This website is known to have a database of roughly “3.7 million scholarships worth roughly $19 billion in financial aid,” says Bank Rate.
Prospective scholarship recipients make a profile with their information to get matched with scholarships based on eligibility and interest (think of it like Tinder, but for academic financial aid). “This system helps students find niche awards with smaller applicant pools that they’re more likely to win,” says Forbes Advisor.
“Listings are updated regularly and consistently every few months to help with informing students of the latest scholarships that are available to them that may be of interest,” says collegerank.net.
Since 1996, Fastweb has been helping students find scholarships and has grown to one of the “most advanced college scholarship search websites available today,” says The College Investor.
Fordham University agrees, calling it “the largest, most accurate, and most popular free scholarship search site.”
Like Scholarship.com (and many other sites), students have to create a profile to be matched. “The tool is completely free, but creating an account is required to tailor your search for scholarships and to apply to them,” says Get Schooled.
College Board has been around even longer than Fastweb. It’s also the same entity that’s over standardized college entrance tests (SAT) and Advanced Placement (AP) courses.
“Founded at the turn of the 20th century, the College Board houses a membership association of over 6,000 schools,” according to Great Value Colleges.
The site has a lot to offer in terms of scholarships. “In addition to offering robust search tools, the number of schools that Collegeboard can search is one of the highest you’ll find. For 2021, it has financial aid and internships from over 2,200 programs, worth nearly $6 billion of free college money,” says The College Investor.
Fordham University writes: “The College Board’s Fund Finder scholarship database lists scholarships and other types of financial aid programs from 3,300 national, state, public, and private sources. The database is updated annually.”
4. Chegg
Another well-known site, Chegg is known for selling textbooks, and offering flash cards and other study materials — but the site is also good for scholarship searching.
You can start your search without making a profile, “On a basic level, you can look for matches based on your school year, your age and your GPA,” according to Bank Rate. But if you want a more refined search, adding a profile is necessary.
“Creating an account is required to tailor your search for scholarships and to apply to them,” says Get Schooled.
According to Great Value Colleges, “One unique feature that Chegg has to offer is its online tutors that will help you craft the perfect college scholarship essay. Services range from simple proofreading to creative ideas and development. And it’s all for one goal–to make you stand out in the crowd and get the money you need for your education!”
5. Scholly
This site takes a different approach using Advanced Technology. “Scholly uses artificial intelligence to provide scholarship matches and prioritizes them based on which ones you’re best qualified for,” says Bank Rate. “The platform also gives users access to exclusive scholarships that aren’t available anywhere else, so there’s less competition.”
College Investor says you might recognize it. “Scholly is a student success app that gained a lot of publicity from being on popular TV show Shark Tank. They can help you with math problems and they even have a in-built editing and proof-reading tool that helps students write better.” “Each scholarship will have a Scholly score, which ranks how good of a fit it is for your background and experience. The higher the Scholly score, the stronger match you are with the scholarship’s requirements,” writes Forbes Advisor.