Scholarship Scammers – avoid them!

November 22, 2006

Scholarship Scammers – avoid them!

The St. Paul Pionner Press has a great article on scholarship scams that you all should read. I’m copying it below.  I’d recommend visiting StudentScholarshipSearch.com for some great scholarships – and it’s completely free!   Also, you can download the third edition of their eBook free in PDF format, Student Scholarship Secrets.  It’s jam-packed with lots of tools and hints for how to track down scholarships.

“Scammers line path to college cash. Why pay for scholarship info — it’s plentiful and free
BY MARNI GINTHER
With tuition costs rising, the scholarship hunt has become as ingrained in the college experience as midnight studies over a hearty bowl of Ramen noodles. But as students and parents search for scholarship money, they can end up getting scammed out of their own cash.

That’s why St. Thomas University biology sophomore Michael Blissenbach thought twice about the letter he got in September from a company called USA Scholarship Services. It said he’d been selected to apply for up to $7,500 worth of scholarships “designed specifically for students majoring in biology.”

For $25, the company seems to offer customized scholarships, with a hint that the information can’t be found elsewhere.

So he sent in the money and agreed to let the Watchdog know what happened. In the meantime, she investigated further.

The company had no Web site, and it was difficult to get a real person on the phone. A Google search turned up a warning on the admissions office Web site for Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, cautioning students about USA Scholarship Services and advising them to call the Better Business Bureau.

The Better Business Bureau in Washington, D.C., where the company is located, listed USA Scholarship Services as having an unsatisfactory record. The bureau still has unresolved complaints on file regarding the company, said Edward Johnson, the bureau’s president and CEO. He noted the bureau has received 983 inquiries about the company in the past 12 months.

“We have concerns over their business practices,” Johnson said. “Primarily the advertising.”

College students or their parents typically receive an unsolicited letter indicating the company has specialized scholarship information for certain fields of study. But what arrives in the mail is nothing more than information the student could have found free on the Internet or from a school guidance counselor.

“There are a lot of red flags going up here,” said Barb Grieman, vice president of the local Better Business Bureau. That the company required payment for scholarship information, lacked a Web site and rarely had some available to speak to were warning signs that the company could be a scam, she said.

For Blissenbach, those warning signs proved true. A few weeks after he sent in his application and money, he received an envelope with 24 incomplete, photocopied scholarship offers, many with out-of-date information. Sixteen of them had nothing to do with biology.

Ike Onwo, the company’s owner, said it was Blissenbach’s fault for not reading the letter carefully.

“If you don’t like the services we offer, don’t fill out the application,” he said. “Whoever sent you this letter is just ignorant.” He insisted the original letter that goes out to students urges them to call for their money back if they’re unsatisfied with what they receive.

But the letter states only that you may get your money back if you “fail to qualify” for at least $1,000 in scholarships, and you have to send in proof that you applied for the scholarships and were denied.

Onwo also maintained this scholarship information couldn’t be found anywhere else.

Blissenbach disagrees.

“It was just a stack of photocopied information that looked like it was old — like it was written on a typewriter,” Blissenbach said. He added that he could have gotten better information through his school or from online databases at no charge.

Experts say that’s exactly what you should do.

Financial aid advisers can’t stress it enough — you shouldn’t have to pay for information on scholarships.

“Remember, the whole idea for a scholarship is that you don’t have the money, and you need to find it,” said Carrie Dieveney, who helps Century College students find financial aid.

Advisers at big universities and small community colleges alike said most of the scholarship information students need is available through their college or on the Internet. Any financial aid office could have found more accurate and complete information for Blissenbach, said Dianne Danov, associate director of the University of Minnesota’s Office of Student Finance, when she was shown what he got from USA Scholarship.

As for the company’s promise to find scholarships specific to his major, she said that’s something colleges can do, too.

Talk with an adviser or go to the school’s financial aid Web site, she says.

“Financial aid advisers are here to help students find a way to pay for college,” Danov said. “It’s our job.” “

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