Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eCampus News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

College scholarships: He’s got an app for that

Scholly has been downloaded several thousand times since May.

Christopher Gray couldn’t even afford college application fees, let alone tuition. His single mother was out of work, and there were two siblings to think about, then ages 2 and 3.

But with a passion for entrepreneurship, the Birmingham, Ala., student dreamed of attending a college in the Northeast so he could be close to New York City and other major business centers. “So the onus was really on me. I had to deal with it myself,” recalled Gray, now 21 and a rising junior at Drexel University.

For three months, he holed up in the local library — he didn’t have a computer at home — and searched out and applied for more than 70 college scholarships.…Read More

Want a scholarship? Watch what you post online

College applicants should check their Facebook privacy settings.

Students, beware: Scholarship providers aren’t just going by your application to learn about you. They’re also checking you out on Google and social media sites, according to a recent survey. And what they uncover—the good or the bad—could be the tie-breaker when it comes to deciding between you and another candidate.

“Students need to recognize that the colleges and scholarship providers are increasingly looking at this,” said Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of Fastweb.com, a scholarship site that conducted the survey.

For years, teens have been warned to be careful about what they post online for safety reasons. Now, they have a financial incentive to do so. With scarce scholarship dollars at stake and online privacy settings not foolproof, students will have to make sure they put their best foot forward online.…Read More