Financial aid guide for students and parents

Entering college life is a distinct experience with mixed emotions and feelings. On one side is newly found freedom and other side the responsibility of living up to your parent’s expectations as they have put their hard earned money in your college fees. To meet the rising college fees, parents and even students take loans for their education which is an added burden. This makes college students soft target for scams and vulnerable to pitfalls.

It is easy for scammers to take advantage of vulnerable position of students who are striving hard to arrange funds for paying their college fees. Some of the common tell tale sign of scams and types of scams that students should watch out for include –

• Volunteered Scholarships –Unsolicited scholarships are guaranteed indicators of scams. There is an intense competition for scholarships and sponsors receive thousands of applications daily, in such a situation they will not go out and voluntarily offer scholarships to other people.

• Scholarships that require advance payment – Scholarship is about getting money and if there is somebody who is asking for an advance payment for a scholarship, then there is surely something wrong. These advance payments are also charged under the veil of award related fees, application fees etc.

• Guaranteed scholarship or money back – Watch out for such policies as no one can guarantee a scholarship or a grant. As they are awarded on the basis of merit or need, there is a high probability that a person may not receive them. In these types of scholarships, there are some strings attached to money back clause of the deal.

• Scholarships on first come first serve basis – Scholarships are competitive and follow a strict application procedure. They are not awarded simply on first come, first serve basis as they are not time-sensitive and this is a common way to target students.

• ‘We apply for you’ scholarships – A recent technique that seems lucrative to students as somebody is ready to take all efforts on their behalf to apply for scholarships. This service does not come free, there is a strong fee attached to it. Basically, scholarships are awarded on the grounds of a person’s merit and talents hence they require essays to be written and recommendation letters to be made.

Other indicators of scams include scholarship offer letters that consist of spelling errors, suspicious return addresses, missing phone numbers and other characteristics that differ from a legitimate scholarship letter should arose suspicion. Notifying awarding of scholarship on phone instead of a letter is also an indicator of a fraud. Most of the times these strategies are twisted and turned to be develop a new form to trick students. Students should be alert and careful to avoid these tricks and pitfalls.