<p>I just received some mail from the USAA National Minority Leadership Awards (I hate the word leadership. Scam comes to mind....). Anyone ever hear about it? It says I have been "honored nationally" and that only "a small number of students can hope to have their names and achievements featured in this highly respected publication."</p>
<p>Sounds like crap to me, but it offers a 10k scholarship and all I have to do is fill out a form.</p>
<p>Oh yea it also says all american scholar. Just curious because haven't ever heard of these....</p>
<p>Do you need to pay anything?</p>
<p>MONEY = SCAM</p>
<p>apparently not, but they offer a yearbook thingy of the people nominated that is optional.</p>
<p>probably more or less a scam trying to get parents to buy the yearbooks, but if you don't have to pay anything it's not completely bad.</p>
<p>According to their website (<a href="http://www.usaa-academy.com%5B/url%5D">www.usaa-academy.com</a>) they do give some scholarships, but it is unclear how many beyond the four mentioned in their opening website. A google search didn't turn up any information or complaints about this organization. However, It appears their main purpose, as with Who's Who, is to sell their directory - they are NOT a non-profit organization or foundation but a profit making venture. Before I sent in any "scholarship form" I'd want to know if my name, phone number, address etc. was going to be resold to other businesses. I would also ask if it is possible to opt out of being in the directory entirely and still be considered for the scholarship.
In short, trust your judgement about whether to pursue this.</p>
<p>By the way, here is a very good list of questions to ask about ANY company that contacts you with unsolicited scholarship offers --- these questions are from <a href="http://www.finaid.org%5B/url%5D">www.finaid.org</a>, a reliable source of information.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/protecting.phtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/protecting.phtml</a></p>
<p>Wow. They only offer four $10,000 scholarships. That is so little. I just know I'd never get one!</p>
<p>What makes me suspicious is that they have several different "scholarship" programs besides the Minority one, yet they still seem to only offer just the four scholarships. And, no where on their site do they announce the winners from any of the past years - and while a google search turned up lots of people mentioning they had been NOMINATED for these awards or had their names in the directory, I couldn't find anyone who had actually WON a scholarship. The other thing that makes me suspicious is that, from what you say, there is no essay required, no interview required, etc. Just submit their form and you're in the running...or maybe not if you don't buy the directory.</p>
<p>Again, read the guidelines in the link above - sounds to me like this "foundation" meets several of the criteria that the FTC warns about when it comes to scholarship scams. I could be wrong, but I would ask a lot of questions before sending my personal information to them.</p>