Finding college funding seems daunting until you know where and how to look for it.
Using the following scholarship search engines will give you access to extensive financial assistance from companies and groups across the country. Using a few or all of these search engines will also give you peace of mind during a potentially expensive college period.
The 20 Best Scholarship Search Engines:
- CollegeBoard.com – The College Board helps millions of students each year find the resources they need to be successful in higher education, including searching for grants, scholarships and more. Using this website means being able to find scholarships that are widely relevant to students rather than ones that are particular for a school or area.
- Scholarships.com – Scholarships.com is one of those websites that is solely a free scholarship search engine for students to use. All you have to do it supply the information you would like to give and then the search engine will sort through the database of over $15 billion scholarships to find the most suitable options based on the personal information provided.
- FAFSA – If you have already started looking into college finances then you will probably be familiar with FAFSA. This program will help you get the federal loans that you need, but they also house a scholarship database that includes both government and private scholarship information.
- Chegg – Chegg began as an online college book rental service but has since expanded to become a more comprehensive education resource. As such, Chegg offers access to scholarships after a fast and easy sign-up process.
- Cappex – After you go through the process of registering with Cappex you will get personalized scholarship results. The search engine has over $11 billion scholarships so using this tool to sort through their extensive collection for relevant results is key to getting the results you want.
- Sallie Mae – Sallie Mae is most well-known for providing student loans, but their service also offers a database with over three million scholarships that are available to students. With the amount of student resources available, it is always good to have one program that provides more than one service like Sallie Mae does.
- CollegeNet.com – This service provides both a scholarship search engine as well as a social network forum for students to discuss topics that are important to them. The search engine itself even provides a weekly scholarship to the students that have created the most highly engaging posts.
- ScholarshipMonkey.com – This is a search engine that gives students access to undergraduate, graduate and professional scholarships. Both parents and students alike can explore this free service. All you need to do is register and fill out the profile.
Update: rebranded to bold.org - School Soup – This is one of the most personalized and well-organized search engines for scholarships. Students create their profile and find matching scholarships. The list is organized with the ones that would provide the most financial support appearing at the top.
- Niche – Niche is one of the best scholarship search engines because it is so user-friendly. You never have to sign up to the service, so there is no risk in the site collecting and selling personal information. You can browse through all of the options using the categorized system that includes options such as searching by major or potential future career.
- Peterson’s – Peterson’s is about more than just scholarships, it also provides articles and test preparation resources. In terms of using this service as a search engine, there are tools and tips to help you search more effectively including surveys and filters that can be adjusted to give you more control over your results.
- FastWeb – FastWeb was one of the first scholarship search engines available to students for free. This site has been matching students to scholarships for over 15 years. With scholarship information updated daily and an email sent to students when new applicable opportunities arise, you can’t go wrong when you use FastWeb.
- Unigo – When you use Unigo, you can either create a profile and get matched to options that fit your specifications, or browse through all of the scholarships, internships, and articles that are on offer. One of the most attractive aspects of this service is that all of the personal information you provide is kept completely private.
- Discover – This search engine and the company that provides loans and credit cards are one and the same. In an attempt to help students out even more financially, Discover offers a free scholarship search based on personal information they collect. You can either apply for the scholarships presented or have Discover email you the results so you can come back to them later.
- Adventures in Education – This program lets you search through their scholarships using specific keywords or phrases or simply by browsing. This is a good search engine to use for quick results or to see the basics of what is available to you.
- SALT – SALT is a company that provides students with all of the financial information they could need to be successful in their education and to be responsible afterward, so it is no surprise that they have such a comprehensive search engine for scholarships. Using this search engine will let you know which scholarships you are eligible for and what the awards would include.
- StudentScholarshipSearch.com – Unique aspects of this search engine is that it allows students to search nationally as well as by state, level and area. This is carried out in addition to the student’s basic information, such as their major or area of interest. This combination is one of the main reasons this resource gets the best results.
- College Data – When you want to get specific with the scholarship options then this is the best tool to use. It takes into account more than the basic categories such as your major. This search engine will consider your GPA, gender, ethnicity, heritage, religion and more to provide the most personalized results.
- GoodCall – With no sign-up process or fee, GoodCall is an unbeatable resource for both parents and students alike to learn more about the financial opportunities that are out there. There are thousands of awards to look through with the option to filter results to make them more relevant to the specific student.
- My Scholly – My Scholly is a search engine and financial advice service that works towards making college affordable for more students. Students can use this service as an app for up to date browsing or can explore the scholarships and loans on a desktop.
