How do I know if I won a Niche Scholarship?
- Niche’s User Support team will contact winners by the 15th of the month through the email attached to the winner’s Niche account. In some cases, our team will also reach out by phone or through the mail.
How are winners selected?
- Winners are randomly selected from the pool of eligible applicants.
How do Scholarship winners receive their money?
- The money is awarded directly to the winner after the confirmation process and paperwork have been completed. The award is then directly deposited into the winner’s bank account.
What happens after I win a Niche Scholarship?
- After you have been selected as a winner our team will reach out and ask you to confirm some of your account information. If you are under the age of 18, our team will request the email and name of a parent or guardian. Our team will then create your document packet in DocuSign.
How do I know this is a legitimate offer?
- It is always important to research a company before sharing any personal data. Niche awarded over $300,000 in scholarships in 2022. You can view previous winners of Niche scholarships by visiting our Scholarship Winners page and a clip of a previous winner talking with Niche’s CEO. We also encourage you to check out our About page. You can always reach out to our team with any additional questions by emailing support@niche.com
What kind of documentation do I need to complete?
- All paperwork will be shared with you via DocuSign
- An affidavit
- A questionnaire form
- You will need to provide proof that you are attending a US-based college (transcript, acceptance letter, signed letter from a school official, etc)
- Provide proof of US citizenship (state-issued ID, birth certificate, passport, etc) or a copy of your valid US-Visa
- A W-9 form for tax purposes
Why do I have to fill out a W-9 for prizes of $600 or more?
- We are required by the IRS to send out annual 1099’s for all disbursements made to individuals that are greater than $600, which is why we require that information to be complete before we can award your scholarship. Here is a link from the federal government's website for more information on that subject: Internal Revenue Service - 1099 Form Info. We are unable to release the award until we have all our paperwork completed in accordance with our annual reporting obligations to the IRS.
What does the scholarship delivery timeline look like?
- Winners are contacted by the 15th of the month
- You will be asked to confirm some information
- If you are under 18, you will be asked to share the contact information of a parent or guardian
- Within the next few days, our team will send you a document packet via DocuSign. You will have a few days to complete the documentation.
- If you are under 18- documents will also be sent to your parent or guardian for their approval and signature
- Once the documentation has been completed, our team will send you a confirmation email
- We will then submit paperwork to the state for approval. It typically takes the state anywhere from 3-8 months to finalize its end of the paperwork.
- Our team will keep you up-to-date on any relevant information and will always be around to answer questions
- Your funds will be directly deposited within 4-6 weeks after all documentation (this includes documentation on the state’s side) has been completed
- You will also receive an email from Postal.io requesting your address and t-shirt size