Sources of Money 36: SRN Express Powered by Edvisors (Go Higher)

Tuesdays we review a source of financial aid to help you pay for college

Rueben attended one of our workshops with his sister when he was in the 8th grade. He began recording his accomplishments immediately. He looked for opportunities for leadership, service, athletics, and academics. He joined as many clubs as he could possibly manage when he started high school. He started applying for scholarships in the 10th grade and earned his first scholarship (of $500) in 10th grade. He maintained a 4.0 GPA and served as class officer all through high school. He worked hard and graduated valedictorian of his high school. He had earned $310,000 in scholarships.

Characteristics of SRN Express

SRN Express describes itself as “Search for College and University Student Scholarships. SRN Express' database of awards for college students. A free database, with search capabilities, that lists scholarships and awards for college students. SRN Express.”

The site advertises “With the largest database of scholarships online and a speedy scholarship matching tool, StudentScholarshipSearch helps students find scholarships that are most relevant to their background, field of study, sport, skill, interest, achievement, or other attribute. Whether you're in grad school or were just accepted into college, we'll have a match for you.

College scholarships and grants are the best place to start financing your education. Our goal is that students use this database to invest more wisely in school, prior to relying on alternative resources and loans…(See more at: http://www.studentscholarshipsearch.com/#sthash.g8tpJCz1.dpuf)”

 

Disadvantages of SRN

The web site suffers from several disadvantages. The site:

• Contracts its scholarship searches to www.StudentScholarshipSearch.com
• Offers minimal scholarship matching based on grade level, GPA, state of residency, gender, or ethnic heritage
• Only allows students to list high school grade levels on the “Grade” matcher
• The site provides very little help for students already in college or graduate school
• It provides about 40 scholarships for all the states we tested, and most of those were duplicates of the Elks National Foundation, Coca-Cola, etc.
• Featured scholarships only listed 5 links to other sites

Wednesday we will answer questions about interviews and other uncommon requirements

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