17 easy scholarships for free college money

Students have a lot to juggle. Any time you can save is incredibly valuable—especially when it comes to financial aid.

Lucky for you, there are tons of easy scholarships that don’t ask for a scholarship essay or other long piece of writing! 

Some might want quick answers to 1 or 2 questions. Others require as little as your name, email address, and year in school.

The great thing about easy scholarships like these is that you could apply to dozens of them in just a day—you just need to be able to find them! To help you in your scholarship search, we made a list of some of the easiest scholarships to apply for.

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The top 17 easy scholarships

Scholarships are a form of financial aid you don’t have to pay back. It’s free money if you can win it.

But many of them ask you to write essays about all kinds of topics.

If you don’t want to invest as much time into more rigorous scholarships, try some of these easy opportunities. You can likely apply to every single one of them within an hour or so.

1. Cappex’s Easy Money Scholarship

Cappex is a college research and comparison tool. On top of helping you pick a college to attend, Cappex offers an easy scholarship.

The Cappex Easy Money Scholarship is $1,000 and has no GPA or essay requirements. 

All you have to do is fill out information regarding your name, gender, ethnicity, and date of birth, as well as some academic stuff like your current school (or prospective schools if in high school).

There are only two steps to the application, so you could knock it out in about a minute.

You can apply for Cappex’s scholarship here.

2. Niche.com’s “No Essay” College Scholarship

Niche.com—a site that helps students and their families find good colleges and universities—offers $2,000 through its “No Essay” College Scholarship.

To apply, just create a Niche.com account and quickly fill out their short application.

Niche.com picks the winner by random draw. They’ll contact you if you win and announce you in their newsletter.

The best part? It’s monthly. If you aren’t selected, just wait a month and try again. Do it just once a month while you’re in college, and each time you apply, you’ll be entered to win $2,000!

You can apply for Niche’s scholarship here.

3. AFSA High School Scholarship

The American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) gives out free money in the form of easy college scholarships to high school students. They give out around 10 of these every year!

It’s also worth noting the AFSA offers 5 $1,000 2nd Chance Scholarships every year as well. Depending on your eligibility, you may be able to enter both scholarship drawings and maximize your potential free money. 

You can apply for AFSA’s scholarship here.

4. The Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway

The Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway takes a bit longer to apply for than the other “easy” scholarships. To apply, you have to write a brief statement and film a short video about how winning will impact your academic and professional life.

However, Dr. Pepper doesn’t provide super strict rules beyond being passionate.

The prizes larger than other scholarships, though: 

• 5 $100,000 grand prize giveaways

• 5 $25,000 runner-up prizes

• 10 $2,500 consolation prizes

There’s one caveat: from your application, you’re selected to throw a football at a college football game for the prize. You have to make this throw to win.

You can apply for Dr. Pepper’s giveaway here.

5. Tallo’s “The Nature of Work” Scholarship

Tallo’s “The Nature of Work” Scholarship offers $1,000 to a lucky winner. 

It’s pretty easy to apply for this scholarship. First, you’ll need to sign up for the platform by making a free account.

Once you’ve done so, you’ll follow a few simple steps to enter your name into the drawing. 

You can set up your Tallo account and apply here.

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6. Cedar Education Lending’s Because College is Expensive Scholarship

Cedar Education Lending’s aptly-named Because College is Expensive Scholarship offers a $500 prize to a lucky student every quarter. 

This may be one of the smaller scholarships, but the application asks for nothing but your name, email address, physical address, cell phone number, and grade/class rank.

Anyone who is a US citizen and a high school junior up to a grad student can enter, as long as they plan on enrolling in higher education within 24 months. 

Yes, that means you could lock in some easy college scholarship money barely past the halfway point of high school.

You can apply For Cedar Education Lending’s scholarship here.

7. CollegeXpress’s $2,000 Monthly Scholarship

All you do for the CollegeExpress monthly scholarship program, aside from filling in basic information, is answer one easy question with just one sentence.

This one’s great because the questions are fun as well.

For example, October 2021’s CollegeXpress scholarship question (titled the “Scaredy Cat Scholarship”) was, “What scares you most about the college admission process?”

