Save money on college just by opening your email
Scholarships are supposed to help you pay for college.
But there’s something families don’t talk about nearly enough:
What happens to your information when you search for them?
Over the years, I’ve watched the scholarship-search world get bigger, noisier and considerably more complicated. There are wonderful scholarship providers doing meaningful work for students. There are also websites, sweepstakes and scholarship-style promotions designed in part to generate leads, collect consumer information or market products and services.
That’s why I tell families something I’ve said for years:
“If you’re not paying for the product, you may be the product.”
Free isn’t necessarily bad. In fact, some fantastic educational resources are completely free.
But before you hand over your name, email address, phone number, graduation year, school information and other personal details, you should know who is collecting that information and what they’re going to do with it.
Not Every Scholarship Website Is the Same
When you find a scholarship online, don’t just look at the dollar amount.
Look at the organization behind it.
Before providing personal information, ask:
- Who is offering this scholarship?
- Is there a legitimate organization behind it?
- Is there a clear privacy policy?
- What information am I being asked to provide?
- Why do they need it?
- Will my information be shared or sold?
- Am I applying for a scholarship — or signing up to receive marketing?
- Can I easily understand how my information will be used?
Those questions matter.
A $1,000 scholarship isn’t nearly as exciting if applying means you’ve unknowingly agreed to have your information circulated among companies you’ve never heard of.
This Is One Reason Imagine Scholarships Partnered With Red Kite
When we began looking for a scholarship partner, I wasn’t simply looking for more scholarships.
More isn’t necessarily better.
I wanted a partner I felt comfortable putting in front of our students and families.
That’s why Imagine Scholarships partnered with Red Kite.
Red Kite was built to help students find scholarship opportunities that match who they are — without turning the scholarship search into an endless maze of questionable listings and data collection.
And there’s something particularly important to me about Red Kite:
They take student privacy seriously.
Red Kite states that it does not sell personal information for money and explains in its privacy policy how information is collected, used and shared.
That’s important to me as an educator.
It’s important to me as a parent.
And it’s important to Imagine Scholarships.
So, What Is Red Kite?
Think of Red Kite as the scholarship-search engine within the larger Imagine Scholarships experience.
Students create a free Red Kite account and provide information about themselves. Red Kite then helps match them with scholarship opportunities for which they may qualify.
Instead of endlessly searching Google for:
“Scholarships for a high school senior who likes biology, volunteers at an animal shelter, lives in Texas and wants to become a veterinarian…”
Red Kite helps do the matching.
And yes — that’s considerably easier.
Ready to Search?
Create your free Red Kite account through Imagine Scholarships here:
Please use our Imagine Scholarships link when creating your account. It allows Red Kite to know that you came through Imagine Scholarships and helps support our partnership.
But Scholarships Are Only Part of Paying for College
This is where Imagine Scholarships comes in.
Finding a scholarship is one thing.
Understanding how to actually pay for college is another.
At Imagine Scholarships, we’ve spent years building educational resources to help students and families understand the entire process.
Inside Imagine Scholarships, you’ll find:
Videos. Blogs. E-books. Courses. Webinars. Templates. Financial literacy resources. College admissions guidance. Scholarship strategies.
And much more.
Our goal isn’t simply to hand you a giant list of scholarships and wish you luck.
We want to teach you how to find opportunities, how to become a stronger applicant, how to understand financial aid and how to make smarter decisions about paying for college.
Imagine Scholarships + Red Kite
It’s a partnership that makes sense.
Imagine Scholarships teaches you how to navigate college, scholarships and paying for education.
Red Kite powers the scholarship-search portion of Imagine Scholarships and helps you find opportunities that match you.
Together, we’re able to give students something much more valuable than another enormous scholarship list.
We’re giving you education + opportunity.
A Few Scholarship Safety Rules I Want Every Student to Know
Before we go, save these:
Never pay to apply for a legitimate scholarship.
Be cautious about providing highly sensitive information during an initial scholarship search.
Read the privacy policy before creating accounts.
Look for a real organization behind the scholarship.
Be skeptical of language suggesting you’ve “won” something you don’t remember entering.
Never provide banking information simply to apply for a scholarship.
And don’t assume a website is trustworthy simply because it appears at the top of a Google search.
Most importantly, be intentional about where you create your scholarship-search profile.
Your personal information has value.
Treat it that way.
Start Your Scholarship Search
You don’t need 17 scholarship accounts, 42 browser tabs and an inbox that suddenly seems to know an alarming amount about you.
You need a trusted place to start.
That’s why the scholarship-search section of Imagine Scholarships is powered by Red Kite.
We’ll help you learn how to navigate the process.
Red Kite will help you find the opportunities.
And you can spend your time doing what actually matters:
Applying.