Earn Bold Points for your everyday actions and redeem them for real financial support toward your education.
Bold.org is built to help students find and apply for scholarships. Bold Rewards exists to support you along that journey — by recognizing your activity on the platform and helping you save money in everyday life.
When you sign up for Bold.org, you can apply for scholarships and earn Bold Points for being an active member. Those points can be redeemed for benefits that help reduce the cost of education — like student loan payments.
Our Commitment to Students
Bold Rewards is designed to reduce real education-related costs. The program exists to recognize engagement and help students save money — not to rank or pressure students.
What Bold Rewards is:
A way to earn points through eligible actions and redeem them for available rewards
A student-first benefit designed to reduce real costs over time
Program Rules at a Glance
These are the most important program rules. If anything here ever differs from what you see in your Rewards dashboard, the dashboard is the authoritative source.
Earning and Expiration
Minimum to redeem: 3,000 lifetime points (once unlocked, stays unlocked permanently)
Expiration: Points expire after 90 days of no qualifying activity (qualifying activity = applying to a scholarship or earning additional Bold Points)
Pending points: Some points may show as pending before they become available
Limits and Caps
Daily point-earning activity cap: 50 eligible point-earning actions per day
Scholarship application cap: 50 total scholarship applications
Start With Scholarships
When you create a Bold.org account, you can:
Build and complete your student profile
Nominate other students
As you engage with the platform — applying for scholarships, completing your profile, or participating in programs and promotions — you earn Bold Points through the Bold Rewards program.
Bold Rewards is automatically available to all Bold.org members.
What Are Bold Rewards & Bold Points?
Bold Rewards is the rewards program on Bold.org. Bold Points are the points you earn for participating and staying engaged.
You earn Bold Points by:
Applying for scholarships
Completing and updating your profile
Referring or nominating friends to scholarships
Completing Bold Points tasks
Participating in user feedback sessions or special programs
Taking other eligible actions on Bold.org
These points are designed to turn your scholarship journey into something that gives back along the way.
How It All Works Together
Sign up for Bold.org to apply for scholarships
Earn Bold Points by:
Applying to scholarships
Completing actions on Bold.org
Using the Bold Rewards Plugin while shopping
Track your points in your Rewards dashboard
Redeem your Bold Points for real benefits
Earning Points
You can earn points through eligible actions. The specific actions that qualify — and how many points each action earns — are shown in your Rewards dashboard.
Common Ways Students Earn Points
Completing eligible on-platform engagement actions
Scholarship-related steps and platform participation (as listed in your dashboard)
Shopping through merchants via the Bold Rewards Plugin
Approved partner experiences (when available)
Why You Might See "Pending" Points
Some points require verification or processing time before they become available. This helps keep the program accurate and fair.
Points earned through shopping with the Bold Rewards Plugin go through a pending state. Pending points are visible in your history but are not counted in your redeemable balance. They become redeemable once the retailer confirms the purchase.
If you see points as pending, they should move to available once the activity is confirmed.
Points Expiration
Bold Rewards points are designed to reward ongoing engagement and are subject to expiration.
How Expiration Works
Points expire after 90 days of no qualifying activity
Qualifying activity means either applying to a scholarship or earning additional Bold Points
Either action resets your 90-day window
You'll receive email reminders before points are approaching expiration
To keep your points active, simply apply to a scholarship or earn more points before the 90-day window closes.
If You Had Points Before the New System
If you had Bold Points before the rewards system update, you have a 30-day window to complete a qualifying activity (apply to a scholarship or earn additional Bold Points) to keep your existing balance. After 30 days without qualifying activity, any pre-existing points will expire.
Redeeming Points
Once you've reached 3,000 lifetime Bold Points, you unlock the ability to redeem. Once unlocked, redemption access stays unlocked permanently.
Getting Started With Redemption
Before you can redeem, you'll need to:
Complete the rewards onboarding (available on web and mobile)
Reach the 3,000 Bold Points lifetime threshold
Once both steps are complete, you can start redeeming from your Rewards dashboard.
How to Redeem
Go to your Rewards dashboard
Review your available point balance
Choose an amount in 100-point increments (minimum 1,000 Bold Points per redemption)
Select a reward option from what's currently listed
Confirm redemption
Your redeemed points are deducted from your balance immediately. For example, if you have 5,000 Bold Points and redeem 2,000, your balance drops to 3,000 right away.
Redemption Options
Bold Points can be redeemed for education-related benefits. Here's what's available:
Student loan payments — redeem points to make payments toward your student loans (100 Bold Points = $0.75)
Additional options are being added to the program:
Tuition payments — coming soon
Cash payouts — coming soon
Your Rewards dashboard always reflects the current and authoritative set of available options.
Redemption Statuses
After you redeem, you can track the status of your redemption in your Rewards dashboard:
Pending — Payment has been initiated and is waiting for processing
Completed — Payment has been delivered to your loan servicer
Failed / Cancelled — Payment didn't go through; your points are returned to your balance automatically
Important Notes About Redemption
Minimum redemption amount is 1,000 points per redemption
Redemptions must be in 100-point increments
No bank account is required to redeem
Student loan payments typically take approximately one week to process after redemption
If a redemption fails or is cancelled, your points are returned automatically
Your Points Balance
You have a single current balance that increases when you earn points and decreases when you redeem. Your current balance is what's available to redeem. Your Rewards dashboard always shows the latest balance information.
Bold Rewards Plugin
The Bold Rewards Plugin is an optional, free browser extension that helps you earn additional points and savings while shopping online.
What the Plugin Does
Finds discounts and savings while you shop at participating retailers
Helps lower the cost of things you're already buying
Earns you additional Bold Points on eligible purchases
Once installed, it works automatically in the background when you shop at participating retailers.
Get Started
Start with scholarships — earn rewards along the way.
Install the Bold Rewards Plugin to save while you shop
Bold Rewards is designed to help students at every step — from applications to everyday life.
Need Help?
If something looks wrong (missing points, pending points that don't update, redemption issues, plugin questions), contact Support and include:
The email on your Bold.org account
A screenshot of your Rewards dashboard (available + pending)
The action or activity you expected points for
Approximate date/time of the activity