These are the easiest-to-win college scholarships out there right now. Most take only a couple minutes to enter, with super simple applications and minimal writing. Awards that require 500+ word essays, letters of recommendation, intense projects, etc. are not included. We’re talking easy scholarships, people! Many of the scholarships are open to anyone, and most winners are chosen totally at random.
Now, before you dive into this list, remember: your scholarship search shouldn’t end here! There are so many scholarships out there. Also, just because a scholarship isn’t advertised as “easy” doesn’t mean applying for it is hard. It can take a lot of time to find all the awards that fit you and fill out those applications, but it’s so worth it in the end. So enjoy this ultimate (and up-to-date!) list of easy college scholarships—and apply to as many as you can. Yes, they get a lot of entries because they’re so easy to apply to, but you have nothing to lose by trying. After all, somebody has to win these awards. Why not you?
$10,000 CollegeXpress Scholarship Contest
Amount: $10,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: June 1
How to win: Of course we need to include our $10,000 Scholarship Contest. All you have to do is register for free on CollegeXpress to be entered—and the prize is $10,000. Ten. Thousand. Dollars. For filling out a form. We know we’re biased, but it doesn’t get much better than that! This scholarship is open to incoming college freshmen, graduate students, and transfer students at participating institutions each year. If you’ve registered with CollegeXpress, you’re already entered! (And if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?!)
10 Words or Less Scholarship
Amount: $500
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: April 15
How to win: For the 10 Words or Less Scholarship, you just need to explain why you should get this award in 10 words or fewer. They even let you post it as a comment on their Facebook page, for cryin’ out loud. You’re also required to “like” their Facebook page. In addition, you need to be between the ages of 14–25 and attending college in the fall.
Americanism Essay Contest
Amount: Up to $1,500
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: December 1
How to win: Every year, the Fleet Reserve Association awards the Americanism Essay Contest scholarship based on a single patriotic theme. They do require an essay, but it’s only 350 words. Last year’s theme was “What Freedom of Speech Means to Me.” In addition to the $1,500 grand prize, there are awards for first, second, and third place ($1,000, $750, and $500, respectively). This scholarship is open to students in grades 7–12.
Ascent Shining Stars and Community Champions Scholarships
Amount: $1,000 (both)
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: First of the month and mid-month
How to win: Like many of the scholarships you’ll find on this list, most of the process to enter the Ascent scholarship sweepstakes involves just filling out a form and following them on social media. Just complete the short form with your contact information, school, and a few other questions to create an account on their partner website, Kaleidoscope, and log in to finalize your entry. You also have to follow Ascent on one social media platform and tag them in a comment with the hashtag #AscentSponsored, plus be at least 18 years old to enter.
“Be Bold” No-Essay Scholarship
Amount: $25,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: December 1
How to win: The “Be Bold” No-Essay Scholarship offers $25,000 to bold students. Bold, by their definition, means earnest, determined, and moving. To win, you simply have to build your platform on the website to showcase your goals and achievements. The bolder your profile, the higher chance you have to win. Although you can only enter once, the earlier in the year you do so, the better your chance to win.
College IS Power Scholarship
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: December 31
How to win: Whether you’re a full- or part-time student, whether you’re going to school online or in person, you could snag the College IS Power Scholarship. You need to be at least 17 years old and a US citizen, and you need to be attending school within the next 12 months. The only application requirements include a short form and a 150-word statement about your primary goal for going to school.
Christian College EDGE Scholarship
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: May 31
How to win: Just create an account with this Christian college search site to be entered into the Christian College EDGE Scholarship. You’ll then have a chance to get information from Christian colleges and universities. It’ll enter you in their drawing and help you get recruited by those schools! This is different from their $5,000 Christian College Scholarship Drawing; see below.
Christian College Scholarship Drawing
Amount: $5,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: May 31
How to win: You need to complete the registration form for the Christian College Connector to be entered into their Christian College Scholarship Drawing. Then winners are chosen at random, but they must be planning to enroll as a full-time freshman at a “Christ-centered Christian college or Bible college” within 16 months of winning.
