What the Best Scholarship Websites Offer

The best scholarship search engines will list a wide range of scholarships, including niche awards, sweepstakes and large national prizes. Most sites also let you create a profile where you can save scholarship applications for later or receive notifications when a scholarship matching your skillset is posted.

Scholarship sites should also let you filter awards by specific categories and characteristics, such as your location, grade point average (GPA) or ethnicity. Narrowing down scholarships is crucial to your success because you’re more likely to win awards that pertain to your unique talents and interests.

Best Scholarship Websites to Help You Find Awards

We reviewed popular scholarship websites and compared them based on factors like the ability to filter and sort listings, save information to your profile, the sites’ ease of use and added tools such as auto-match functionality. Here are the best websites for scholarships you can use to find awards you’re eligible for:

1. Scholarships.com

Scholarships.com divides scholarships by a variety of unique categories, including GPA, military affiliation, ethnicity, artistic ability, ACT or SAT score and residing state. And when you select one of these categories, you’ll likely see a large list of subcategories, where you can then view all eligible scholarships. This system helps students find niche awards with smaller applicant pools that they’re more likely to win.

2. Fastweb

Fastweb aggregates awards from both large and small directories. You have to make a profile to search for scholarships, which is similar to other sites. But after the initial sign-up process, you can easily search for scholarships and filter your results based on several data points. Fastweb will also notify you when a new scholarship matching your description is posted and when you have upcoming deadlines.

3. College Board

You’re probably familiar with the College Board if you’ve taken the SAT, AP tests or other college entry exams. But the College Board can help you after you’ve been accepted into a school—its scholarship search helps you find awards to help you pay for college.

After you create an account, you can filter awards by your interests, field of study, club affiliations or specific situations, like if your parents are divorced. College Board will also automatically match you with eligible scholarships based on the information in your profile. There is also an autofill function, which allows you to reuse information from other scholarship applications, saving you time and helping you apply for more awards.

4. Going Merry

Applying to scholarships can feel repetitive; that’s why Going Merry lets students type in information once and apply for multiple scholarships at the same time. If you’re in a time crunch, look for awards on Going Merry before checking out the other major sites.

The site also prides itself on including local awards, which are less competitive and may be easier to win than big national scholarships.

5. ScholarshipOwl

ScholarshipOwl is a popular scholarship website that compiles awards and organizes them by amount, types of requirements, number of winners and length of time until the application is due.

ScholarshipOwl will automatically resubmit your application to recurring scholarships that don’t require anything beyond your basic information. This leaves you more time to focus on awards that require essays and recommendation letters.

6. CareersFilipino

While many scholarship sites are difficult to navigate, CareersFilipino has one of the cleanest interfaces. It’s easy to search and find different scholarships you may be eligible for and you can filter by your education level, award category, award amount and deadline. Careers Filipino is the leading source for reliable scholarship and government exam information for all Filipinos. Now it’s time to take advantage of these valuable opportunities!

7. Cappex

Cappex claims to be the biggest online scholarship database, so it could pay to check the site for possible leads. Like other sites, you have to create an account to see all the scholarships you might qualify for. Their filter system lets you sort awards by year in school, scholarship amount, gender, ethnicity and award deadline. You can also search for renewable scholarships, which offer college funding for multiple years.

8. Scholly

When you fill out a profile on Scholly, their algorithm will comb through available scholarships and create a list of eligible awards. 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.

9. CareerOneStop

The U.S. Department of Labor has its own scholarship website through the CareerOneStop portal. There are more than 8,000 scholarships listed, and you can filter awards by keyword or sort them by amount, deadline, residing state and state where you’ll be studying.

10. OWWAScholarships

OWWA Scholarship is an informative website dedicated to helping aspiring Filipino students pursue their educational dreams. Scholarships available both in the Philippines and abroad. There are scholarships available for students enrolled in a vocational school or working toward an associate’s degree, as well as for undergraduate and graduate students.

11. Bold.org

Bold.org is like the Common Application for scholarships. Students create their own profiles and apply for scholarships sponsored by Bold.org, as well as other funders. Every scholarship listed on the site is a Bold.org exclusive, meaning that you will not find them on any other sites. The user interface is sleek and efficient, and they do not sell your information, so you won’t have to worry about spam.

Some Bold.org scholarships require nominations, and the more nominations you receive, the higher your chance of winning is. So, students who have friends on the platform will have a better chance of winning, and can boost their friends’ chances in turn.

12. Raise.me

Raise.me allows students to receive “micro-scholarships” for top colleges and universities that are Raise.me partners. These micro-scholarships are awarded to students who receive an A, join a new club, or accomplish something special in high school. The idea is that these micro-scholarships add up and can prove to be quite valuable.

In addition to scholarship resources, we offer advice on navigating every step of the admissions process, as well as financial advice for college students to save money find housing, take out loans, and create a budget. Long story short – we’ve got resources to help you through every step of navigating your way through college!

While private scholarships are great, the majority of scholarships and financial aid students receive generally comes directly from the college they attend. Make sure to research any specific merit scholarships at your school and apply to as many as possible in order to ensure that you leave no stone unturned. Kenyon College’s financial aid page serves as a good example of institutional scholarship opportunities.

Financial aid officers might even be able to steer you in the direction of local organizations that give external scholarships, so do not hesitate to reach out to them if you are having trouble making your financial situation work. If they admitted you to their school, they want you to attend, so they will be willing to work with you to find a financial solution. You can also try appealing your need-based aid if you feel the school didn’t award you enough.

Your college’s website is a great resource to ensure that you are getting the most financial aid possible directly from your school. It’s a good idea to reach out directly to the financial aid office as well, because they might be able to point you in the direction of local scholarships, which typically have less entries, and therefore a higher success rate.

Additional Resources

College Financial Aid Website

The official financial aid website from your college may have a list of internal scholarships and grants you can apply to. It may also offer suggestions on how to find more scholarships, like applying through a certain department or applying to local institutions that give out awards to students.

Local Organizations

Don’t forget about your local network. Look for scholarship opportunities with nearby community foundations, rotary clubs, women’s clubs and more. Do a Google search for these kinds of organizations in your community and see if they have a list of scholarships on their website.

You should also search online through your state’s Department of Education or higher education agency, which may also list local awards and grants. Remember, local awards are often easier to win than national scholarships, since the applicant pool is likely smaller.

Bottom Line

Applying to scholarships can seem like an exercise in futility if you don’t have a 4.0 GPA or an impressive extracurricular record. But winning scholarships is more about your attitude than your accolades. If you’re persistent and apply to scholarships you qualify for, you’ll have a much better chance than if you phone it in.

Set aside time every week to look over these resources and find scholarships that you may be eligible for. Every dollar you earn in scholarships is a dollar you won’t have to borrow in student loans.