Students looking to pursue higher education can now search and apply for around 200 scholarships on a single website.

The Bermuda Donor Forum, a part of The Centre on Philanthropy, yesterday announced the launch of www.bermudascholarships.com, a website which allows students to apply for more the $2 million in scholarships offered by governments, non-profit organisations and the private sector.

Users can create a profile, search and apply for multiple scholarships simultaneously, and find out if they have been awarded scholarships all on the site. It will also offer advice to applicants and answer common questions.

Project leader Joanne MacPhee said that the eventual goal was to give students access to every scholarship, grant and bursary in one place.

"Traditionally, for a myriad of reasons, there's thousands of dollars of unclaimed scholarships every year," said Mrs. MacPhee.

Part of problem is that until now, the only way students were able to learn about the available scholarships was through advertisements and articles. Students then had to collect application forms, fill them out individually and submit them.

While the site does not list every scholarship, organisers said that they are working hard to market the website to scholarship providers.

"Like any website, bermudascholarships.com is a living portal, and there will always be a need for modifications and enhancement," said Mrs. MacPhee.

"There are slips, but we're looking at finding them now. Our goal is to create an intuitive, interactive environment which makes it easy to apply."

She said that scholarships are available for almost every educational course.

"Certainly many award providers do stipulate a field of study, but there are also numerous open awards which invite applications from students with diverse educational goals.

"Equally, there are awards which are purely academic or means-based, but it is not a one size fits all approach. We believe that any student who really applies themselves will find an award to support their ongoing studies."

Bermuda College board chairman Senator Walton Brown praised the site, saying: "Every year, thousands of dollars of scholarships are not even applied for.

"I spent some time looking at the site, and I think it does a tremendous service for our young people."

While the site only officially launched yesterday, around 15 students had already created profiles after finding the site on Google.