Launchpad vs Going Merry: What to Use Now That Going Merry Shut Down

Going Merry shut down in March 2026 after serving 2 million students and partnering with counselors across 50% of US high schools. If you relied on it, you need a new plan — fast. This page breaks down how Launchpad compares, what Going Merry did well, and why deadline tracking matters even more than scholarship search.

This isn't a hit piece. Going Merry genuinely helped families. But the gap they left isn't just about finding scholarships — it's about the deadlines that shape your child's entire educational path.

What Going Merry Did Well

Going Merry's core value was simplicity. One student profile, a few essays, and the platform matched you with scholarships and auto-filled applications across hundreds of providers. In 2024 alone, 360,000 students used it to secure $8.8 million in scholarships.

That's real money for real families. The auto-fill feature saved hours of repetitive work, and the scholarship matching surfaced opportunities families wouldn't have found on their own. Two million students used it because it worked.

The Gap Going Merry Left

Going Merry only tracked scholarships. That was its scope — and within that scope, it did good work. But the harder problem it never solved was everything else:

• No backward planning from your child's actual goal — just scholarship matching
• No milestone tracking for gifted programs, magnet school lotteries, or military academy nominations
• No support for military families navigating PCS moves and constantly resetting to new local requirements
• No homeschool awareness or curriculum planning integration
• No non-college paths — vocational programs, career tracks, and military service didn't exist in their world
• No K-12 coverage — useful only in junior and senior year, too late for the deadlines that matter most

The gap wasn't what they built. It was what they didn't build. Scholarship deadlines are one type of deadline. The ones that change your child's trajectory are the ones no one tells you about.

Feature Comparison

For Scholarship Search Right Now

If scholarship search is your immediate need, our full Going Merry alternatives guide covers this in detail. The short version: these platforms are active and free to use today.

• Fastweb — one of the largest free scholarship databases, has been running for decades
• Scholarships.com — strong matching and a large scholarship index
• Niche — scholarship search alongside school rankings, 70 million annual users
• CollegeVine — free scholarship search with admissions chancing tools built in

These won't replace Going Merry's auto-fill convenience, but they cover the scholarship search gap while better tools are built. Ask your school counselor for a local scholarship list too — many schools maintain their own databases that don't appear on national platforms.

Why Deadline Tracking Matters More Than Scholarship Search

Here's the uncomfortable truth: the deadlines that change your child's trajectory aren't scholarship deadlines.

They're the ones like these:

• Gifted program windows — most districts test in November or January. Miss the window in 2nd grade, and the next opportunity may be years away.
• Magnet school lotteries — applications often open in October and close in December, for a school year that starts 9 months later. Most families find out after the deadline has passed.
• Military academy nomination timelines — the West Point, Naval Academy, and Air Force Academy nomination process starts the spring of junior year. Most families discover this in senior year, too late to compete. Hidden college deadlines like these are the ones that close doors quietly.
• Vocational program enrollment periods— competitive CTE programs fill months before the school year. If you're not registered in spring, you're waitlisted in fall.

Scholarships fund education. Deadlines determineit. A scholarship you miss can be replaced by another scholarship. A magnet school lottery you miss doesn't reopen. A gifted program you aged out of doesn't give you a second chance.

This is especially true for families who aren't on a traditional four-year college track. Career paths, vocational programs, and military service all have their own deadline structures — structures Going Merry never mapped at all.

Launchpad was built to solve this. Enter your child's grade, their goal, and your ZIP code. Get a personalized roadmap — every milestone, every deadline, every window — mapped from today to graduation day and beyond. When you PCS and move to a new ZIP code, the roadmap updates. The goal stays the same.

Going Merry served millions of students well. Its shutdown is a reminder that tools can disappear — but the deadlines don't wait. Start tracking the deadlines that matter.