In today’s mass-market media world, everybody is trying to get something for nothing. One very old saying says to never look a gift horse in the mouth. This is as true today as it was when it was first coined. Whenever something is offered for free, there is almost always a catch to it. Granted there are many free grants and scholarships available, but if something doesn’t look quite right, investigate thoroughly before signing on the dotted line. Some of the things to look for include hidden fees and up-front monies to be paid.

Among the junk mail are letters that look legitimate but are in fact a scheme to con a person into paying for something that is nothing more than a scam. Some of these are obvious uses of a legitimate fund name but with one or two letters changed. By reading the text of the letter and the fine print it is usually easy to spot the phony offers. However, if there are any questions, have the school financial aid officers look it over. There is a book published each year listing available scholarships.

Students with less than stellar academic records are easy targets. Offers that state things such as ‘First come, first served’ are never true. This kind of deadline may be true for furniture sales, but never true for scholarships. Another favorite line is “You’ve won!” If you have not applied for this scholarship, you cannot just win it. A scholarship must be applied for. These two types of scams almost invariably ask for credit card information for verification, or a bank account number to hold the winnings. This is never asked for with legitimate scholarship grants. One other catch phrase to watch for is “It’s guaranteed”. A scholarship search cannot guarantee getting a person scholarship money.