Whether or not you’re utilizing scholarships as a recruitment software or have already discovered the precise proper scholar match for a particular fund, awarding endowed scholarships through the admissions course of might be extraordinarily troublesome because of the variety of funds concerned and the uncertainty as as to if a scholar will really enroll. Larger ed establishments usually use “task” or “fund swapping” to maximise using endowed scholarships.

In an “task” course of, colleges embrace the whole quantity of institutional help the coed 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 usually are not 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 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Award Choices Are Made Utilizing Outdated Information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 stories 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 finest guess as to a scholar’s qualification.

College students Lack Readability

College students might 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 might take weeks and even months to finish the task course of because of the complexity of matching college students with endowed funds. College students are a lot much less more likely 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 management system, establishments can considerably enhance their award task course of. For instance your scholarship administration system can:

Populate Key Scholar Document Information Straight from the SIS

This ensures that each one your information is correct and updated, including new scholar info as they become a prospect and enroll, saving workers time and enhancing accuracy by eliminating spreadsheets and decreasing information entry.

Robotically Match College students to Out there Scholarships

The SIS integration additionally alleviates guide award processes. When the imported scholar info matches software 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 Rapidly

Because of the elevated velocity of the task course of, college students know instantly after they qualify for awards. The very best award administration techniques mixture all relevant awards into one personalised dashboard the place the coed can apply for and settle for scholarships and full motion objects. Having one portal and centralized notifications improves student 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 stories to donors on a sooner timeline.

Case Research

Listed here are some real-life examples of how scholarship directors use expertise to assign awards extra effectively.

• University of Wisconsin–Madison had completely different processes throughout its decentralized campus, with every college or faculty managing its personal. By implementing Blackbaud Award Management™ 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 your entire establishment.

• Nova Scotia Community College leverages qualification group and donor choice 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 Community College Foundation has a small workers 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 Management™ to generate individualized donor stories. The net portal permits donors to simply observe their funds and the achievements of the scholars they help.

Expertise Can Remodel Processes

Digital transformation shouldn’t be new. We see the affect of expertise in all points of our lives, from in a single day supply providers 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.