National-Louis University Office of Student Finance

Additional Scholarship Resources

The Internet is a great resource for finding scholarship information and applications. Internet scholarship search services can help identify private sources of financial aid for which you may qualify. Many of the services provide personalized scholarship matching. Below is a list of free services to help start your Internet scholarship search:

• http://www.fastweb.org
• http://www.scholarships.com
• http://www.fastaid.com

Tips for using Internet search services:

• Find out when their list of aid sources was last updated and how often the list is revised. Out-of-date information will not be helpful to you.
• Read the fine print and find out what guarantees they make. Some companies guarantee they can find financial aid for you because self-help aid, such as a loan, is considered financial aid. Watch out for false promises – finding a scholarship is not the same as guaranteeing you’ll receive it.
• Some of the services will charge you for using their resources. Cautiously view any service that requires you to pay more than a nominal fee to gain scholarship information.
• Be cautious if a program requests unusual personal information, such as a bank account, credit card or Social Security number.
• If the search service does not offer a phone number or street address, or if you’re leery about one's qualifications, it's probably not a good idea to use their services.
• Obtaining a scholarship does not have to cost you money, should not require you to attend a seminar, and can never be guaranteed.

When looking for scholarships via the Internet, remember to watch out for financial aid scams. Some organizations imitate different types of college providers, using government- or professional-sounding names. These scams usually ask you for money, or ask you to attend seminars to learn more about their programs. Others tell you you’re guaranteed to win their scholarships, or claim an outrageous success rate, such as "everyone wins." This claim could be due to the fact that they can find you financial aid in the form of loans.

Learn more about financial aid scams at The Federal Trade Commission's Scholarship Scam Web Site.

We also have a list of over 100 scholarship resources that exist outside of NLU. You can access that list by clicking here.