Students are encouraged to look at institutional scholarships (those offered by the college or university to which they are applying) as well as independent scholarships.  Information regarding institutional scholarships can most often be found on the institution's financial aid website.  Deadlines for institutional scholarships vary and may or may not coincide with admissions deadlines.  It is very important to check and organize all deadlines at an institution including admission, financial aid, and scholarships. 

SCHS and FCPS maintain an online scholarship database through Naviance Student. If you are not familiar with using Naviance Student, this video tutorial may help you. Once in their account, students can click on Colleges to find the Scholarship List. 

College Access Fairfax and the Community Foundation of Northern Virginia post a number of scholarships offered by local businesses and organizations.

Additional Scholarship Databases:

• The SmartStudent Guide to Financial Aid

• Petersons College Scholarship Search

• Fastweb

• College Board Scholarship Search

• Sallie Mae Scholarship Search

• University HQ

Scholarship Scams - Warning Signs

If you find in your search that a scholarship includes any of the following, it is wise to be wary of a potential scam: 

• Scholarship has "fees"
• Scholarship is "guaranteed"
• Scholarship is exclusive - "you can't get this information anywhere else"
• Scholarship is unsolicited - "you're a finalist"
• Application requires credit card or bank account information 

Additional information and guidance from the Federal Trade Commission