5 Smarter Ways to Find Scholarships (That Most Students Never Try)

1. Start earlier than you think you should

Most students wait until senior year to think about scholarships. That's exactly why starting earlier gives you an edge. There are awards open to 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th graders, and even for the ones that aren't, knowing what's out there early means you can build the activities, grades, or portfolio those scholarships look for. By the time senior year hits, you're applying while everyone else is still searching.

2. Look beyond your GPA

Straight A's are great, but they're far from the only path to scholarship money. There are awards based on your hobbies, your intended career, your community, your family background, your part-time job, the sports you play, the art you make — even quirky things like being left-handed or exceptionally tall. The question isn't "am I impressive enough?" It's "which scholarships were basically written for someone like me?"

3. Don't skip the "small" awards

A $500 or $1,000 scholarship might not sound life-changing next to a full ride — but small awards stack. Three or four of them can cover books, fees, or a chunk of housing. Better yet, smaller local and niche scholarships get dramatically fewer applicants, which means your odds are far better than with the big national names everyone chases.

4. Get matched instead of searching blind

Typing "scholarships for students" into a search engine gives you millions of results — most of them irrelevant, outdated, or sketchy. A smarter approach: use a tool that matches scholarships to you. The free Encourage app connects your interests, goals, and background to personalized matches from a database of 80,000+ scholarships sourced from trusted national data — so instead of digging through everything, you start with a list built for you.

5. Track everything in one place

The #1 reason students lose out on scholarships they qualified for? Missed deadlines. When you're juggling school, activities, and applications, details slip. Keep every scholarship, requirement, and due date in a single tracker — the Encourage app does this automatically, showing you exactly what's next so nothing falls through the cracks.