Various Trick to Avoid College Scholarship Scam

Various Scams You Allegation to Know Afore You Search for Scholarship Awards

Know About the Admonishing Signs 

Think you can’t be had? Guess again. Every year bags of acceptance get scammed out of millions—one appraisal as top as $100 million—chasing that scholarship award. How does it happen? Scholarship scammers accomplish the aforementioned as any boilerplate cons. There are promises of big rewards for minimum investment. Any apprentice or parents needs to be able to admit the scholarship artifice profile. Know the top ten scams in the scholarship marketplace, how to beacon bright of the scammer’s snare, and area to about-face to for free, aboveboard advice in accepting scholarship awards and banking aid. 

1. The chargeless academy scam. Overwhelmed by all the advice out there? Wish to accomplish the best banking aid decisions for you or your child? Generally a chargeless banking aid academy is no added than a “come-on” for allowance sales pitches, analogous casework or investment products. 

Signs that should accomplish the admonishing accretion go off: Are they application the harder sell? Sign-up today or the bulk shoots up tomorrow? Can alone acknowledgment assertive questions afterwards you pay their fee? Wants your acclaim agenda advice to “hold” a scholarship for you? Your aerial should be campanology by now. 

Remember, if you accept advice from a consultant, he or she accept to assurance the Chargeless Application for Federal Apprentice Aid (FAFSA). If the academy sales rep refuses to do so, it is addition anxiety bell. And never let a aggregation adviser advance that you acclimatize your assets on the FAFSA in adjustment to accept added aid. It’s bent (a abomination even). And it can backfire, big time. 

2. Scholarships for profit. Scholarships are advised for abounding purposes—recruit accomplished athletes, abetment low assets applicants, animate abstraction in an bookish discipline, advance campus diversity, allure the best students—but accumulation should never be one of them. 

Scammers that accolade bashful scholarships of $1,000 (or no scholarship at all) can aggregate abounding times over that bulk in fees by alluring bags of applicants. You may alone be out the 15 bucks or so, but assorted that by 1,000 scholarship hopefuls just like you and you just fabricated for a nice payday for the scholarship betray artist. Being denied such a scholarship does not accomplish you undeserving—but just one added scammed applicant. 

3. The advance-fee loan. A low-interest accommodation with an upfront fee? Don’t anticipate so, and neither should you. Accepted lenders abstract fees from at the time amount checks are issue; they do not allegation fees afore paying out the accommodation to a borrower. Be active of any lender that asks for money upfront—that is a accommodation that will acceptable never materialize.

4. Your Banking Aid Office. Huh? Your academy Banking Aid Appointment is a aboveboard and chargeless ability for apprenticeship funding. But beware; the Apprenticeship Department afresh banned the convenance of lenders alms banking incentives to universities that acclaim their annual as a adopted lender (the university generally accepting a “cut” for the loan).

The move was prompted by investigations assuming that some university admiral accustomed gifts, payments or banal on favorable agreement in barter for such practices. In added instances, business assembly for lenders staffed phones at apprentice aid offices. In an $85 billion apprentice accommodation industry, you accept to ask yourself if your university steered you to the lender with the best amount available, or artlessly the one lining their pockets. Ouch. 

5. The affirmed analogous service. If Match.com can’t agreement you Prince Charming and firmer abs, scholarship analogous casework cannot agreement you money in the bank. Analogous casework that affiance affirmed analogous sources for a processing fee of $49.95 (and abundant higher) will at best accommodate you with advice accessible for chargeless on the web. Take agenda that these casework generally aerate their database if an alone sponsor offers hundreds of scholarships.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) belletrist that abounding of the sources provided by scholarship analogous casework are inaccurate and “few, if any at all, accept the absolute funds”. The BBB adds that advice provided is generally out of date, accouterment sources for deadlines that accept continued passed. And never apperception that money-back guarantee—it comes with added hoops to jump through than any dog-and-pony appearance you could anytime imagine. 

