Caveat Emptor or Buyer Beware 2: Discard and Avoid Surveys

Saturdays we share tips or cautions to facilitate getting scholarships or avoid problems

Renee attended one of our workshops in July and sent us this email in October “I am going to school at BYU-Idaho and am majoring in Vocal Performance. I have been awarded $7,068 is scholarship and grant money! Thank you so much for helping me! My schooling is paid for for both semesters and I even had money left over to pay for my housing. Thanks again!”

The Growth of Surveys on Scholarship Search Engines

In the last few years we’ve seen a significant surge in the number surveys appearing in scholarship searches. Marketers discovered the Internet to provide unprecedented and inexpensive access to targeted markets. High school and college students represent a coveted buying public with access to parent’s cash. As a result, surveys constitute 40-60% of the results listed by some scholarship search engines.

After you complete a profile, scholarship search engines will generate a list of scholarships that your profile indicated you qualified for. Many of the lists will tell you whether that scholarship is a scholarship, essay, survey, competition, or promotion.

Scholarship surveys typically ask you to complete a certain number of surveys a week for a specified number of weeks. At the end of the designated time period the recipient “will be entered into a drawing for $10,000” (or whatever the award amount).

Problems with Surveys

Unfortunately, scholarship surveys also pose problems:

• Each survey gathers information for the marketing needs of several companies
• Most surveys solicit your agreement to allow them to share your information
• Companies typically send survey respondents several emails soliciting
• Completing all of the surveys does not guarantee that you will receive any money
• Respondents names become part of a drawing with thousands to millions of others

Most search engines allow you to save, favorite, discard or delete offerings that you will not submit applications. We recommend that you discard all surveys, rather than wasting time while receiving unwanted solicitations or emails for a lottery.

Tuesday we will spotlight how Scholarship.com can provide you with lists of scholarships