Other scholarship sites may feature more general communication preference choices. Even then, deleting messages as they arrive can make more sense than opting out altogether.
“Let it come in and at least take a quick glance,” says Marianne Ragins, publisher of ScholarshipWorkshop.com. “Sometimes, it might be something good.”
But even if you opt out of emails, personal information like your address or phone number can still be sold to third parties. Look for an opt-in addressing this when you register and check the website’s privacy policy to understand how it handles your personal information and your rights.
Create a dedicated email Providing an email is the price of doing business with many scholarship search engines.
“Our service is free,” Randolph says. “With that comes working with advertisers and people who want to market to students.”
That doesn’t mean you have to give them your primary email address.
Instead, create an email account solely for scholarship mail. It will keep marketers from your main inbox and help you track your applications. Matthews recommends using “something clean” for your scholarship email, like your first and last name with an additional number, symbol or dash if needed. Be sure to check this account’s spam folder. Important messages like acceptance notices from scholarship providers could end up there by accident. Use a site that doesn’t require registration The scholarship sites that don’t require an email are unlikely to save your results or send you reminders, but you’ll avoid marketing messages. To see if you prefer to not share your email, try sites such as CareerOneStop from the U.S. Department of Labor and the College Board’s Scholarship Search. Ideally, you’ll use both kinds of sites, registered and not, and multiple scholarship search engines. “Five is a good place to start,” says Kristina Ellis, creator of CollegeNinja.com. “You don’t want to get too overwhelmed.”
Avoid websites that charge a fee, since there are plenty of free choices.
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