6. Linked products. Don’t let any sales being anytime argue you that a banking product, such as apprentice action insurance, or an annuity, accept to be purchased to authorize for federal apprentice banking aid. It just isn’t so. And it is a abiding blaze scam. 

7. The telemarketer. Telemarketing was already the better bugaboos of scholarship artifice if the FTC aboriginal addressed scholarship scams in the 90s. Attention added afresh has confused to artificial banking aid and scholarship seminars, and ambiguous practices a part of consultants. That does not beggarly that telemarketing scams still do not surface. 

The U.S. Department of Apprenticeship warned consumers afresh about telemarketing scammers assuming as U.S. Department of Apprenticeship (ED) admiral alms grants to acceptance for a $249 processing fee (by requesting a coffer or acclaim agenda number). Contact the DOE’s Appointment of Inspector General at 1-800-MIS-USED (1-800-647-8733) or oig.hotline@ed.gov to apprentice more. 

8. Affirmed banking aid consultants. What can you apprehend for your fee from a banking aid consultant? Advice commutual the FAFSA, ciphering your accepted ancestors addition (EFC), and advising you or adolescent on types of aid. Advice and abetment that is readily accessible and chargeless from a banking aid appointment at any university, your bounded library, on the web, or from a top academy advice counselor. So what is free, free, chargeless advice annual to you? Plenty, if you pay fees to a banking aid adviser to get it. 

Some may wish the handholding of a adviser regardless. Again be acquainted of ambiguous claims that should forward you searching for advice from added sources. A banking aid adviser may agreement a minimum $2,500 in aid or affiance to acquittance your money. That’s nice, but misleading. Yes, you will no agnosticism accept that $2,500 apprentice loan, but again so will every appellant who completes the FAFSA (free and on the web at www.fafsa.ed.gov). A federal alms accessible artlessly by commutual the FAFSA should not be biased or misconstrued as aid a consulting aggregation can abnormally agreement you as an enticement. 

Likewise, if a consulting annual guarantees you will accept every endure penny to abode your adolescent off to academy (or your money back), you should not be fooled. You estimated it, addition federal alms that is a byproduct of commutual the FAFSA. That and a appropriate acclaim appraisement will acquire you a PLUS accommodation for 100 percent of the absolute amount of appearance for you or your child. It is just acceptable faculty to beacon bright of any aggregation that entices audience with allowances that are advisedly accessible to all acceptance commutual the FAFSA (whether they pay cher consulting fees or not) as a federal entitlement. 

Remember, if a consulting bureau is commutual a FAFSA (or any added form) on your behalf, review, assurance it, and mail it yourself. You should advance copies of the completed FAFSA and apprehend a acquittance if it is incorrect. And consistently accede to a collapsed fee for banking aid consulting services, never a allotment of aid received. Qualifications to accede if screening abeyant banking aid consultants cover whether the adviser has acquaintance at a banking aid appointment and is a Certified Public Accountant. Never be afraid to ask for references. 

9. The sweepstakes scholarship. Lucky you! You accept just been alleged as a finalist to win a scholarship in a sweepstakes that you never entered. (And you anticipation you never won anything.) The alone obstacle continuing amid you and accession your accomplishment is paying the accretion fee. Be active of contests, websites and scholarships that aggregate claimed data, payout a individual dollar-amount (play the action today?) and accord the affection with a battery of advertisements. Which brings us to our next accepted betray tactic. 

10. The accretion fee. Accepted catchphrases by the bluff are amount fee, accretion fee, or processing fee. Notice the accepted denominator here? Accepted scholarships do not ask a apprentice to pay for an award. Be active of any money awarded to you out of the dejected that comes with strings, abnormally those with strings absorbed to your pocketbook.

How Not to Fall Prey to Scholarship Artifice Come-Ons 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants you to be active to scholarship scammers.

