Micro-Scholarships

by Anne Lodge

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Want to learn about an easy way to earn money for college? Read on!

Raise.me is a new program that allows students in grades 9-12 to earn scholarships for their academic and extracurricular achievements throughout high school. These “micro-scholarships” award money to students for everything from perfect attendance, to earning good grades, to participating in clubs, to playing sports, volunteering, or any other number of things students are already doing. It almost sounds too easy!

Students in grades 9-12 can create a free account with Raise.me, complete a profile and portfolio documenting their achievements from grade 9 onwards, and begin following colleges. By following a college, students are able to earn money that can be used towards tuition at that particular school. The money earned for a particular achievement may be different from school to school and students can view their earnings through their personal portfolio at any time. If a student then applies to a college where they have earned micro-scholarship money and they are admitted to the school, the scholarship money is automatically added to their financial aid package. The great thing is that students can be eligible to raise money from all of the colleges on Raise.me at the same time if they meet the requirements and follow the college.

Raise.me is funded by the Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, and Facebook’s charitable giving program, among others. It has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and NPR. There are over 100 colleges that participate in awarding these micro-scholarships through Raise.me including University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Notre Dame, Merrimack, Colby, Penn State, Temple, Loyola University Maryland, Carnegie Mellon, and WPI to name a few.

The chance to earn scholarship money just by doing what you’re already doing? Sounds good to me!