CollegeXpress $500 Refer-a-Friend Contest
Amount: $500
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
How to win: For every person who creates a free CollegeXpress account using your unique referral link, you get one entry in our monthly $500 Refer-a-Friend Contest. Winners are then chosen at random. There’s no limit to how many entries you can get—or how many times you can enter. (We’ve had people win more than once!)
CollegeXpress Easy One-Question Scholarships
Amount: Varies
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
How to win: New and current registered users on CollegeXpress just have to answer one question to enter this monthly scholarship contest. That's it! The question changes month to month; for example, in previous months, we’ve asked, “What’s your biggest question about financial aid?” and “What's the best college mascot?” Check out our Easy Scholarship Winners 2023 blog to see winners from each month this year and the current month's opportunity.
CollegeXpress Scholarship for Students of Color
Amount: $1,500 (plus $500 donated to a charity of your choice)
Awarded: Quarterly
Deadlines: March 31, June 30, September 30, December 31
How to win: If you're a POC student who's planning to enroll in college in the fall, you're eligible for the CollegeXpress Scholarship for Students of Color. To apply, just create a free CX account (or log back in) and submit your answer to this question in one sentence: Who is your hero? The winner will be chosen randomly, and finalists will be contacted via email.
Courage to Grow Scholarship
Amount: $500
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
How to win: The monthly Courage to Grow Scholarship goes out to high school juniors, seniors, and college students with a minimum 2.5 GPA. And the only thing you need to do to win is submit a short 250-word statement about why you deserve the money.
Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship Contest
Amount: $10,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: March 2
How to win: You’re already Snapchatting and Instagramming beautiful shots. Put your skills to work by creating a winning greeting card image for the Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship Contest! It could snag you $10,000, which is almost as good as getting a bajillion likes. To apply for this scholarship, you also need to be a US citizen and at least 14 years old.
Discover® Student Loans Scholarship Award
Amount: $5,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of each month
How to win: Sign up to receive handy college money tips from Discover (you know, the credit card people) and you’re entered to win the monthly Discover® Student Loans Scholarship Award! Plus, you can earn bonus entries by sharing the giveaway on social media. One winner will be chosen at random each month, but participants may only enter once per year for the overall one-year sweepstakes period. You also need to be a high school or college student at least 16 years old, and you have to go to an eligible college or university (although parents of eligible students can also enter on their behalf).
Doodle for Google
Amount: Up to $30,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: March 4
How to win: Who knew your doodles could earn you tons of scholarship money and money for your school, plus get you featured on Google for a day? The Doodle for Google contest is open to all US students from kindergarten to seniors in high school. This year’s theme is “I show kindness by…” You have to include the Google logo, but you can make your doodle using any medium (hand drawn, painted, using software, etc.). The grand prize is a $30,000 scholarship, but there are also four national prizes of $5,000—still a lot of money for college!
DoSomething.org Easy Scholarships
Amount: Up to $22,000
Awarded: Varies
Deadline: Varies
How to win: Okay, this isn’t a particular scholarship. That’s because DoSomething.org offers a lot of easy scholarships. And they move pretty quickly, with many lasting only a month. But, man, they are fun, creative, and fast. You typically sign up, complete a simple task, and upload a picture proving you did it. Then the winners are chosen at random. No essay, GPA, etc. The best part? These scholarships help you do some good in the world! So check the easy scholarships page at DoSomething.org to see what’s new.
Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway
Amount: Up to $100,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: January 15
How to win: To enter Dr Pepper’s Tuition Giveaway scholarship contest, you need to do a few things. First, describe how you’ll change the world in 350 characters or fewer. Next, get your friends to vote for your entry. If you get 50 or more votes, you’ll need to create an inspiring video. Then comes the crazy part: If you’re a finalist, you’ll compete during a Big Ten, SEC, PAC-12, or ACC football championship game. Yup, it doesn’t get much bigger than that—but neither does the prize: up to $100,000 in tuition money. Talk about the big show.
Forget Your Student Debt No-Essay Grant
Amount: $500 to multiple winners
Awarded: Annually to all winners in December
Deadline: The first day of each month (rolling deadlines until December 1)
How to win: Bold.org offers anyone with student loan payments the Forget Your Student Debt No-Essay Grant to cancel some of their college debt. The only requirement is to be a student carrying student debt. That’s it! Much like the other scholarship offered by Bold.org, the sooner you apply in the year, the better chance you have to win.
