Scholar.Africa
🛡️ Verification Program

Africa's Most Trusted Scholarship Database

Every scholarship on Scholar.Africa is assessed for legitimacy so students can apply with confidence — not anxiety.

Why Verification Matters

Scholarship scams are a real problem. Fake opportunities steal students' time, money, and hope. Many request application fees, personal documents, or banking details in exchange for scholarships that don't exist.

Scholar.Africa's mission is to be the safest place for African students to discover opportunities. Our trust scoring system evaluates every listing on multiple dimensions — automated checks run continuously, and our team manually reviews flagged entries.

How We Verify Scholarships

Each scholarship receives a Trust Score from 0.0 to 10.0 based on the following checks:

🌐
URL Liveness Check (+2.0 points) We make automated HTTP requests to the scholarship's official website monthly. Dead links are flagged immediately.
📧
Contact Email Validation (+1.5 points) We verify the scholarship has a real, valid contact email address — not a free webmail alias.
🏛️
Organization Verification (+1.5 points) We confirm the awarding institution is a known university, government body, NGO, or foundation.
🏆
Verified Winners (+2.0 points) Past recipients are the strongest signal of legitimacy. When we can confirm past awardees, the score increases significantly.
📅
Active Deadline (+1.0 point) Scholarships with future deadlines score higher. Expired listings are flagged for removal or archiving.
📝
Substantive Description (+0.5 points) Real scholarships have detailed eligibility criteria, coverage information, and application instructions.
🔗
Official Application URL (+0.5 points) A scholarship that only accepts applications via email is less verifiable than one with an official portal.
🤖
Data Confidence (+1.0 point) Scholarships sourced from official websites with high crawler confidence receive an additional boost.

Trust Levels Explained

Every scholarship on Scholar.Africa displays one of four trust badges:

8.0 – 10.0
Scholar.Africa Verified ✓
6.0 – 7.9
Mostly Verified
4.0 – 5.9
Partial Info
0.0 – 3.9
Unverified — Proceed with Caution

Scholar.Africa Verified (8.0–10.0)

This scholarship has passed multiple automated and manual checks. The URL is live, the organization is known, and we have strong confidence in its legitimacy. You can apply with confidence.

Mostly Verified (6.0–7.9)

This scholarship checks most of our criteria but is missing one or two verification signals (e.g., no confirmed winners yet, or a soft deadline). It is likely legitimate but we encourage you to verify directly.

Partial Info (4.0–5.9)

We have basic information about this scholarship but cannot fully verify it. It may be newly added, have limited online presence, or require manual review. Proceed carefully.

Unverified — Proceed with Caution (0.0–3.9)

This scholarship has failed multiple verification checks or has very little supporting information. We have not been able to confirm its legitimacy.

⚠️ Warning: Never pay an application fee for a scholarship. Legitimate scholarships are free to apply for. If a scholarship requests your banking details or a processing fee, it is almost certainly a scam.

Ongoing Verification

Verification is not a one-time event. Our automated systems:

Report an Issue

See a scholarship that looks suspicious? Found a dead link? Noticed incorrect information? Our community is our most powerful verification tool.

Use the "Report an Issue" button on any scholarship detail page. Scam reports are reviewed by our team within 24 hours.

Help Keep Scholar.Africa Safe

Your report helps protect thousands of students.

Browse & Report Scholarships

Manual Verification Criteria

For a scholarship to receive the "Scholar.Africa Verified" badge through manual review, our team confirms:

  1. The awarding organization exists and is findable via official government, university, or charity registries
  2. The scholarship has been awarded in at least one previous cycle (or is from a known institutional program)
  3. Contact information is valid and responsive
  4. No credible reports of scam, fraud, or deception exist
  5. The official website is live and contains matching information to our listing

Questions About Verification?

If you represent a scholarship organization and want to submit your listing for verification, or if you have questions about our trust program, contact us at trust@scholar.africa.