Tired of creating new accounts on scholarship websites? Hate signing back in every time? Worried about how your information will be used?

Well, there’s great news: There are many credible scholarship databases that DON’T require an account!

In this article, I’ll present six of my favorite scholarship databases from organizations like CollegeBoard, the U.S Department of Labor, and Chegg among others.

Best scholarship databases that don’t require an account

1. BigFuture

BigFuture is the scholarship arm of College Board, which some of you may be familiar with if you’ve taken the SAT or ACT.

This database has hundreds of scholarships and is collectively worth an estimated $6 BILLION!

It’s also really easy to use.

First, click on this link and then select the “Start” button.

Next, complete the “Personal Information” section. 

Do your best to input as much relevant information as you can to get the best results. This information will serve as your search criteria.

Keep in mind that this section has four pages and can be easily overlooked if you’re not paying attention. I definitely made this mistake the first time around so be careful.

You can do this by clicking on the “Next” button at the bottom of the page. 

Once you input all of this information, hit the “See Results” button. This will generate a list of scholarships that fit your search criteria. 

Go through each page and click on scholarships you’re eligible for. It may be a good idea to write them down somewhere (e.g., word doc, paper).

Clicking on scholarships will take you to a new page that provides all of the information you will need to apply.

When you’re ready to start the application process, scroll down and click on the link to go to the scholarship organization’s website.

For example, I selected the “$10,000 Hach & Rose, LLP Annual College Scholarship” and was taken to its information page. I then clicked on the link to access the online application.

2. BrokeScholar

BrokeScholar is another great resource because it offers more than $20 million in scholarships (plus fellowships and grants) to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students.

A major benefit is its focus on smaller, lesser-known scholarships since less visibility means less competition.

This organization also works with popular brands like Apple, Nike, and Target to offer exclusive discounts and coupon codes to its users (including you)!

You can access this scholarship database by clicking on this link.

Choose whether you want to search for scholarships by (a) year, (b) study area, (c) gender, or (d) ethnicity. 

Then click the drop-down bar to select your response. 

For this example, let’s search for scholarships related to psychology.

Now click the “Search” button to generate a list of scholarships that match your search criterion. 

Keep in mind that you can only do one search at a time but you can always rerun it with a different criterion.

Review your search results and click on scholarships that apply to you. 

In our case, let’s go with the “Janet Hyde Graduate Student Research Grant”

Here, we see the description of the scholarship and learn that it is open to female students who are currently enrolled in a psychology doctoral program.

If you fit these eligibility requirements, click the “Apply Now” button, which will take you to the online application on the scholarship’s official website.

If you don’t want to use the search tool, you can look through the scholarship directory instead.

You can get there by scrolling to the bottom of the homepage and look for the “Scholarships” and “Scholarships By Major” sections.

3. CareerOneStop

CareerOneStop was created by the U.S Department of Labor for undergraduate and graduate students, and houses more than 8,000 awards (scholarships, grants, fellowships, and prizes)!

I found it to be the most challenging database on this list because it isn’t intuitive to use at first but I’ll walk you through it.

Start by clicking on this link to access the scholarship database.

Note: Before we move on to the next step, take a look at the initial number of scholarships. There are a total of 6,169 scholarships (remember that number).

Now, you can either type a keyword in the search bar OR click on one of the options under the “Filter By” section.

Let’s go with the keyword approach and type “Psychology” to search for psychology-related awards.

Note: If you don’t want to use the search bar, just click on “Scholarship” as your starting point and continue with the same process.

This search criterion yielded 92 results related to “Psychology” but this includes scholarships, grants, fellowships, and prizes.

For now, we’re only interested in scholarships so click on the “Scholarship” option. As you can see, there are now 42 scholarships related to psychology. 

The numbers for each option will go down for every search criterion you add so the original 6,169 scholarships went down to 42 because we added “Psychology” as our criterion. 

It is also a good idea to filter these results by your grade level.

If you’re an undergraduate student, for example, click on the “Bachelor’s Degree” option, which will bring the number down to 13 scholarships. 

This will be our final list and only consists of scholarships for undergraduate students who are pursuing a psychology degree. 

Take this time to review each scholarship and click on the ones you’re interested in. 

Let’s go with the “Tara Lynne Arnold Scholarship Fund.” 

It should take you to a new page with a description of the scholarship. 

Scroll down and click on the link next to “Find more information.” This will take you to the online application on the official scholarship website.

4. Chegg

While Chegg is a great textbook rental company, it also has an awesome scholarship database that boasts more than 25,000 scholarship opportunities.

It is very easy to use and takes SECONDS to find scholarships.

You can access the scholarship database by clicking on this link.

Next, filter the scholarship list by adding a keyword in the search bar OR completing the four sections: (1) application type, (2) current level, (3) age, and (4) GPA.

Tip: It’s best to use the search bar when you’re only interested in one criterion (e.g., major, gender, ethnicity) whereas the sections are best for targeted searches.

Let’s go with the search bar approach. 

Type “Psychology” as your search criterion and click the “Search” button. This will generate a list of scholarships that fit your criterion.

Review this list and click on scholarships that best fit you. 

In this case, let’s go with the “Excellence in Psychology Scholarship.”

This will take you to the description page of this scholarship. 

We learn that it is available to undergraduate and graduate students who are pursuing a psychology degree.

Finally, click on the link next to “Website” to access the online application.

If you want to use the four sections approach instead, input your information in the corresponding boxes. 

For this example, we’ll assume you’re a 20-year-old college student with a 3.5 GPA so we’ll add this information below.

