

Wral.com offers advice on avoiding scholarship scams – No scholarship committee could guarantee winning the money for college, and legitimate scholarships do not require applicants to pay before applying for college scholarships.

In addition, applying for college scholarships requires applicants to fill out information such as application essays, requiring some process to earn a scholarship.

According to WRTV, BBB provides college students with advice. Applicants should be aware of scams such as fake credit cards, too good to be true apartments, safe credit reports, and online shopping scams.

Applicants must be aware of unsolicited offers and understand that winning a scholarship or grant for which they did not apply is nearly impossible. In this case, candidates must examine the process by which the organization obtains your name and contact information.

Institutions and colleges offer a variety of programs that could benefit applicants applying for college scholarships; however, now that scholarship scams are targeting students who have missed the scholarship application deadlines, perhaps acknowledging the right guidelines and process would prevent students from falling victim to a scam.

 

Read more: What Is Excelsior Scholarship and Is It Really Beneficial?