CollegeXpress also automatically enters you into their separate $10,000 scholarship drawing as well. Pretty good deal!

You can apply for CollegeXpress’s scholarship here.

8. ScholarshipPoints’ $10,000 Scholarship

Yep, $10,000 is a good chunk of change for a scholarship. This one doesn’t ask for any essays or test scores—you just have to enter some basic personal information, provide your grade, and create a password.

Students as young as 13 can enter this one, too.

Alongside this big $10,000 drawing, ScholarshipPoints hands out 3 $1,000 scholarships every month as well. That means you have at least 36 chances every year to win some free cash!

You can apply for ScholarshipPoints’ scholarship here.

9. Bold.org’s “Be Bold” No-Essay Scholarship

Bold.org makes it easy for individuals and organizations to start scholarships for others. The platform also has its own—the “Be Bold” No-Essay Scholarship, which they award once per year.

This year, the scholarship sits at $25,102!

Bold.org says this scholarship has rolling admissions, though. According to their site, earlier applicants have a higher chance of winning.

Also, they pick the winner partly based on who has the boldest profile. Basically, if your Bold.org profile is the most moving or inspiring, you could boost your winning chances.

You can apply for Bold.org’s scholarship here.

10. ScholarshipOwl’s You Deserve It Scholarship

There are plenty of simple scholarships on this list, but this one might take the cake.

ScholarshipOwl asks for nothing more than your first and last name, phone number, and email address. In exchange, they’ll enter you into their giveaway to potentially win $2,222. 

If you win, you’ll also earn 1 month of free access to ScholarshipOwl’s services.

Unfortunately, people from Michigan and Rhode Island are currently ineligible for this scholarship.

You can apply for ScholarshipOwl’s scholarship here.

11. AccessScholarships’ Too Cool to Pay For School Scholarship

Feel too cool to pay for school? AccessScholarships might agree with you, so they give out $1,000 to 4 lucky winners at the end of every quarter.

Anyone in high school, college, or grad school can enter, as long as they intend to enroll in a higher education institution within 24 months if not already enrolled. 

It looks like you can enter once every quarter. That said, they’ll hand you an extra entry if you follow them on Instagram by using the button on the application page. 

You can apply for AccessScholarships’ scholarship here.

12. Scholarships360’s $1,000 No-Essay Scholarship

Scholarships360 might help people find scholarships, but it also offers one of its own: the $1,000 No-Essay Scholarship.

Simply sign up by providing the website with a few pieces of information to enter the drawing.

This one’s open to basically any students who make an account. This scholarship is given away periodically based on signups. 

You can apply for Scholarships360’s scholarship here.

13. Ascent’s Shining Stars Scholarship

Ascent helps students of underserved backgrounds afford college through a variety of means. One of them is the monthly $1,000 Shining Stars Scholarship.

Exact tasks on the application differ each month, but they’re always pretty easy. In general, you first have to read a short Ascent blog post. 

Then, you’ll follow Ascent on Instagram, like a specific post, and leave a comment on that post about something you learned from the blog with a hashtag that Ascent specifies.

Finally, you’ll fill out the scholarship form on the website to enter.

You can start applying for Ascent’s scholarship here.

14. Sallie Mae’s $1,000 Sweepstakes

Consumer banking giant Sallie Mae helps match high school and college students to thousands of scholarships on its website. To help you start out, they’ll automatically enter you for their own $1,000 giveaway when you sign up.

Sallie Mae will just ask for your name, email, and grade. You’ll then create a username and password to finish creating your account.

From there, you’re entered into their $1,000 giveaway!

You can sign up for Sallie Mae here.

15. Cirkled In’s “No Sweat” Scholarship

Every quarter, Cirkled In hands $2,500 to a lucky student to use on anything educational. 

You can enter as long as you’re 13, in 8–12th grade, and are a resident of a US state or Washington, DC.

To enter, just create a free account on Cirkled In’s website and complete your profile. Winners are determined based on their profile’s completeness and how many points they have. You can earn points by :

• Inviting teachers and friends to the platform

• Asking for recommendations from teachers, coaches, and mentors through the platform

• Applying for other scholarships on Cirkled In

You can apply for Cirkled In’s scholarship here.

