Whether or not you’re utilizing scholarships as a recruitment software or have already discovered the precise proper scholar match for a selected fund, awarding endowed scholarships in the course of the admissions course of may be extraordinarily tough as a result of variety of funds concerned and the uncertainty as as to whether a scholar will truly enroll. Increased ed establishments usually use “task” or “fund swapping” to maximise using endowed scholarships.
In an “task” course of, colleges embody the whole quantity of institutional assist the coed will obtain inside their acceptance and monetary assist bundle, however don’t match them to endowed scholarships till they enroll. This offers the campus the pliability to maximise their use of endowed funds whereas eliminating the necessity to always re-award when college students should not totally dedicated to the establishment.
Challenges in Scholarship Administration
Though assigning scholarship awards after enrollment eliminates the necessity to always re-award college students, there are nonetheless a number of challenges that establishments might face.
Award Choices Are Made Utilizing Outdated Information
Directors usually match college students to scholarship funds utilizing spreadsheets exported from the campus scholar info system (SIS). These experiences shortly fall old-fashioned as college students regularly change their info and incoming scholar information is added. As well as, choose scholarship funds might require info that doesn’t exist throughout the SIS, leaving directors to make a greatest guess as to a scholar’s qualification.
College students Lack Readability
College students might not perceive the monetary assist 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 will possibly take weeks and even months to finish the task 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 present 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 task course of. For instance your scholarship administration system can:
Populate Key Scholar Document Information Instantly from the SIS
This ensures that each one your information is correct and updated, including new scholar info as they change into a prospect and enroll, saving employees time and bettering accuracy by eliminating spreadsheets and decreasing information entry.
Mechanically Match College students to Obtainable Scholarships
The SIS integration additionally alleviates handbook award processes. When the imported scholar info matches software necessities—and the endowed scholarship doesn’t require committee assessment—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 Rapidly
As a result of elevated pace of the task course of, college students know immediately after they qualify for awards. The very best award administration techniques combination all relevant awards into one customized dashboard the place the coed 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 throughout the identical system, and development can present suggestions and fund utilization experiences to donors on a quicker timeline.
Case Research
Listed here are some real-life examples of how scholarship directors use expertise to assign awards extra effectively.
- College of Wisconsin–Madison had completely 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 determine candidates and match them with each endowed and annual fund scholarships throughout the whole establishment.
- Nova Scotia Group School leverages qualification group and donor desire capabilities inside their software program to award 2,000 scholarships yearly. They’ve seen an enormous enhance within the variety of college students utilizing the software program and thus a lower in unclaimed awards.
- Austin Group 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 experiences. 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 will not be new. We see the affect of expertise in all elements of our lives, from in a single day supply companies to the evolution of distant work environments.
Streamlining your scholarship awarding course of with expertise is the following step in embracing digital transformation to drive scholar success.
