Whether or not you’re utilizing scholarships as a recruitment device or have already discovered the precise proper scholar match for a particular fund, awarding endowed scholarships throughout the admissions course of could be extraordinarily troublesome as a result of variety of funds concerned and the uncertainty as as to whether a scholar will truly enroll. Larger ed establishments usually use “project” or “fund swapping” to maximise the usage of endowed scholarships.
In an “project” course of, faculties embrace the overall quantity of institutional help the scholar will obtain inside their acceptance and monetary help bundle, however don’t match them to endowed scholarships till they enroll. This provides the campus the flexibleness to maximise their use of endowed funds whereas eliminating the necessity to continually re-award when college students will not be absolutely dedicated to the establishment.
Challenges in Scholarship Administration
Though assigning scholarship awards after enrollment eliminates the necessity to continually re-award college students, there are nonetheless a number of challenges that establishments could face.
Award Choices Are Made Utilizing Previous Knowledge
Directors usually match college students to scholarship funds utilizing spreadsheets exported from the campus scholar info system (SIS). These stories rapidly fall old-fashioned as college students regularly change their info and incoming scholar knowledge is added. As well as, choose scholarship funds could require info that doesn’t exist inside the SIS, leaving directors to make a greatest guess as to a scholar’s qualification.
College students Lack Readability
College students could not perceive the monetary help a part of their acceptance bundle. They don’t know the place their award(s) originated, the mechanics of any endowed funding, if scholarships are already included within the bundle, and whether or not it’s a one-time award or renewable annually.
Donor Stewardship Takes Too Lengthy
It could possibly take weeks and even months to finish the project course of as a result of complexity of matching college students with endowed funds. College students are a lot much less prone to submit donor acknowledgements and thank-you letters months after enrolling, leaving donors to wonder if their reward was appreciated and even utilized.
Scholarship Software program Options
Do these challenges sound acquainted? By implementing a contemporary scholarship administration system, establishments can considerably enhance their award project course of. For instance your scholarship administration system can:
Populate Key Pupil Report Knowledge Instantly from the SIS
This ensures that every one your knowledge is correct and updated, including new scholar info as they develop into a prospect and enroll, saving employees time and bettering accuracy by eliminating spreadsheets and lowering knowledge entry.
Mechanically Match College students to Out there Scholarships
The SIS integration additionally alleviates guide award processes. When the imported scholar info matches utility necessities—and the endowed scholarship doesn’t require committee evaluate—the system will alert directors who can then award funds in bulk to hurry up the awarding course of.
Assist College students Apply for and Settle for Awards Extra Shortly
Because of the elevated pace of the project course of, college students know instantly after they qualify for awards. The very best award administration techniques mixture all relevant awards into one customized dashboard the place the scholar can apply for and settle for scholarships and full motion objects. Having one portal and centralized notifications improves scholar communication, reduces confusion, and streamlines the method.
Guarantee Donors Obtain Immediate Acknowledgements
College students can instantly submit a donor acknowledgement video or thank-you letter inside the similar system, and development can present suggestions and fund utilization stories to donors on a quicker timeline.
Case Research
Listed here are some real-life examples of how scholarship directors use know-how to assign awards extra effectively.
- College of Wisconsin–Madison had totally different processes throughout its decentralized campus, with every college or faculty managing its personal. By implementing Blackbaud Award Administration™ and bringing all scholarships into one platform, they estimate saving 66% of the time beforehand spent reviewing and awarding.
- UNC Asheville boosted fund utilization from 70% to 95% utilizing Blackbaud Award Administration to establish candidates and match them with each endowed and annual fund scholarships throughout your entire establishment.
- Nova Scotia Neighborhood School leverages qualification group and donor choice capabilities inside their software program to award 2,000 scholarships yearly. They’ve seen an enormous improve within the variety of college students utilizing the software program and thus a lower in unclaimed awards.
- Austin Neighborhood School Basis has a small employees to handle awards throughout 11 campuses. They’ve been utilizing Blackbaud Award Administration to streamline processes for greater than a decade and adopted Blackbaud Stewardship Administration™ to generate individualized donor stories. The net portal permits donors to simply observe their funds and the achievements of the scholars they assist.
Know-how Can Remodel Processes
Digital transformation shouldn’t be new. We see the affect of know-how in all facets of our lives, from in a single day supply companies to the evolution of distant work environments.
Streamlining your scholarship awarding course of with know-how is the following step in embracing digital transformation to drive scholar success.