This method was used by the authors of the Ultimate Scholarship Book to earn over $100,000 in scholarship funding while attending Yale University.

Basically, the student would focus his or her search efforts on local sources (center of the target), such as community foundations, state higher education agencies, high schools, college financial aid web sites, places of religious worship, fraternal organizations, banks, clubs and other local organizations. These sources have far fewer applicants than national sources, increasing the likelihood of earning awards. Then, the student would change focus to more distant sources (outside of the target’s center) by searching in books, on-line, and by becoming members of reputable search engines like FastWeb.com, StudentScholarshipSearch.com, and Scholarships360.com. These engines send scholarship opportunities to members each day via e-mail based on the member’s profile.

This is a simple approach to making technology work more for us. For example, the Ultimate Scholarship Book is available in an e-book format accessible using Amazon’s Kindle and other e-readers. Instead of leafing through the entire paperback book, scanning each page, and writing down findings, a student can use the Find option offered by e-readers and other applications like Adobe Reader to search for keywords within the e-book (i.e. “African American”, “female”, “biology”, “Virginia”, “HBCU”, “left-handed”, etc.). This approach can expedite the process and increase the effectiveness of search efforts.

According to StudentScholarshipSearch.com, statistics show that for each scholarship earned, a student needed to submit about 10 scholarship applications. In order to locate those 10, the student needed to review at least 100 opportunities. – Be prepared to devote considerable time and effort to earning scholarships!

The following scholarship search database providers allow both high school and college students to search for scholarships based on specific criteria:

• FastWeb.com – You can use the Filter Category option to select how the scholarships are grouped and listed: Student Athletes, Academic Merit, Essays, and others
• Scholarships360.com – You can use the Browse By option to search by City, College, Major, and other criteria
• Scholarships.com – See the bottom of the home page to view various categories offered for scholarship search, such as Scholarships for Women, Veterans, and Minorities
• ScholarshipExperts/Unigo.com – You can search by a variety of criteria on this search provider, such as Scholarships for Students with Disabilities, Company-sponsored Opportunities, and Sweepstakes
• GoodCall.com – A new, free scholarship search and matching service containing helpful features, allowing students to learn more about their chances of winning scholarships, among other features.

These are some of the reputable search engines and database providers we have found to be effective and especially efficient, since students cut their search time greatly by using the Directory Method

We have a Twitter account and use it to post scholarship and other information that students may use to learn about more recent opportunities. Here is a link to our Twitter page: @HUPirate_FinAid. *Please use our Contact Us page to submit inquiries and contact our office. Do not use Twitter for contact purposes.

Students will find these and other tips within the following Scholarship Search Tips PDF document. The MS Excel spreadsheet can facilitate the search process as well by allowing students to document their findings quickly in a legible and easy to manage format. For example, a student can simply copy an opportunity from a webpage or page in an e-book and then paste in the spreadsheet.

Scholarship Search Tips Spreadsheet (excel)
Scholarship Search Tips (pdf).