Interested in attending college? If so, you’ll want to apply for scholarships as early as possible. Scholarships can make a significant impact in helping cover college costs. Various community organizations, foundations, non-profits, and corporations across the country offer scholarships to help students pay for college. And the easiest way to find scholarships for college is often through an online platform.
There’s many online scholarship searches out there, and each one offers something different. Fastweb, a free online scholarship search, matches students to scholarships that they qualify for based on their profile. We interviewed Kathryn Randolph, Associate Content Editor with Fastweb, about why Fastweb is a great place for students to search for scholarships.
LP: What is Fastweb?
KR: Fastweb is an online scholarship service that matches students to scholarships they actually qualify for. It essentially takes the “search” out of scholarship search. Students don’t have to scour the internet for possible opportunities. We ask them a few questions about their location, colleges and majors of interest, academics, and extracurricular activities to find college scholarships they have a real chance of winning.
LP: What sets Fastweb apart from other online scholarship platforms?
KR: Fastweb differs from other scholarship search platforms because we have a real team of researchers behind our database of 1.5 million college scholarships. Each Fastweb scholarship is vetted by a real person to make sure it is legitimate. They also rigorously update our database to ensure that members have the most helpful, up-to-date information on each scholarship.
LP: How did Fastweb get started?
KR: Fastweb was the very first college scholarship search website ever and was founded nearly 25 years ago by Larry Organ, a businessman and entrepreneur. He created Fastweb to stand for Financial Aid Search Through the WEB. A few years later, he teamed up with financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz to provide students with financial aid guidance. Monster acquired Fastweb in 2001, and it has evolved into a one-stop-shop for all things scholarship, financial aid, college search, and part-time job search for high school, college, graduate, and nontraditional students.
LP: How can students apply for scholarships?
KR: Students must become a member on Fastweb to access a list of scholarships they qualify for and application instructions. Becoming a member is free and takes just a few minutes. From there, members will see scholarships show up on their profile that they can start applying to right away, or they can update their profile with additional information to be matched to more scholarships. Each scholarship that members see on their profile will have specific instructions on how and where to apply.
LP: Can you provide an example of a past success story?
KR: Fortunately, we have many success stories! We have a page on our website specifically dedicated to scholarship winners. Some of our members have won prestigious awards through Fastweb, like Briana B. who won a Coca-Cola Foundation Scholarship. Other members have applied for multiple scholarships before winning one. For example, Josh W. told us that he applied to over 30 scholarships before securing a $10,000 award to help pay for college.
