<p>As a desperate student needing as much financial aid as I can get, I have submitted about 30 scholarships already. Some of them ask for my SSN and I didn't think much about it. What can I do now? Should I get an identity theft protection? </p>
<p>Will they ruin my credit? </p>
<p>Shoot, now I'm worried because I didn't think much of it and didn't keep record. I am going to send a couple with my SSN as well.</p>
<p>I used <strong><em>, *</em></strong>***********, and FastWeb for scholarship search so hopefully they are legitimate.</p>
<p>College Confidential ***-out certain websites that are competitors. </p>
<p>There are social security numbers flying around by the gazillions in college and financial aid applications. Sometimes a thread will be started here by people who are a little miffed by all the colleges and scholarship providers that are asking for social security numbers.</p>
<p>I’m not saying you shouldn’t be careful with your SSN, but you aren’t the only person who’s had to submit yours with numerous applications. Unless you have reason to believe you’ve provided it to some shady outfit, I’d just keep an eye on your financial affairs (which you should do anyway of course). It will probably be fine. There will likely never be another time in your life when so many people want your SSN as when you’re applying for college and financial aid.</p>
<p>Thanks 'rentof2. I will definitely do that.</p>
<p>I emailed one website that is blocked and asked them about it and they replied:</p>
<p>“Hi, we are pretty careful about the scholarships we have on our website. They are all legitimate and will protect any personal information that you give them.”</p>