16. Course Hero’s $4,000 College Giveaway

Course Hero lets students upload notes and documents to help other students around the world study for their own classes.

And now, they’ll hand you $4,000 in scholarships for doing it.

Unlike many scholarships, you can enter this scholarship as many times as you want. Every time you upload 10 study docs, you earn 1 new entry. If you have tons of notes and study guides, it could pay off big time!

You can apply for Course Hero’s scholarship here.

17. Niche.com’s Review Your School $1,000 Scholarship

Rounding out our list is another Niche.com scholarship that lets you help others and potentially earn some cash.

To do so, you’ll review your school.

For this scholarship opportunity, you’ll rate your overall experience at your school out of 5 stars with a quick written review. You’ll then rate several other aspects out of 5 stars and record your year in school or how you’re connected (freshman, parent, etc.).

If selected, you win $1,000.

You can apply for Niche’s scholarship here.

Easy scholarship FAQs

Got some questions about easy scholarships? Check out our FAQ section below for some answers.

What makes an easy scholarship?

We can say that a scholarship is “easy” if it meets at least one of the following:

• Lack of application activity: All you have to do is fill out some basic information about yourself. In some cases, you may have to write something short, such as a paragraph or two, but it’s still pretty easy.

• Lack of academic requirements: The scholarship has no or low GPA/test score requirements.

• Enjoyable: If there is something you have to do, it’ll be enjoyable for you. For example, if you love creative writing, a scholarship that makes you write a short story will be a breeze.

If a scholarship meets at least one of these attributes, you bet it’s going to be pretty easy.

What is the best strategy for applying for easy scholarships?

For easy scholarships alone, the best strategy is to simply send out as many applications as possible.

Here’s an idea: write down the same basic information, like your name and email address, in a Google doc, so you can just copy and paste that info and save a bit of time. 

However, don’t limit yourself to easy scholarships.

Apply to more traditional types that have written portions—they may have less competition, especially if in narrow subjects.

How can you improve your chances of winning easy scholarships?

Unfortunately, most of these scholarships don’t offer many ways to set yourself apart. That’s what makes them so easy—they’re less “competitions” and more “giveaways.”

You can’t do much unless there is a small written portion, creativity criteria, or place to put your GPA/test scores. 

That said, if the scholarship is available regularly—such as yearly or monthly—keep applying! It’s only a minute or so each time for the chance at free money.

Do easy scholarships have any drawbacks?

With an easier application comes competition. 

You’ll likely be up against plenty of applicants, regardless of how niche the scholarship is. This lowers your chances, but at least you can apply to more of these with less effort.

Should I only go for easy scholarships?

Easy scholarships are good, but you shouldn’t rely just on them.

Don’t only depend on scholarships in general, either.

Try to exhaust all financial aid opportunities—scholarships, grants, work-study, military aid (if applicable), and student loans. 

Make sure to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to see what federal aid you’re eligible for. 

With all this in mind, prioritize aid you don’t have to pay back to lower your debt. That means you should try and use scholarships and grants first, followed by loans.

Are there easy scholarship scams?

There are thousands of 100% legit easy scholarships. 

But whenever easy money’s involved, there will likely be scammers trying to take advantage. 

Here are a few signs of scams:

• Being selected for something you never applied for

• Being asked to pay fees or “prepaid taxes” before sending your application

• Being asked to deposit a check and send some of the funds back to the payer. This is known as a fake check scam.

• Asking for sensitive personal or financial info, like your Social Security number or bank account number

You should do some online research for any scholarships you’re suspicious of. You can also seek help from high school or college counselors or your school’s financial aid office.

How do I find more easy scholarships?

There are plenty of places online you could check out. In fact, you’re already on one of them—Mos can help you find more straightforward sources of scholarship aid.

Get some quick college money with easy scholarships

Yes, an easier application means more competition. But it also means you can apply to way more of these scholarships in less time.

So send out applications to all of these, but don’t just stick with easy scholarships. Go for some of the essay-based ones where there’s lower competition. You have more ways to set yourself apart from the smaller pool of applicants and potentially win, even if there’s more work involved.

To learn more about scholarships and other forms of financial aid, check out our blog.