About Us
Fees & Pricing
ScholarOut is absolutely free to use: creating and updating your profile, connecting with students and downloading your CV cost nothing. Our planned revenue comes from scholarship service fees, not profile subscriptions. When scholarship funding launches, ScholarOut will keep a 3% service fee. Card and PayPal processing fees are added at checkout and paid by the donor, so they never come out of the student's scholarship. The rest is paid directly toward the student's tuition invoice at their school.
Campaigns currently accept pledges only — no payments are collected yet.
Advertising, with students in mind
No advertising is running currently. If we introduce ads, they must be tasteful, appropriate for our younger audience and relevant to students. We do not sell student data or offer advertisers access to private profiles. Any change involving advertising or optional tracking will be explained in our privacy and cookie policies before it is introduced, with consent where required.
How we compare
| Platform | Platform fee | Payment processing | Taken from campaign |
|---|---|---|---|
| ScholarOut | 3% | Paid by the donor (card or PayPal fee added at checkout) | 3% to the student |
| GoFundMe | 0% | 2.9% + $0.30 per donation | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Kickstarter | 5% | 3% + $0.40 per pledge | 8% + $0.40 |
| Indiegogo | 5% | 3% + $0.20 per transaction | 8% + $0.20 |
Example: a campaign raises $10,000
Assuming 100 supporters give $100 each:
| Platform | Fees taken from campaign | Student receives |
|---|---|---|
| ScholarOut | $300 | $9,700 |
| GoFundMe | $320 | $9,680 |
| Kickstarter | $840 | $9,160 |
| Indiegogo | $820 | $9,180 |
On ScholarOut, donors also cover the card or PayPal processing fee on top of their gift (roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per donation), so the student keeps $9,700. Competitor figures are illustrative, based on each platform's published pricing (GoFundMe, Kickstarter Canada and Indiegogo), before any other applicable charges. Kickstarter has separate pricing for pledges under $10.