College is a great place to be a creator, so Gen Z is chasing scholarships on TikTok

Where do Gen Z students look when searching for scholarships they can apply for? According to a new study, TikTok has become an important resource for many of those high achievers.

The study in question comes from Sallie, the educational services company and student loan provider also known as Sallie Mae. To characterize the evolution of the scholarship hunt, Sallie surveyed 274 U.S. college students and recent graduates.

That research produced results that wouldn’t have been possible a generation ago. 22% of respondents said that they searched on TikTok to find applicable scholarships. That made the app a more common resource than school guidance counselors (19%).

To be clear, TikTok is not the most-used resource for scholarship hunters. That distinction belongs to school websites (44%), scholarship-specific discovery hubs (42%), and traditional search engines like Google (38%). And the students who do take a more modern approach don’t always find the results they’re looking for. 34% of students who searched for scholarships on TikTok encountered misinformation, with hidden fees, fake programs, and misleading eligibility info serving as three of the most commonly encountered issues.

At the same time, TikTok offers a peer-to-peer form of scholarship hunting that isn’t as readily available through a school website or a guidance counselor’s office. About 60% of TikTok scholarship searchers put their trust in current college students, valuing personal success stories over more generalized info dumps.

Given the current state of college-set content, the preference for that peer-to-peer approach isn’t too surprising. Skipping higher ed is a common choice among aspiring creators, but others see universities as a location where they can hone their content, personality, and brand. After all, would Alix Earle be Alix Earle without her time at Miami University? Would the Bama Rush girls have been able to secure so many followers without sharing their sorority experiences on TikTok? And would college athletes have such seemless transitions to creator careers without benefiting from NIL deals?

The answer to all of those questions is no, which is why so many people are now hunting for the same scholarship opportunities that helped their favorite creators get ahead in a crowded field. And in many cases, Gen Z’s TikTok scholarship searchers are striking paydirt. Sallie reported that 62% of that group discovered new opportunities on the app, while about 9% successfully earned at least one of the scholarships they discovered through TikTok.

College may be the land of opportunity for young Gen Z creators, but that means it’s also a place where those neophytes can be taken advantage of. TikTok can definitely be a useful scholarship resource, but Gen Z will want to make sure to read the fine print. Sallie’s survey found that only 27% of students always verify TikTok scholarship info before applying.