Diana Minor – Director, Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships

1. Hurdles & Successes – Our Three-Phase Process Towards Increasing Scholarship Applications and Financial Support For Our Students Diana Minor – Director, Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships Marcia Starcher– Scholarship Specialist Saul Ramirez – Scholarship Coordinator

2. Phase 1 – Manual Labor • Staffing • Counselor position with scholarships as a program • Student assistant assigned • B. Campus Scholarships • All colleges, departments, clubs, and organizations used their own paper application • Few applications were received throughout campus • Awarding was not coordinated with Office of Financial Aid • Office of Financial Aid was not aware of the scholarship awards processed outside of our office • Scholarship checks were sometimes given directly to students

3. Phase 1 – Manual Labor • C. Student Process • Application was available on the Office of Financial Aid website • Student printed, completed and submitted application to our office • Student requested letters of recommendation separately • D. Office Process • Massive amounts of paperwork for everyone • Filed paper applications as they were received • Received letters of recommendation separately • Had to match letters of recommendation to application • Filed completed packets • Mailed hard copy congratulatory letters for students • Ran out of storage space for application packets • Too much room for error with the possibility of losing paper

4. Phase 1 – Manual Labor • E. Student Communication • Received a high volume of calls from students inquiring if their letters of recommendation had been received • Students were not notified if their scholarship application packets were complete • F. Awarding Process • Our office received 200 - 400 scholarship applications • Constant problem of not having enough qualified applicants to award • Scholarships often went unawarded • One general application for all 40+ scholarships awarded • Read all applications to determine who qualified for which scholarship • Often had to fly separate applications for specific scholarships • No tracking mechanism to capture scholarships awarded throughout campus

5. Phase 1 – Manual Labor • G. Donors • No communication with campus • No thank-you letters • No input into the process • No funding updates regarding status of accounts • No donor recognition

6. Phase 1 – Manual Labor • H. Statistics • 1. Number of Scholarships Awarded • a. On-Campus: 1,401 • b. Off-Campus: 1,336 • c. Total: 2,737 • 2. Funds Disbursed • a. On-Campus: $1,785,373 • b. Off-Campus: $764,429 • c. Total: $2,549,802 • 3. Number of Students Awarded • a. On-Campus: 1,175 • b. Off-Campus: 642 • c. Total: 1817 • 4. Average Scholarship Award • a. $1,403

7. Phase II – Realization of Technology • Staffing • Full-time scholarship Specialist • Hired Scholarship Coordinator • Half-time counselor duties • Half-time scholarship duties • Student Assistant • Campus Scholarships • All departments, colleges, clubs, and offices flew their own scholarships • Everyone chose their own recipients • Upon request we created a hard copy version of our application for a department to use • No accountability to verify all scholarships were awarded throughout campus

8. Phase II – Realization of Technology • C. Student Process • Students could access and submit an online application for over 40 scholarships • Once an application was begun, it had to be completed – could not save data • Changes could not be made once the application was submitted • Received calls from students asking to confirm if their scholarship application had been submitted successfully

9. Phase II – Realization of Technology • D. Office Process • Hard-copy letters of recommendation were sent in separately from the instructors • Filed the letters of recommendation • Printed the applications and submitted them, along with the appropriate letter of recommendation, to the scholarship committees • Still received calls from students regarding receipt of their letters of recommendation • Letters of recommendation had to be matched to applications for scholarship committees • Still room for error – letters of recommendation could be misplaced/misfiled • E. Student Communication • Mass emails sent out by the Office of Financial Aid about scholarship application availability • Students could go online to check status of application packet • Had to manually put this information in PeopleSoft for students to see • Received calls from students inquiring whether letters of recommendation were received

10. Phase II – Realization of Technology • F. Awarding Process • Our office received between 1,000 - 1,200 applications • Mailed hard-copy congratulatory letters to students • Fewer issues with not having enough applicants to award • Recipients were found for more scholarships • Some specialized scholarships remained unawarded • G. Technology • Online scholarship application • Allowed us to run queries for qualified scholarship applicants • Technical issues with word count • Staff had no access to scholarship data

11. Phase II – Realization of Technology • H. Donors • Some donors participated in the awarding process • Year-end report was created manually • Hard copy thank-you letters provided to some donors • Donors recognized in University Advancement publications • Collaboration with Campus Partners • Collaborated with Student Accounts daily to ensure scholarship awarding and reconciliation • Collaborated with Directors of Development regarding marketing and scholarships • Worked with Foundation to ensure compliance • Increase in scholarship funding and campus support resulted in office name change to Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships

12. Phase II – Realization of Technology • J. Statistics • Number of Scholarships Awarded • On-Campus: 2,717 • Off-Campus: 1,823 • Total: 4,540 • Funds Disbursed • On-Campus: $3,278,229 • Off-Campus: $1,183,517 • Total: $4,461,746 • Number of Students Awarded • On-Campus: 1,787 • Off-Campus: 816 • Total: 2,608 • Average Scholarship Award • $1,710

13. Phase III – Putting It All Together • Staffing • Two, full-time scholarship staff members • Scholarship Specialist • Scholarship Coordinator • One service representative • ¾ time service representative duties • ¼ time scholarship duties • One ½ time scholarship analyst • One student assistant

14. Phase III – Putting It All Together • B. Bronco Scholarship Application • All departments, colleges, offices, and clubs • Use one common scholarship application • Choose their own recipients • Students can access and submit an online application for over 400 scholarships • Students can return to the application and make updates anytime • Students receive automatic confirmation once the scholarship application is submitted • Letters of recommendation are requested and submitted electronically • No letters of recommendation to file • No calls from students about letters of recommendation • Students can see on their application if letters of recommendation have been submitted • No further issues with matching letters of recommendation with applications since everything is online • All scholarships are available for review online • Departments are able to print hard-copy applications on their own • Reports can be run to track scholarship awarding

15. Phase III – Putting It All Together • C. Student Communication • Students can go online to check status of application packet • Mass emails sent out by Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships to notify students of scholarship applications available • D. Awarding Process • The Bronco Scholarship Application has 6,000 – 7,000 applications • Automated congratulatory letters are emailed to students • Most scholarships have adequate number of applicants • Few specialized scholarships remained unawarded • E. Technology • Ability to run reports in Bronco Scholarship Application for scholarship awarding • Ability to track scholarships awarded and funds disbursed throughout campus • Bronco Scholarship Application allows for consistent reconciliation between Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships, Accounting and Foundation • Easy access to Bronco Scholarship Application for all staff

16. Phase III – Putting It All Together • F. Donors • Donor module with Bronco Scholarship Application is now a possibility • Students will be able to read donor profiles • Thank-you letters are uploaded electronically to the application then sent on to donors • G. Collaboration with Campus Partners • Collaborate with Student Accounts daily to ensure scholarship awarding and reconciliation • Collaborate with Directors of Development to provide student scholarship information • Work with Foundation to ensure compliance

17. Phase III – Putting It All Together • H. