Students Turning to TikTok to Find Scholarships

Gen Z students aren’t just scrolling TikTok for the latest viral dance trends. They’re also turning to the platform for college scholarship advice, according to a new report conducted by the marketing agency Fractl on behalf of the student loan provider Sallie Mae.

University websites, scholarship search sites, Google and college financial aid offices beat out TikTok as sources of scholarship information for these students. Still, the report found 68 percent of Gen Z students used TikTok to search for scholarships at least occasionally, and one in five looked on TikTok at least weekly for scholarship opportunities, based on a survey of 274 undergraduates fielded earlier this year.

The good news is 60 percent of Gen Z students who used TikTok for this purpose reported finding new scholarships through the platform. And about 9 percent won at least one of the scholarships they discovered. First-generation students were also 1.5 times more likely to secure a scholarship they found on TikTok compared to their continuing-generation peers, which suggests the platform can prove useful for students without as much family guidance on how to pay for college, the report noted.

The bad news is too often TikTok exposes students to scams and false information. About a third of students using TikTok to search for scholarships reported coming across misleading content. Some encountered promotions for scholarships that didn’t exist, incorrect descriptions of eligibility requirements and inflated award amounts, advertisements for paid courses to unlock scholarship opportunities, and other forms of fishy content. Low-income students also stumbled on misleading information at a higher rate than their peers, 41 percent compared to 34 percent.

Students also showed high levels of trust in certain types of TikTok scholarship content. About 60 percent of students said personal success stories were the driving factor that made them trust a TikTok creator’s scholarship advice. Gen Z students also trusted current college students and recent graduates on TikTok more than other types of creators, including certified financial advisers, official scholarship organization accounts and teachers and school staff. Over all, only about 27 percent of students reported double-checking TikTok scholarship information before applying.

The report concludes that using TikTok as a scholarship search engine is a double-edged sword.

On one hand, it “lets students hear directly from other students and discover opportunities they might not come across otherwise, especially smaller or niche scholarships tied to specific interests, hobbies, or simpler applications,” Katarina Ellison, a director at Sallie Mae, wrote to Inside Higher Ed. And “advice on the platform can feel more personal and relatable, which is why students gravitate toward it, but relatable doesn’t necessarily mean reliable.”

She encouraged students to verify any information they find on the platform with a trusted source, such as a college financial aid office, a reputable scholarship search database or a college adviser.

“TikTok can be a good starting point, but it shouldn’t be the only stop,” she said.

Ellison also stressed that colleges and scholarship providers have a “shared responsibility” to put credible scholarship information up on the platform to meet students where they are and help them parse what’s real and what’s fake.

“College counselors, scholarship providers, and platforms all play a role in making legitimate opportunities easier to find and easier to verify by clearly labeling real scholarships, pointing students to credible resources and databases, and helping them understand what to watch out for,” she said.