HeadSetPlus.com College Scholarship
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: December 31
How to win: You know you want to be a YouTube star; get your start by recording a short video talking about who you are, what you’ve achieved, why college is important, and what motivates you. Yeah, that seems like a lot, but since you need to fit it into a video that’s no longer than five minutes, you’ll fly through “applying” for the HeadSetPlus.com College Scholarship! You need to be at least 16 years old and a high school senior or current college or grad student with a minimum 3.0 GPA to enter.
Let Grow: Think for Yourself Scholarship
Amount: Up to $5,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: April 30
How to win: Okay, the Let Grow: Think for Yourself Scholarship does require an essay, but they give you nine options, it only has to be between 500-800 words, and it encourages you to speak your mind. What’s easier than sharing your opinion? For instance, one of your options is, “Please write a thank-you note to a jerk you listened to… and learned something from (although perhaps you didn’t think so at the time.” There are a lot of fun places to go with that. And even if you don’t win the big $5,000, three people are chosen for $1,000 runner-up scholarships.
Make Me Laugh Scholarship
Amount: $1,500
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: August 31
How to win: What if you could win money just by making someone laugh? Well, you can with the Make Me Laugh Scholarship! Unigo sponsors a $1,500 scholarship where all you have to do is describe a story (in 250 words or fewer) about a funny or embarrassing incident in your life to make them laugh. We all have plenty of stories that come to mind… As long as you’re at least 14 years old and will be enrolled in college no later than 2026, get going on this one!
New Mexico Legislative Lottery Scholarship
Amount: Varies
Awarded: Varies
Deadline: Varies
How to win: If you graduated from a New Mexico high school, you’re continuing your education in New Mexico, and you earned at least a 2.5 GPA your first semester in college, you’ve got New Mexico Legislative Lottery Scholarship in the bag. There isn’t even an application! You just need to contact your college or university and ask them about it. It’s that easy. Really!
Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku Competition
Amount: $100
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: March 21
How to win: $100 may not seem like much against your college tuition payments, but every little bit helps, and the Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku Competition is a pretty fun and fast scholarship. High school students in any grade can submit up to three haikus. A panel of judges then picks several winners each year.
Nitro Monthly Scholarship
Amount: $2,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
How to win: Nitro is another college search website that gives away annual scholarships every month. Just complete a short entry form about which college you’ll be attending and when you anticipate graduating. This application even allows parents to enter for their children. As long as you're at least 17 years old, you should apply!
No Essay College Scholarship™
Amount: $2,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
How to win: Just create a free profile with Niche to enter their No Essay College Scholarship™. And if you already have one, all you need to do is log in each month for a chance to win! One winner is chosen at random every month. The contest is open to all high school and college students (though there are other eligibility requirements). The money can be applied toward any education-related expenses.
Odenza Marketing Group Scholarship
Amount: $500
Awarded: Twice a year
Deadline: March 31; October 31
How to win: Okay, this might not seem like the simplest scholarship in the world because you technically have to write two essays. But they both only call for a maximum of 500 words. So you could write 250 for each prompt—of course, you’d need to really knock them out of the park. The first essay is about where you would go to further your career, and the second is about why you deserve to win the Odenza Marketing Group Scholarship. You also need to be between the ages of 16–25 and have at least a 2.5 GPA. Oh, and you need to like their Facebook page too, but that’s easy enough. This scholarship is awarded twice a year in the spring and fall.
Sallie Mae® $1,000 Plan for College Sweepstakes
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
How to win: When you register to use Sallie Mae’s scholarship search tool, you’ll be entered to win their monthly Plan for College Sweepstakes. And since you should be searching for scholarships anyway, you might as well get a shot at $1,000 while you’re at it, amirite?
ScholarshipPoints Scholarship Giveaways
Amount: $10,000 and $2,500
Awarded: Quarterly and monthly
Deadline: Varies
How to win: The “points” in ScholarshipPoints come from completing activities like taking surveys, reading emails, and playing games. Then you can use those points to enter scholarship drawings and improve your chances of winning. Pretty sweet deal, right? Well, in addition to all that pointy goodness, they randomly choose a registered user for a $2,500 scholarship each month and $10,000 each quarter. Yes, please!
