Scholarship sponsors try to generate considerable publicity for their scholarships. It is very rare that a scholarship program does not receive enough applications from qualified candidates. Most scholarship programs receive many more applications than they have funds. The Citizen's Scholarship Foundation of America administers more private-sector scholarship programs than any other organization. Pat Somers, Associate Professor of Higher Education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, conducts research on student financial assistance.
Most aid awarded to students is either from the state or federal government, or from the colleges.
Figures reported for the total amount of private-sector aid vary considerably, even among reputable sources that do not have a vested interest in exaggerating the results. The unclaimed aid myth is harmful not only because it misleads students, but also because it undermines efforts to establish new private-sector scholarship funds. To be fair, there are many scholarship search services that do not make this unproven claim. But there are also many that use this or similar claims to market their services. Any search service that repeats these claims is propagating a rumor that has no basis in reality.