Article written by Alyson Shutts Meeks

The best way to avoid being the victim of a scholarship scam is to remember the old adage: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. If a scholarship search service promises you a scholarship, run the other way. If someone insists that for $5 or $30 or $50, he will guarantee you a scholarship, it is definitely a scam.

Yes, there are lots of scholarship dollars available, but the truth is that no one can secure a scholarship for you but you. Only the prospective student can do the work of filling out forms, sending transcripts, and writing essays.

A legitimate scholarship search service provides information that is current and accurate; it does not provide scholarships.

A legitimate scholarship search service is an information source. Take Scholarship Experts for instance. They have invested the resources to explore and compile scholarship data from all over the map. A good scholarship search service has a team of research specialists that constantly updates award information.

What good is 1998's award information to a 2001 high school graduate? When looking for a valid, trustworthy scholarship search company, verify that the information you are getting is current. Look for a service like Scholarship Experts that compiles their own database of awards and delivers up-to-date data.

Remember, it costs money to operate a scholarship service. It is a simple fact that someone has to pay. Perhaps it is advertisers. Perhaps it is customers. Make sure you know who is paying for the service so you can adequately assess the quality of the product and monitor what happens with your personal, private information.

If you, the customer, the consumer, are paying, then chances are good that the service is structured with your needs and goals uppermost. That is why a fee-based scholarship search service makes sense. The service exists to serve the customer, without whom there is no service. Consider another old adage: You can't get something for nothing....unless it isn't worth anything.

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