Scholarships 4 Moms
Amount: $10,000
Awarded: Five times a year
Deadline: Varies (multiple drawings throughout the year)
How to win: Are you or are you about to become a mother? You could win $10,000 for educational purposes with Scholarships 4 Moms, and all you need to do is register on their site. It’s quick, easy, and free—which is good, because goodness knows you have your hands full if you’re a mom! You also need to be 18 years or older and a US citizen.
School Survey Sweepstakes
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
How to win: Niche gathers reviews for all kinds of schools, from K-12 institutions to colleges and universities. They reward students, parents, and recent alumni for leaving those reviews by offering a $1,000 School Survey Sweepstakes. All you have to do is leave a (legit!) review to be entered. And you know you have lots of feelings about your school anyway.
School Band and Orchestra Magazine Scholarship
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Annually to 10 winners
Deadline: April 30
How to win: Do you play in your high school band or orchestra? Can you write 250 words about a music-related essay prompt? (You totally can.) Then you should apply for the School Band and Orchestra Magazine Scholarship. Sure, learning how to play the clarinet wasn’t easy—but applying for this scholarship is.
ServiceScape Scholarship
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: November 30
How to win: The ServiceScape Scholarship contest is open to students who are attending or who will attend an accredited college, university, or trade school. Applicants should fill out the application form and submit a super-short statement (no more than 300 words) on the following topic: "How does writing impact today's world?"
Student-View Scholarship
Amount: Up to $5,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: April 30
How to win: No essay. No GPA or test scores. No application, even. All you need to do is complete a 15–25-minute online survey about colleges in your area. Then winners are chosen at random for the Student-View Scholarship. Yes, that’s "winners"—plural. In addition to the $5,000 top prize, three $1,000, and 10 $500 scholarships are handed out. In terms of scholarships awarded at random, those are pretty good odds!
Tall Clubs International Scholarship
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: March 1
How to win: If you’re exceptionally tall—at least 5'10" for women and 6'2" for men—you could win the Tall Clubs International Scholarship. It’s open to high school seniors planning to attend college in the fall. Get in touch with the nearest chapter of Tall Clubs International for an application.
Tallo Scholarships
Amount: Varies
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Varies
How to win: Tallo is a website that aims to help students network with colleges and employers. To enter the Tallo Scholarship Contests, simply create a profile on their website, go to "Opportunities" and search for "Tallo" under "Organization Name." Several opportunities will be listed, including easy monthly scholarships and their $1,000 Invite-a-Friend Scholarship. Just follow the instructions and answer the questions to be entered!
The $1,000 SuperCollege Scholarship
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
How to win: Okay, here’s how to enter the $1,000 SuperCollege Scholarship: Fill out their online application. Hit “Submit.” End of instructions. Yup—it’s that easy. It’s open to high school seniors, college students, grad students, and adult learners, and winners are chosen at random.
UNIGO $10K Scholarship
Amount: $10,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: December 31
How to win: For the Unigo 10K Scholarship, you just need to submit an online written response (in 250 words or fewer) to this prompt: Would you rather be smart, funny, or rich? Why? You also need to be a legal resident of the US, at least 14 years old when you apply, and enrolled in an accredited post-secondary institution.
You Deserve It! Scholarship
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
How to win: The You Deserve It! Scholarship only requires you to register on a website to enter. Plus, it’s kind of a meta award. It’s from Scholarship Owl, and creating an account with them also helps you apply to a lot of other scholarships with a single form, so you don’t need to complete a bunch of separate scholarship applications!
Related: Easy No–Essay Scholarships You Need to Know About Right Now
We’ll keep adding to this list as we discover more easy scholarships. (If you have any that we missed, let us know on Twitter @CollegeXpress so we can make this the best and most up-to-date list of easy scholarships anywhere!) Reminder: Always double-check the scholarship rules and regulations before starting an application. Some of these awards move pretty fast, particularly the monthly scholarships, and things like eligibility requirements or deadlines might change.
Find even more scholarships on CollegeXpress with our Scholarship Search tool!
