Nothing's better than "free money" to help pay for college. Unfortunately, finding scholarship opportunities can be a time-consuming process.
Thankfully, there are some resources that can help you find scholarships, which you don't have to repay, to help pay for your education. Among them is Scholly, an easy-to-use app that connects students with scholarship opportunities. Here's what you need to know about this tool.
What is Scholly?
The app was founded by entrepreneur Christopher Gray, who landed $1.3 million in scholarship money during high school to pay for college.
As an undergrad at Drexel University, Gray learned that about $100 million in scholarship money goes unclaimed each year. Meanwhile, other students were asking for his help to find grants. “You have students drowning in debt and scholarships that go unawarded," he told Smithsonian magazine in 2016. "The system is broken.”
Realizing there was a market for a tool that helps connect students with free money for college, Gray started Scholly. His appearance on the show Shark Tank caused a bit of sensation when unexpected traffic from users all over the country downloading the app caused it to briefly crash.
Today, nearly 1 million users have downloaded the app, which has helped award $100 million in scholarships.
How does Scholly work?
The scholarship-matching app connects high school seniors, current undergrads, graduates students, and international students to college money by sending them a personalized list of scholarships that fits their needs.
After filling out a short questionnaire, the app's scholarship database matches users with a list of opportunities. The app also include various tools to help manage deadlines and track progress.
Staffers work to remove scholarships with deadlines that have passed or that no longer exist from the database. And they don't include scholarships that require a Social Security number, which can sometimes be a sign of a scam, or that have a major fee upfront.
How do you sign up?
Creating an account and getting started is easy. Visit myscholly.com and click "Sign Up" on the main page.
The app is available for both web and mobile, and you don't need a phone number to apply.
If you have a "join code," you can enter it on the sign-up page. Otherwise, you can go on to create a profile with basic information about yourself, such as your gender, your major, your college or university, and your level of education. You can also include additional information, like whether you have religious affiliations. All of these details help the app tailor your list; the more information you provide, the better your chances at finding scholarships that are a good fit.
But before you get started, know that Scholly isn't free. Scholly has subscription options that range from $4.99 per month to $34.99 for a year. (There is some limited scholarship info available for free.) However, the fee for the app may be well worth it since Scholly connects you with about 20,000 scholarship opportunities. If you land even one scholarship through the app that you wouldn't have heard of otherwise, it'll end up saving you money.
Once you're sent a list of suitable scholarships, the next step is up to you: sort through them, start your essays, gather any other information you need such as transcripts or letters of recommendation, and apply.
Looking for more ways to help you pay for college? Check out our Scholarship Guide.