Free College Scholarship Lotteries
Scholarship lotteries are not real scholarships, per say. While they do involve a real cash payout, there are no judges and there are no long applications to fill out. Rather, you enter, your name goes into the pool and if you’re name is drawn, you win. It is just like other lotteries, except you have to be attending or planning on attending college in order to enter.
Also known as scholarship sweepstakes, scholarship lotteries are truly a mixed bag. It’s like winning any sweepstakes, really. However, they could be a great opportunity for you to get some cash for doing nothing! You can’t beat that, right?
What are my chances of winning?
Your odds of winning are quite slim compared to other scholarship opportunities. It’s very similar to other contests where you enter to win. The odds can be as low as 1 in 10,000 for the very publicized competitions. Think of this in comparison to merit scholarships or other scholarships where you have to write an essay or prove yourself in some way that make it so you have a 1 in 15 chance of winning. Obviously, you should still apply to the standard scholarships as well. Work hard on those applications and do your best to display yourself in the most positive light. But go ahead and apply to those scholarship lotteries too. What’s the harm? You might just win!
Does it cost money to enter scholarship lotteries?
It absolutely should not cost you a penny to enter such a contest. If it does, run don’t walk away! It may very well be a scam and you could end up losing out on that entry fee. Only enter into scholarship lotteries if they’re free.
So, why do companies give away money?
Scholarship lotteries are only given away by education lenders nowadays. They are used as a means of promotion for their business and help to bring in traffic to their websites. When you enter a scholarship lottery, you’ll probably have to provide some very basic information about yourself, like your address and e-mail address. This is to be expected, but it can result it a lot of spam and junk mail. That’s another way they make money—selling you’re e-mail address.
I want to apply, but I don’t want to deal with the junk
So, if you don’t want a ton of junk mail, but still want to enter a scholarship lottery anyway, just set up a dummy account at some free place like Yahoo or Hotmail. That way, when the spam starts pouring in, your real e-mails won’t get lost in the shuffle.
You can also check to see if there is an “opt out” option on any of the offers when you enter a scholarship lottery. If there is, make sure you opt out! Otherwise, you’ll end up with an inbox flooded with useless ads.
Where can I find scholarship lotteries?
A great way to find scholarship lotteries is to hit the web and search for them! Typing in “scholarship lottery” or “scholarship sweepstakes” is a good way to find them. Or, you can check out all of the major banks such as Wells Fargo, Wachovia and Bank of America, which each offer various promotional sweepstakes and scholarships to help attract attention to their student lending services. It is their hope that when you don’t win that free money, you’ll go ahead and borrow money from them. Interesting tactic, huh? But it seems to work pretty well for them.
In sum, while scholarship lotteries are not the best way to fund your college education, they are a fun and easy way to get some cash if you win! Just don’t rely on a lottery. Always have a financial back up plan.