Scholarship Search with Fastweb
Everybody wants to go to college for free and, at Fastweb, we’re in the business of helping students achieve that dream through offering a simplified college scholarship search. From the start, our goal has been to eliminate the “search” from the scholarship search, allowing us to find scholarships that match the qualifications and interests of each student that we serve. Ultimately, we save our students time, match them to college scholarships that they may not have otherwise found and keep them organized throughout the whole process.
For over 30 years, we have worked to help students discover scholarships that are targeted to their strengths, interests and skills. We also assist students in discovering the right college for their budget, making tough financial aid decisions and finding internship opportunities that will help them bridge the divide between college and post-graduate life. Finally, we give students the option to pay for college with part-time jobs by offering part time job search and advice.
Our commitment to helping students find, choose and pay for college with college scholarships has been the bedrock of our business, but we’ve grown to be so much more. Today, we are the premier online resource for paying and preparing for college. However, we don’t just excel at this; we created the online scholarship search world.
Our History
Fastweb was the very first college scholarship search website ever. It was founded on May 22, 1995, by Internet pioneer, Larry Organ, a businessman and entrepreneur who is credited for creating a number of companies. He believed that students should be able to find college scholarships without having to pay for a service. On its very first day, Fastweb helped 270 students find college scholarships.
Fastweb stands for Financial Aid Search Through the Web; and in 1999, it began incorporating financial aid advice for users as well. Organ teamed up with financial aid expert, Mark Kantrowitz, who had started his award-winning and nationally recognized site, FinAid.org, in 1994.
Together, they became the model for helping students find college scholarships for free and for equipping users with the know-how to navigate the world of financial aid. At that time, Fastweb provided a comprehensive approach to helping students pay for school through a variety of resources, like scholarships, grants, fellowships, student loans and work study. In 2001, Fastweb was sold to Monster Worldwide, a global online employment solution for job search for seekers and employers alike; and in 2009, Kantrowitz became the official publisher of the site.
Under the umbrella of the Monster family, Fastweb has grown to provide expert financial aid advice, internship and part time job search as a way for students to pay for college, and college search and application resources. We have also teamed up with our sister site, Military.com, to provide scholarship, college and financial aid advice to active military, veterans and their family members.
Organ’s original idea was to provide a free website that would enable students to find college scholarships, and we have stayed true to his original idea. Today, we serve more than 9 million active members.
How Fastweb Works Today
Fastweb has a database of 1.5 million college scholarships worth over $3.4 billion that our members have access to by creating a free profile. Students can fill out a quick questionnaire that covers things like their contact information, schools of interest and potential majors. We use this information to match them to college scholarships for which they qualify.
Once a student becomes a member on Fastweb, they can update their profile with further details, like extracurricular activities, current and past places of employment and their parents’ information. By telling us more, they are better able to narrow down their list of college scholarships to their specific skills, talents and achievements – or qualify for more opportunities.
What sets Fastweb apart from other college scholarship search sites is our team of researchers. Every scholarship in our database has been researched and vetted by a team of real people. They work to ensure that our database is free of scholarship scams, that scholarship information is up-to-date and that new scholarships are added daily.
With a frequently updated Fastweb profile and through the hard work of the research team, students are able to view a list of college scholarships that is tailored to their achievements and interests as well as complete with legitimate, high-quality opportunities each time they log in.
In addition to our scholarship search, we help students find relevant internships and part time jobs. Fastweb members are actually matched to internships when they create a free profile, and they can also tap into Monster’s vast job search network in order to find part time jobs right here on Fastweb.
Meet the Editors
/author/shawna-newman
Shawna Newman covers various topics related to post-secondary education, including trade schools, the military, and college. She details strategies for paying for school, such as scholarships, financial aid, the FAFSA, and student loans. Shawna enjoys exploring low-cost paths to earning a degree or learning a trade with little to no debt. She also highlights options like working in public service or for companies that offer tuition assistance to their employees.
With over 10 years of involvement in higher education, Shawna's professional background is extensive. Her direct work with college admissions teams, financial aid officers, college deans, and degree program coordinators at the University of Central Missouri provides her with a unique and insightful perspective.
As a first-generation college graduate, Shawna's personal experiences have deeply shaped her values and influenced her work today. She understands the challenges and the triumphs of navigating the higher education system as a first-generation student. Her work in public service led to student loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. She's also the proud parent of a current high school student and is involved in exploring career paths and discussing how to pay for school with her daughter. This personal connection makes her work more relatable and her advice valuable.
These experiences fuel Shawna's dedication to sharing essential tools like Fastweb with underserved students across America. She firmly believes that every student—whether attending high school, trade school, community college, or university—should have access to financial information and resources to achieve their goals without the burden of student loan debt.
In her free time, Shawna finds joy in flower gardening, cheering for the Kansas City Chiefs, and exploring national parks with her family. Shawna calls Kansas City, Missouri, home.
/author/kathryn-randolph
Kathryn Knight Randolph covers trends in higher education, changes to admissions and financial aid practices, and the student experience. She is passionate about simplifying the college search and financial aid processes so that students and their families can make informed decisions on where to attend and how to pay.
Kathryn has dedicated her entire professional career to helping students navigate the college, scholarship, and financial aid searches. Since she started working for Fastweb in 2008, she has helped develop content that has informed and transformed how students and their families pay for college. She has also provided key insights into the scholarship, financial aid, and college search processes, to a variety of media platforms, including television, digital, and print publications, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNN Business, and NerdWallet/AP.
Prior to her time at Fastweb, she worked as an admissions officer at DePauw University in Indiana. During her time there, she met with prospective students and their families to walk through the college search process. Her work with families involved helping students identify exactly what they were looking for from their college experience as well as how to navigate filing the FAFSA and applying for scholarships through campus tours, admissions interviews, making admissions decisions, and consulting on financial aid.
Kathryn enjoys working with students and their families during this pivotal point in their lives. With so many choices and experiences at their fingertips, Kathryn believes it is an exciting time in a student's life to pursue what they're most passionate about through declaring a major, continuing their coursework via internships and study abroad experiences, and finding their first job after graduation. It's even more rewarding to equip families with the knowledge of how to pay for their higher education and line them up with the resources.
Outside of her work as an editor for Fastweb, Kathryn enjoys chauffeuring her three kids to their extracurricular activities, date nights with her husband, reading fiction, running outdoors, and traveling both in and outside of the country. Kathryn resides in Carmel, Indiana, a suburb just north of Indianapolis.
Student Contributors
Fastweb doesn’t just help students find college scholarships, we give them a voice. Each year, we seek both high school and college students to contribute to Fastweb’s content in order to provide a student perspective on the college application, financial aid and college scholarship search processes.
These students range in age from high school juniors to college seniors, and they span the entire country geographically. They cover everything from the importance of extracurricular activities to best procrastinating activities around finals time. By sharing their experiences, our Student Contributors help to shape the realities of the high school and college experience for our members, providing a sense of community as well as inspiration to try new things and push harder to meet their post-graduate goals.
We Exist to Serve Students: Apply for Scholarships Now
At Fastweb, our goal is simple: to help as many students as possible prepare and pay for school with college scholarships. Let us simplify the college scholarship search for you too.
