What is raise.me? Raise.me is an online account, used during high school, which helps to link students to colleges and scholarship opportunities.

Raise.me is a free website where students, grades nine through twelve, can create an account to receive scholarships. When asked how students can earn more money though raise.me, Mrs. Zimmerman, a raise.me advisor and Clearfield Area Junior/Senior High School teacher, replied: “Students can earn money in a number of ways! Good grades, perfect attendance, community service, serving in a leadership position, taking the PSAT/SATs, sports, extracurricular activities, college visits, becoming an eagle scout, and more!”

Raise.me accounts need to be filled out before students start applying to a variety of colleges; however, it is best if students keep their accounts updated throughout their high school career.

How did students begin to find out about raise.me? At the beginning of students’ freshman year, they are required to create an account in their English class. The students then should try to update their accounts quarterly and fill in their achievements after every report card. When asked why colleges offer scholarships through raise.me, Mrs. Zimmerman replied: “I’m not sure of the exact reason, but I think the colleges who offer scholarships through raise.me are able to attract students to attend their institutions by offering students money as a reward for their hard work throughout high school.”

When students go to colleges, they can end up with a lot of student loan debt. Some students could even end up paying their student loan debt throughout their whole lifetime, but imagine if students were able to earn free money to go to a college, which will lower their student loan debt. This is what raise.me does.

For example, Mackenzie Matthews, a Clearfield Area Junior-Senior High School senior, has kept her account updated since she created her account in her freshman year. She has been applying for colleges and recently got accepted to Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. Through raise.me, Gannon is giving Mackenzie a total of $52,000 to attend their college. This means that she will have very little student loan debt, which will allow her to begin to save money and spend it how she wants to earlier in life. She is receiving all of this money just for the hard work she has done throughout her high school career. All she had to do was insert her grades and achievements into raise.me and she is receiving all of this money.

Mackenzie Matthews commented on her scholarships: “I am receiving $16,000 from Gannon University, which I was excited to get accepted to. I am also getting another $52,000 from raise.me for Gannon University and all I had to do was insert my high school grades and I received this scholarship.”