Elijah Robinson turned his own scholarship wins into a movement. An incoming Albany State University freshman studying accounting, he built Scholarship Gawd, a TikTok platform helping students find scholarships and figure out how to pay for college, on one simple idea: there's far too much money being left on the table.
Who are you, and what are you building right now?
"I'm Elijah Robinson, an incoming freshman at Albany State University studying accounting and aspiring to become a forensic accountant. Right now, I'm building Scholarship Gawd, a TikTok platform where I help students find scholarships and learn how to pay for college."
What was the moment you decided to actually go for it?
"I decided to go for it when people started noticing I was getting a lot of scholarships and asking me how I was doing it. I started figuring out what was actually working and realized there was so much scholarship money being left on the table. Instead of repeating myself to everyone, I started making videos. My first video got around 5,000 views, and that's when I realized, okay, we can actually do something with this."
"There was so much scholarship money being left on the table."
$4.4B
in Pell Grant money went unclaimed by the high school class of 2024 alone, when roughly 830,000 eligible graduates never completed the FAFSA. That is the gap Scholarship Gawd exists to close.
Source: National College Attainment Network, 2025
What does Metro Detroit mean to your work?
"Going to school in Detroit, I've seen a lot of students have big goals and dream schools but struggle to afford them. Seeing that firsthand is a big reason I started Scholarship Gawd. I want to help students in Metro Detroit and beyond find opportunities they might not know about and realize that the cost of college doesn't necessarily have to stop them from pursuing their goals."
What's something people your age get wrong about what you do?
"I think a lot of people think I'm doing Scholarship Gawd because it looks good on a résumé or because it's a good thing to have. But in reality, I want to build a cycle of giving back. If I can help someone get the money they need for college, hopefully one day they'll be in a position to help someone else. I want to create a cycle where people keep giving back and helping the next person."
"I want to create a cycle where people keep giving back and helping the next person."
What's next? What does the near future look like for you?
"Right now, I'm focused on growing Scholarship Gawd, growing my audience, and making the information I share even more useful. Long term, I want to create my own scholarship called the SG Scholarship and eventually be able to give students money for college myself. I want to build something that lasts beyond just TikTok."
