Avoiding Fraud

Many private entities offer scholarship search services. If you or your family do not have the time to do your own search and are willing to pay for the service, such agencies can be helpful. In order to verify their legitimacy it is best to check with the Better Business Bureau or the state attorney general’s office. When researching a scholarship opportunity, remember, if it’s “too good to be true,” it probably is.

The majority of the information private scholarship search services provide is available for free on the web. Other resources for this information may include your high school counselor or the financial aid counselors at UT Dallas. The U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Trade Commission offer additional guidance regarding scholarship searches on their web pages: Avoiding Aid Scams and Scholarship and Financial Aid Scams.