If you’re heading to college and are looking for financial aid, you might have been looking into .
And, you’re not alone. In the United States 25% of students at private institutions received merit scholarships and 18% of students at public universities received such scholarships.
With college tuition rising, plus the cost of school supplies and, well, just living, having some financial aid can really help you out. Anything that college students can do to save money is a good thing!
You can get scholarships from a variety of places, and one you may be considering is ScholarshipPoints. But you may wonder whether or not ScholarshipPoints is a scam or a legit way to obtain financial aid.
In today’s post, I’ll cover whether or not this platform is legit and whether it’s worth your time.
Need Easy Extra $300+/Month for Free?
KashKick: Get paid directly into your PayPal for watching videos, surfing, shopping and more. Join KashKick Now!
InboxDollars: Paid over $57 Million to members to watch videos, take surveys, shop and more. Get $5 instantly!
Earn Haus: Earn up to $25 per survey. Plus same-day payments via PayPal, Venmo & Check! Join Earn Haus!
Prime Opinion: Join Prime Opinion and earn up to $5 per survey! No minimum cash out requirement. Get $5 Bonus Now!
Swagbucks: Get paid to watch videos, shop online, take surveys and more.
What will I learn?
What is ScholarshipPoints?
ScholarshipPoints is a website where you can earn points for taking surveys and doing other tasks online. It’s sort of like those get paid to websites like Swagbucks and InboxDollars that pay you for doing simple activities from your phone or computer.
There’s one key difference though. On Swagbucks you can redeem those points you earn for real cash to your PayPal account or for gift cards. On ScholarshipPoints, however, those points act as entries into drawings where you have the chance to win a scholarship. If you don’t win the scholarship, your points are gone.
How Does Scholarship Points Works?
Here’s a quick overview of how ScholarshipPoints works:
Step One: Sign up
The first thing you’ll need to do is sign up for the site and I would recommend using a different email address to your regular one for doing so. By using a separate email, your inbox won’t get full of emails from the company.
To join the program, you will need to be at least 13 years old.
You also need to be enrolled in or plan to enroll in a college or university in the United States. You can still join if you are in high school, and if you win, ScholarshipPoints can send the check directly to a qualified 529 college savings plan. Also, you’ll need a phone number to sign up.
Step Two: Complete tasks to earn points
Once you’re signed up, you can start completing tasks that will earn you points.
Here’s how you can earn points on the site:
- Sign up for a survey panel and take surveys
- Read articles about planning and paying for college
- Join and engage with the company on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+
- Check out one of the company’s preferred partners
- Read emails from the company
- Solve puzzles and play games
- Shop online
For completing tasks, you will earn points.
Step Three: Enter drawings for the chance to win a scholarship
You get to decide how you spend your points and which scholarship drawing you want to enter. The more points that you earn and spend, the more chances you have to win.
Advertisem*nts
The website awards three or more $1,000 scholarships each month and a $10,000 scholarship every three months.
Drawings are held at the beginning of every month for monthly free scholarships, and on the date specified in the description for other special scholarships. If a winner doesn’t respond within 3 business days, then that winner is disqualified and an alternate winner is selected.
If you win, the money is sent directly to your school’s financial aid office. This may take up to 3 to 4 weeks from the time it receives the winner’s information to the time the school receives the check.
If you are a high school student, your check will be sent to a qualified 529 college savings plan.
Is ScholarshipPoints a Scam?
ScholarshipPoints is legit. It’s owned by a company called Edvisors, which has been around since 1998 and is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). It also has an A+ rating from the BBB.
So yes, it’s legit. ScholarshipPoints says that it has awarded more than $1 million in scholarships since 2006.
There’s actually a chance to win here. You don’t have to pay to join the site or enter any of its drawings either.
Is ScholarshipPoints Worth It?
Although it’s legit, is this program actually worth your time?
I say yes, anything that gest college students free stuff, whether it’s money, textbooks or whatever else, is worth it.
College is expensive and it makes total sense that students would want some financial help. Scholarships are great for that. And, yes, it’s good that anyone who’s in high school or planning to enroll in college can sign up for ScholarshipPoints and have the chance to win one – without needing things like the right grades to qualify.
Sadly though, there are a few problems with this type of scholarship program.
You’re giving up data
The first is that ScholarshipPoints collects data and information from you when you use the site and when you participate in surveys. And it may share or even sell this data.
The company says on it’s “Information we collect” page:
- “We collect and use Personal Information in order to provide and share such information with selected service providers, such as research firms, advertising networks, internet service providers, data analytics providers, government entities, operating systems and platforms, social networks, and consumer data resellers who use the Personal Information to provide services to us or on our behalf.”
In its privacy policy, it also says:
- “We may share your information with and/or sell your information to third parties whose products and services we think may be of interest to you, such as educational institutions; financial companies, such as those that make or arrange student loans and other financial products; non-financial institutions, such as retailers who sell a wide range of products and services to consumers; direct marketing companies; or nonprofit organizations. These third parties may be domestic or international.”
If you don’t mind sharing your data, then this won’t bother you. But many of us want privacy, and don’t want our information shared or sold.
You may be able to opt out of the sale of your information, however. Learn more here.
It takes a lot of time
The next downside is that you’re having to put in time into doing tasks in order to enter the drawings. You can’t simply sign up for the site and just enter the drawings. You will need to use points to enter and to gain those points, you have to complete tasks, like taking surveys. If you’re short on time, that’s not ideal.
You may not win
As I said, you can’t simply sign up and enter a drawing. Instead, you have to earn those points, and even after you’ve put in the time taking surveys and playing games, you may end up with nothing to show for it.
You use your points to enter the drawings for the chance to win a scholarship, but that’s all it is – a chance. If you don’t win, your points are gone and that time you spent doing tasks on the site is essentially worthless.
Overall Verdict
Overall, ScholarshipPoints is not worth your time. You are having to trade your time for points that can only be used to enter a drawing that you may not even win.
Sure, it’s great if you win, but it would also be great to win the lottery too and your odds of that are pretty low.
I think that putting your time into another reward website, like Swagbucks, or picking up a freelance job or some local gig work would be a much more beneficial use of your time.
These are guaranteed to earn you money.
Here are some examples:
- Pet-sit with Rover: Earn $1k a month.
- Do tasks on Swagbucks: Earn $100 a month.
- Do some freelance writing: Make $23 an hour on average, which in just 45 hours could make you $1012.
Here are some posts where you can find lots of money-making ideas:
- 30 Best Legit Online Jobs for College Students (to Make Easy Money)
- 20 Best Odd Job Apps to Make Extra Cash (Earn up to $78/hr)
You could save the money that you make and put it towards college.
Although ScholarshipPoints is legit, it doesn’t guarantee you a scholarship. If you don’t mind completing tasks even though you may not get any money at all, then you may want to give it a try. I just think that your time would be better spent earning money elsewhere that you can save for your college education.