Duping acceptance out of fees for scholarship money is BIG BUSINESS. The FTC launched a academy scholarship artifice acquaintance affairs in 1996 alleged “Project Scholarscam” to active the customer of the prevalence of such practices. Later, the Scholarship Artifice Prevention Act of 2000 anesthetized acting on an ascent choir of complaints about the industry. The FTC underscores the afterward come-ons as “tell annual lines” for abeyant artifice victims:

"The scholarship is affirmed or your money back." (Just try and get it back.) 

"You can't get this advice anywhere else." (Wanna bet? Try all over the web, your banking aid administrator, bounded library, or academy counselor.) 

"I just allegation your acclaim agenda or coffer annual amount to authority this scholarship." (Oh, please! They may affirmation acute acclaim agenda or annual advice is all-important to “verify your identity” or “eligibility”—but it is annihilation added than character theft.) 

"We'll do all the work." (Legitimate scholarships crave plan bushing out applications, autograph essays, and accepting acceptable belletrist of recommendation. Who can absolutely do any of that for you? And you still accept to ample out the aforementioned advice for a adviser or fee-based annual that you would on the FAFSA, area abroad are they traveling to get the information?)

"The scholarship will amount some money." (Sometimes you accept to absorb money to accomplish money. And sometimes you accept to absorb money to acquisition out that you accept been scammed. Scholarships that allegation a fee are the latter.) 

"You've been alleged by a 'national foundation' to accept a scholarship" or "You're a finalist" in a challenge you never entered. Ignore artificial claims of scholarship awards that you can redeem for a fee. Abnormally if you never activated to that scholarship or accept no bond of entering a scholarship sweepstakes.”Typical claims categorical by the Scholarship Artifice Prevention Act 2000: Aboriginal Annual Address to Congress are discussed below. These approach accept sucked bags of consumers over the years into paying fees absorbed by counterfeit claims and ambiguous advertising. Don’t be one of them. 

Unclaimed money: Abounding counterfeit casework will attract acceptance with the bald-faced lie that millions of dollars in scholarship money goes bearding anniversary year. One base for that apparent claim—employer charge abetment programs alone accessible to advisers of the accumulated sponsor that go unused. So, unless you already plan for Boeing, Hewlett Packard, or whomever… overlook about it. 

High success rates: A adviser or analogous annual alms huge success ante (say 90 percent or so) is a scammer. Use accepted faculty on this one. 

Bogus guarantees: Read the accomplished book and you will acquisition that your “money aback guarantee” is riddled with restrictions, and bearding conditions, that cede it meaningless. 

Claims of endorsement or affiliation: The bluff may affirmation to be accustomed by a accompaniment or federal agency, or the Better Business Bureau, agencies that do not endorse clandestine companies. Scholarship scammers generally use column appointment boxes with a Washington, D.C. acknowledgment abode to arise added legitimate, and try to affect by creating names that cover buzzwords, such as “National”, “Federal”, “Foundation” or “Administration”

Prevent Scholarship Artifice by Reporting Scammers Today 

Consumers who anticipate they may be victim of scholarship artifice should address the action to the Department of Education’s Appointment of Inspector General (OIG) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). 

The OIG “conducts audits, investigations, and inspections of apprenticeship programs and operations”, and can be contacted for artifice corruption application its hotline at 1-800-MIS-USED (1-800-647-8733) or oig.hotline@ed.gov to accomplish a arcane report. 

The FTC “works for the customer to anticipate fraudulent, ambiguous and arbitrary business practices in the barter and to accommodate advice to advice consumers spot, stop, and abstain them.” Consumers can book a complaint application the FTC hotline at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or buzzer for the audition broken at 1-866-653-4261); book an online complaint at www.ftc.gov 

Contact your coffer anon if you accommodate acclaim agenda or coffer annual advice to a doubtable scammer. Artifice can and should be appear to your bounded law administration bureau and your Accompaniment Attorney General’s Office. Complaints of ambiguous practices may be fabricated to the Better Business Bureau by visiting www.bbb.com and the nonprofit National Artifice Advice Center (operated by the National Consumers League) at 1-800-876-7060 or www.fraud.org.