Most scholarship guides on this site deal with university-funded or government awards that you apply for with essays, transcripts and reference letters. This one is different. The College Board runs two things under one roof: a scholarship search tool that matches students with outside programs, and BigFuture Scholarships, which are prize drawings you enter by completing college planning steps on your dashboard. There is no essay, no minimum GPA and no test score requirement for the drawings.
That sounds too easy, and in one sense it is. The drawings are luck, not merit. But the search tool alone can save a Pakistani family a lot of hours, and the steps you complete for entries are things a serious US applicant should be doing anyway. You can read the full scholarship details on our listing page, and this guide explains how the program actually works and who should spend time on it.
Two tools under one College Board account
The first part is the College Board Scholarship Search. It lets students find matches from over 6,000 programs, totaling more than $1.5 billion in scholarship dollars yearly. The providers include domestic and international nonprofit colleges, scholarship providers and government agencies. Think of it as a database with filters, not an award in itself.
The second part is BigFuture Scholarships. These reward students for taking specific planning steps on their BigFuture dashboard through senior year of high school. Each completed step earns entries into monthly drawings for $500 and $40,000 awards. The earlier you complete a step, and the more steps you complete, the more entries you earn.
So you get one tool that helps you find scholarships and one program where a random draw might hand you one. Both sit behind the same free College Board account.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Provider | College Board |
| Awards | $500 and $40,000, given through monthly drawings |
| Funding type | Listed as full / partial; the drawing amounts are fixed |
| Level | Undergraduate, all fields of study |
| Country | United States |
| Deadline | Varies by step and class year; check the current dates on the official site |
| Official site | BigFuture scholarship search |
How the $500 and $40,000 drawings work
Drawings take place on the first day of every month. Scholarships are awarded until February of senior year for specific steps. Your chance of winning depends on how many entries you have collected, and entries come from completing steps on the dashboard.
The steps are:
- Start your career list
- Start your college list
- Start your scholarship list
- Strengthen your college list
- Complete the FAFSA (or a state financial aid form)
- Apply to colleges
Each step has a month when it opens and a completion deadline that depends on your graduating class year. This is the part people miss. A step that is open for one class may already be closed for another, so the calendar you follow has to match your own expected graduation year.
Why families under $60,000 a year get double entries
Students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year receive two entries per completed step instead of one. On top of that, half of all awards are reserved for students who meet this income criterion. If your family qualifies, your odds improve twice over: more entries in the pool, and a protected share of the prizes.
The catch is verification. The program expects you to meet family income verification criteria to use the double-entry benefit. Do not tick an income box casually. If your family's situation is unclear, or if your family income is documented in Pakistani rupees, check on the official site how income is verified before you claim the benefit.
Can Pakistani students actually use this?
Be careful here. The scholarships and search tools are primarily aimed at students planning to study in the United States, and the program is built around the US high school calendar (sophomore, junior and senior years). International students who meet specific account and participation criteria may access matching services. That wording covers the search tool. It does not clearly say that a student in Pakistan is eligible to win the BigFuture drawings.
Two of the steps also lean heavily on the US system. The FAFSA step asks you to submit the FAFSA or a state financial aid form and confirm it on your dashboard. If you cannot complete that form, you lose that step's entries. Before you invest time, check eligibility for your nationality and location on the official College Board page.
My honest view: a Pakistani student at an American-curriculum school, or a Pakistani family living in the US, may get full value from this. A student doing Matric and FSc or A Levels in Lahore should treat the search database as the main benefit and the drawings as a bonus only if the official rules confirm they qualify.
The dashboard calendar, from sophomore to senior year
The program runs from December of sophomore year through the winter of senior year. Here is the order of steps as the program lays them out:
- Log in or create a College Board account.
- Open the BigFuture dashboard to see the planning steps.
- From December of sophomore year, complete "Start Your Career List".
- From December of sophomore year, complete "Start Your College List".
- From July before senior year, complete "Start Your Scholarship List" and "Strengthen Your College List".
- From October of senior year, complete the FAFSA or state financial aid form and confirm it on the dashboard.
- From October of senior year, complete "Apply to Colleges".
Monthly drawings continue on the first of each month until February of senior year. Deadlines differ by step and class year. As examples, one class's FAFSA step and the strengthen-college-list step each have their own fixed cut-off dates, and those dates move every cycle. Look up the dates for your own class year on the official site rather than relying on any date you saw for a different class.
What you need in your account
There is no transcript upload or recommendation letter. You need three things:
- College Board account profile information
- A FAFSA Submission Summary or state financial aid form, for the FAFSA step
- High school performance details and course preferences
Fill the profile honestly. The search tool and the Student Search Service match you with opportunities based on what you enter, so a vague profile means weak matches. If you later apply to US universities with your Pakistani documents, our documents checklist for international scholarships covers what those applications usually ask for.
Where students lose entries
The biggest mistake is starting late. Entries reward early completion, so a student who opens the dashboard in senior year has already missed the cheapest entries from the sophomore-year steps. If you are a sophomore now, do the career list and college list as soon as they open.
The second mistake is treating the lists as a box-ticking exercise. Keep your profile and college list updated with your current interests and academic preferences. A college list you actually believe in is more useful later than an entry you earned with random picks.
Third, students forget to watch their inbox. Scholarship opportunities matched through the Student Search Service arrive as messages. Check them regularly, and check spam.
Finally, do not plan your finances around a drawing. A $40,000 award would change a family's budget, but nobody can count on winning a draw. Use the search tool to find programs you can apply to on merit or need, and keep the drawings as a side bet. For the bigger picture of funding options, see our scholarships guide for Pakistani students and all United States scholarships.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an essay or a minimum GPA?
No. The BigFuture drawings have no essay, minimum GPA or test score requirement. You earn entries by following the steps on your dashboard.
How often are the awards given out?
Drawings for $500 and $40,000 awards take place on the first day of every month, until February of senior year.
What changes if my family earns less than $60,000 a year?
You earn two entries per completed step instead of one, and half of all awards are reserved for students in this income group. You need to meet the income verification criteria.
When is the earliest I can start?
December of sophomore year, when the career list and college list steps open.
Is the scholarship search tool useful even if I cannot enter the drawings?
It can be. It covers over 6,000 programs and more than $1.5 billion in scholarship dollars yearly, including international nonprofit colleges and government agencies. International access to matching services depends on meeting account and participation criteria, so confirm what is open to you.
Check the current steps, deadlines and eligibility rules on the official BigFuture website, and see the full scholarship page for a summary.