What you should have noticed is every time you check a box, the number of scholarship matches will go down since you’re adding a new search criterion. 

This is a good thing because you don’t want to spend unnecessary time looking through thousands of scholarships you may not be eligible for. 

5. Discover

Although Discover is best known as a credit card company, it also has one of the largest scholarship databases.

Its database has an estimated 3 MILLION scholarships on file totaling about $18 BILLION! This reason alone makes it a valuable resource for students.

You can access this scholarship database by clicking on this link.

Second, input your information and then click the “Search” button to generate a list of scholarships.

Tip: You can also access the scholarship directory to view individual scholarships. 

Third, review this list and click on a scholarship you’re interested in. This will prompt a pop-up box that contains information about this scholarship.

Let’s go with the “$1,000 GK Tanabe Student Scholarship.” 

To apply, click on the “Apply Now” link.

6. Thrivent

Thrivent is by far my favorite scholarship database because it gives you valuable information, such as your odds of winning a scholarship (success rate) and its level of competitiveness.

You can access this scholarship database by using this link.

Next, use the search bar AND section boxes below to filter the list of scholarships. Every time you add a new search criterion, the database will automatically change this list.

For this example, let’s type “Psychology” in the search bar and input California as your state of residence.

Tip: Use the search bar and the “FIELD OF STUDY” section box to get better search results on psychology-related scholarships.

Tip: Use the “APPLICANT SUCCESS RATE” filter to maximize your chances of winning by applying to scholarships with low competition and/or a high success rate.

Once you have your final results, find scholarships you are eligible for by reading the description box.

Let’s go with the “THOUGHT LEADERS IN PSYCHOLOGY SCHOLARSHIP,” which is available to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a psychology program.

Click on the “APPLY ONLINE” button to access the online application.

Some scholarships may not have this button so you’ll have to click on the website link next to “Sponsor” to find the application.

7. U.S News Scholarship Finder

Not many students know this but the U.S. News & World Report doesn’t just rank colleges – it also has its own scholarship database.

This scholarship database offers more than 16,000 scholarships worth MILLIONS of dollars and has other resources on its website.

You can access this database by clicking on this link.

Use the search bar AND the section boxes below to input your information. This will automatically filter out unrelated items to ones that match your criteria.

Let’s type “Psychology” in the search bar, which will take the number down to 22 matches.

These matches include all types of awards (e.g., grants, fellowships), not just scholarships. Since we’re only interested in psychology-related scholarships, click the “Scholarships” box.

It is also a good idea to include your grade level so if you’re a college freshman, you would click the “Undergraduate” box. 

Now, the total number of scholarships that fit your criteria is four.

Review your results and pick a scholarship you’re interested in. 

Once you have one, click on the drop-down bar to learn about the scholarship and its eligibility requirements.

Let’s go with the “Dr. Chester Collins Memorial Psychology Scholarship.” We can see that it is open to undergraduate and graduate students with at least a 3.75 GPA.

When you’re ready to apply, click on the “Apply Now” button, which will take you to the online application on the official website.

Honorable Mentions

Fastweb and Scholarships.com are two of my favorite websites because they each provide a scholarship directory you can access without an account.

The only downside is you can’t apply for scholarships through these websites, but you could just copy (Ctrl + C) and paste (Ctrl + V) this information into Google. 

1. Fastweb

Fastweb has a scholarship directory you can use without creating an account and you can access it here. 

All you have to do is scroll down to the bottom of the page and look under the “QUICK LINKS” heading. 

There, you should find links to the scholarship directory as well as the different types of scholarships (e.g., “Scholarships for Hispanic Students”). 

Click on the links that apply to you and pick a scholarship.

Once you find one, copy and paste the scholarship and organization names into Google.

For example, if you’re interested in the scholarship below then I would copy and paste: 

1. “Future Lawyers of America Scholarship” 
2. “Bader Scott Injury Lawyers”

The first link you see on Google is usually the one you’re looking for. 

Click on that link to access the official scholarship website and find the online application.

2. Scholarships.com

Scholarships.com also offers a great scholarship directory and you can access it here. 

Scroll to the bottom of the page to find links to the scholarship directory and the different types of scholarships.

Click on the links that apply to you and use this time to pick a few scholarships.

Let’s assume you’re interested in this scholarship by the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP). 

Here, we would follow the same steps mentioned in the previous section and copy and paste this into Google: 

1. “Out To Innovate Scholarships for LGBTQ+STEM Students”
2. “NOGLSTP” 

Then click on the first link to find the online application.

Trade-off between using many versus few search criteria

When you add many search criteria, there will naturally be fewer results, but you are more likely to be eligible for them. At the same time, you don’t want to be too niche.

However, if you add a few search criteria, you will naturally have more results, but there is a lower chance that you are eligible for them.

Personally, I say find the sweet spot. For me, it’s between 2-3 search criteria at a time but it really depends on you. I usually focus on (1) area of study, (2) grade level, and (3) state of residence.

It can also be useful to include other demographic information, such as gender, ethnicity, and religious affiliation.

Here’s are some examples of my search criteria:

• First search: Psychology + Undergraduate + California
• Second search: Psychology + Undergraduate
• Third search: Psychology + Male
• Fourth search: Psychology + Asian
• Fifth search: Psychology + Male + Asian
• Sixth search: Undergraduate + California

Overall, your goal is to be as efficient as possible. This means capturing as many “hits” or eligible scholarships as you can while minimizing the “misses” in your search results.