SCHOLARSHIP MONEY

Every year, hundreds of scholarshipsgo unused because parents ofcollege-bound students don't knowabout them. Beware, however; that'sthe hook that many fly-by-nightscholarship-matching services use topersuade you to spend money forinformation you can get for nothing.According to FinAid (www.finaid.com), you can search the largestscholarship databases on the Internetfor free, including FastWeb (www.fastweb.com) and the College Board'sFUND FINDER (www.collegeboard.com). FinAid also notes thatpaying money to a scholarship searchfirm (often a home-based businessrun by someone who knows nothingabout college financial aid) won't getyou any better scholarship matchesthan what you'd find by searching afree Web-based scholarship database.