<p>Counselors are always telling us that millions of dollars in scholarship money is not given away each year because nobody applie for those scholarship. Where can I find these scholarships?</p>
<p>If your counselor has hard evidence that such a situation exists, ask him/her to direct you to the specific scholarships that he/she knows no one applied for last year. We only know about scholarships that people have indeed been awarded.</p>
<p>There may be a number of “niche” awards that are not applied for. My one son really put a lot of time in applying for scholarships, and there came a point when he had to pick and choose. To apply for some randome $500 award that needed recs, transcripts, essays, etc, was often not worth while, when you have to pick and choose.</p>
<p>He got one cancer survivor scholarship by default because he was the only applicant. The sponsors decided to close down the program so he got more than the face amount as they gave him the whole pot. BUt you aren’t going to get a lot of takers for that one. </p>
<p>But tell your counselor to give you some examples of those awards. Many of them are small awards and you have to go to a certain school to get them. My friend’s DD was offered $100K over 4years to go to a small school that was not on her list and did not interest her in the least, when she became a semi finalist for some contest. There are such awards, but you need to find the schools offering them and they may not be schools you know or want to attend.</p>
<p>The whole millions in unclaimed scholarships is a total myth. </p>
<p>Ask your GC for specific resources. He or she should know of local scholarships.</p>
<p>The unclaimed scholarships myth started in the 70s. It’s based on a study whose numbers included unused employer tuition benefits. Most unclaimed scholarships have very restrictive qualifications. It’s not that no one claimed them. There simply were no qualified applicants.</p>
<p>The GC at my D’s school said her son got a few local scholarships that he was the only one applying. There are certainly some unclaimed scholarships that there is no eligible applicants or at least anyone aware of it. I browsed through the list of local scholarships but there are only a couple out of a hundred or so that my D can apply. Some are for certain high school graduate going to study a specific major or programs related to certain career. To match the criteria is sometimes more difficult than competing for other scholarships.</p>
<p>That’s what they always told me, but I’m suspicious. 
I’ve looked and looked and looked, and have not found. Maybe I’m just too normal for the niche scholarships!</p>
<p>We got a scholarship notice from a cosmetology school which can be used for any major at an accredited college. I bet they don’t get a lot of applicants. I told my son he should apply as an interview is required, and he would have no problem chatting with a hair stylist. He has amazing hair!</p>
<p>There is a local foundation that offers 40+ scholarships for our area. Once my son looked through the list, there were only 2 he could even apply for. Many of these local scholarships are very specific- must graduate from X high school, have EFC <$5000, be a 4 yr member of 4-H club, planning to major in fire science, etc. It is a wonder some of them can find anyone to give the scholarship to.</p>
<p>^ In other words, there are reasons for those to be neglected.</p>