Scholarships are a wonderful option for students that would like to have financial aid in universities. As with anything good, there are people out there who will take advantage of students’ trust and hopes for the future. Here are some tips to spot shady scholarships platforms,

• Unsolicited Scholarship Offers: If someone contacts you, via phone, mail or email, offering you a scholarship, and you never requested information from that provider, be very careful.
• Guarantees: Nobody representing a legitimate scholarship can or will be able to guarantee that you’ll win.
• Fees: Applying for legitimate scholarships does not cost money!! Submitting such applications will cost you time and effort, but should never cost money, no matter how small the amount. If any scholarship-offer requests your funds to submit an application, become eligible, etc., kick them to the curb.

Find various AUTHENTIC Scholarships on www.scholastica.ng

My doctor once said to me, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” that’s a very popular saying but her story made it more believable. She was an orphan and started selling oranges at a young age with her feeding money. Her business (oranges) grew, but she also worked hard in school, and when she got to a higher level of education, she registered on a scholarship management portal(I.E www.scholastica.ng) and applied for scholarships and as it turned out, she got one (scholarship). She graduated with the best result from the school.

What incredible stories have you heard of adversities people have overcome to get scholarships?

The majority of undergraduates think scholarship application starts when they gain admission but it starts from the foundation stages of life. There are students who just get to the university and start applying to get a scholarship and then there are those, who have been scouting, reading and preparing to win a scholarship for practically half their lives.

Our bet is on the latter but let us hear your comments,

Which category do you think have the most chance of landing a scholarship?

All E-Applications will be closed today…Are you a Nigerian Undergraduate in any Nigerian University? Then you are eligible to apply forNIGERIAN AGIP OIL COMPANY (NAOC) Scholarship.

This scholarship over the years has changed the lives of many undergraduates. It has

1.   Provided Undergraduates with financial support.

2.   Helped make their resume stand out.

3.   Given them a certain amount of confidence.

Benefit from the scholarship by applying now on,

http://www.scholastica.ng/schemes/naocscholarships.

meanwhile we would love to hear your story @scholastica nigeria

How has receiving a scholarship helped you?

Two important things that makes online scholarship application irresistible

• First advantage the overall process of online scholarship applications is extremely cost saving for anyone. You would neither have to purchase a set of expensive application forms nor send them by post nor submit them by hand.

• Second advantage of online scholarship applications is that they are extremely accurate. Since the online form would not accept data except in the proper format, there is almost zero chance that people would provide inaccurate information. Since the process is completely automated, you can easily get feedback if your form was properly submitted.

E.g an engineering student would not be able to fill a scholarship application that is art oriented.

Robert Ikazoboh

Managing Director, Dragnet Solutions Limited, Robert Ikazoboh gave the advice during the “One Awardee, One Award” roundtable discussion organized by the firm for the International Oil Companies (IOC) operating in Nigeria. The event which was recently held in Lagos had in attendance representatives from the various concerned IOCs such as Mobile, Chevron, NAOIC/AGIP, NLNG as well as NAPIMS.

In his keynote presentation titled “One Awardee, One Award”, Ikazoboh bemoaned the popular practice among students where an undergraduate is a beneficiary of multiple scholarships from either the same or similar IOCs scheme, an act which he condemned and described as a “theft of opportunities’. He also noted that if left unchecked, it could give rise to other forms of malpractices.

According to him, a multiple awardee of Oil and Gas Industry based scholarships deprives a countless number of indigent undergraduates who are in dire need of such sponsorship, an equal opportunity to be beneficiaries thus, defeating the intended purpose for the establishment of the scheme by the IOCs.

The Dragnet boss identified the inefficiency of the manual processing method deployed in the verification of candidates’ profiles, absence of a sensitization campaign and strict enforcement among others, as some of the factors responsible for the high prevalence of the act among awardees.

However, Dragnet Solutions-the leading Screening Solutions firm in Nigeria- in response to the need to find a lasting solution to the menace has taken the initiative and developed a centralized portal for scholarship and bursary management called Scholastisca.

The Scholastisca portal builds and stores the profiles of candidates applying to the various Oil and Gas Scholarship Schemes on a database through biometric technology thus ensuring that no candidate has multiple profiles. The hallmark of Scholastisca is that each candidate is given a unique Identification after thus ensuring that an awardee can only benefit from one Oil and Gas scholarship.

While acknowledging that the issue of multiple scholarship is a moral one, the various participants at the event who have at one time or the other been victims of the act, applauded Dragnet Solutions for its innovation which they believe would go a long way in tackling the issue and ensure that as many less privileged students benefit from their Corporate Social Responsibility activity for disadvantaged undergraduates. They however agreed that there is a need to work out the modalities of the proposed solution especially with NAPIMS.

In his closing remarks, Robert Ikazoboh thanked and appreciated the participants for their presence and support but hinted that the success of the initiative is dependent on the collaborative effort among the IOCs.

Scholastica, Nigeria’s first e-based scholarship and bursary solution will bring a major improvement in the disbursement and administration of scholarships and bursaries in the country.

This was revealed by Funmi Ajayi, the Head, Scholastica, during the computer-based testing (CBT) screening exercise of the 2013 Agbami University Scholarships Scheme.

The Agbami University Scholarships Scheme, which is being managed by Scholastica, is funded by Star Deep, an oil and gas exploration company in Nigeria. About 9, 000 students were shortlisted for the screening which was held in 10 states across the federation.

According to Ajayi, who monitored the exercise at the Port Harcourt center, Scholastica has made the process of the administration and disbursement of the scholarship less cumbersome. “When we say that Scholastica is the final word in scholarship and bursary management in Nigeria, we are not just making empty boasts. Imagine what would have happened if the Agbami Scholarship Scheme had to rely on manual screening for the millions of applicants who applied for it. With Scholastica, all they had to do was apply online and within minutes, the system sorted out and collated the list of eligible applicants. The students you see here in Lagos, as well as the others taking the exams in other parts of the country, were drawn from the portal specially created for the Star Deep Scholarship,” Ajayi explained.

She noted that the biometric verification process deployed by Scholastica completely eradicated incidences of mercenaries and ghost scholarship beneficiaries. In her words, “With the help of our data capture and other biometric tools, we were able to match the applicants who applied online with those who physically turned up for the exercise. The system completely eradicates incidences of mercenaries who write examinations on behalf of others. We also have a reliable database which identifies past beneficiaries; so it’s impossible to have past beneficiaries benefiting from the same scholarship.”

While commending Star Deep for awarding scholarships to university students across the country, Ajayi called on both public and private institutions to emulate the gesture by deploying Scholastica in order to make the process less cumbersome. “You really can’t imagine the impact a scholarship scheme such as the Agbami University Scholarship will make in the lives of the beneficiaries. However, the process of awarding such scholarships can be a very cumbersome one.  That is why we are calling on Scholarship Boards and organizations looking to use scholarships as a means giving back to the society to deploy Scholastica in order to make the process faster, less cumbersome, more efficient and credible.”

Scholastica is a proprietary product of Dragnet Solutions, Nigeria’s foremost computer based testing and talent management firm