Why I'm Building BigScholars: The First Scholarship Partnership Business

Millions of students worldwide turn to scholarship directories to find scholarships; yet, over $100M+ in scholarships go unclaimed every year.

This paradox has fascinated me for years. How can there be so much money available while students struggle with overwhelming debt? The answer isn't a lack of scholarships—it's a broken connection between scholarship providers and the students who need them most.

The Problem with Traditional Scholarship Platforms

Most scholarship directories operate on a simple model: aggregate scholarships, display them to students, and hope for the best. But this approach has fundamental flaws:

  • Information overload: Students face thousands of scholarships with no clear guidance on which ones they're actually eligible for
  • Outdated listings: Many scholarships listed are expired or no longer active
  • No accountability: Platforms don't track whether students actually apply or receive awards
  • Misaligned incentives: Success isn't measured by student outcomes, but by page views and ad revenue

The result? Students spend hours searching through irrelevant opportunities while scholarship providers struggle to find qualified applicants.

A New Approach: Partnership, Not Aggregation

BigScholars takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of simply listing scholarships, we partner directly with scholarship providers to create a true marketplace that benefits everyone involved.

Here's how it works:

  1. Direct partnerships: We work closely with scholarship organizations to understand their specific requirements and goals
  2. Smart matching: Our platform uses detailed student profiles to match them with scholarships they're actually eligible for
  3. Application support: We guide students through the application process, increasing completion rates
  4. Outcome tracking: We measure success by actual scholarships awarded, not just applications submitted

This creates aligned incentives: we only succeed when students successfully receive scholarships.

Building for Impact

The vision for BigScholars extends beyond just connecting students with money. We're building a platform that:

  • Reduces the time students spend searching for opportunities
  • Increases the quality of applications scholarship providers receive
  • Creates transparency around scholarship outcomes
  • Helps scholarship providers achieve their mission of supporting students

This is about fundamentally reimagining how scholarship funding flows from providers to students. By creating true partnerships rather than simple listings, we can finally start putting that $100M+ in unclaimed scholarships to work.

What's Next

We're currently in the early stages, working with our first scholarship partners and building out the core platform. If you're a scholarship provider looking for better ways to reach qualified students, or a student frustrated with the current scholarship search process, I'd love to hear from you.

The traditional scholarship directory model has run its course. It's time to build something better.