Why ask how a free site is paid for?
Running a scholarship platform costs money: people to check listings, engineers, servers, support. When a site is free to students, someone else is paying. That is not a reason to avoid it, but it explains a lot about what happens after you sign up: who emails you, who sees your profile and what the privacy policy allows.
Every platform on this site says something about this on its own pages. Below is what each one says, read on 15 October 2026, grouped by model.
Which platforms are funded by donors?
Bold.org describes a donor model. Donors create scholarships on Bold.org, the homepage invites visitors to join its donors and says donations are 100% tax-deductible, and a counter on the homepage showed $17,961,130 in total scholarships awarded when we read it. Students use it for free: the homepage says "100% free no fees, ever".
Donor funding is not the whole picture. Bold.org's scholarships page says it may be paid by companies displayed who are part of its Vetted Partner Program, and its privacy policy says it may sell to or share your information with, and generate revenue from, scholarship providers and academic institutions.
Which are paid for by colleges, marketers and advertisers?
Fastweb's privacy policy is direct about it: its free services are offered based on users' willingness to be contacted by colleges or its marketing partners, and information may be sold to colleges. Scholarships.com's policy says it may sell or share personal information, including for marketing and advertising. Niche's policy lists identifiers sold or shared with advertising partners. Appily, owned by EAB, says colleges can use your profile to share admission offers with students who match their criteria.
For a student who wants to hear from colleges, this model can be useful: outreach and offers are part of what you get. For a student who does not, the opt-out and do-not-sell links matter more than any feature.
Which charges students?
ScholarshipOwl charges a membership after a free trial. Its FAQ says introductory services are free and the full range of services is offered on a premium level. Its plan prices are not on its public pages; a scholarship site, Scholarships360, lists plans from $10 to $69 a month, which ScholarshipOwl's pages do not confirm. Its terms say payments are non-refundable except in limited cases.
A membership does not mean your data stays private. ScholarshipOwl's privacy policy says it may sell identifiers and certain sensitive personal information, like ethnicity and citizenship. Paying and data use are separate questions, and you should ask both.
What should you do with this?
- Before you sign up anywhere, read the privacy line on the platform's profile here, or search its policy for sell, share and opt out.
- Use a separate email address for scholarship accounts.
- If college outreach is welcome, pick platforms built around it. If it is not, use the opt-outs or start with your school and local sources.
- If you pay for a service, note the price and the trial end date on day one.
The match quiz asks how you feel about sharing data and changes its suggestions accordingly.
Does the model change what you see?
It can. A platform paid by colleges has a reason to keep you engaged with college outreach; a platform that hosts donor awards has a reason to keep donors and students active on its own pages; a membership service has a reason to keep you subscribed. None of these is a hidden motive, since each is described on the platform's own pages, but it helps to read every email and every recommendation with the model in mind. When a message pushes you toward a college, an offer or an upgrade, ask who benefits, and whether it is also what you want.
Where can you check all of this?
Each platform's profile on this site quotes its cost line and its privacy policy, with the date we read them and a link to the page. The fact table puts all six side by side.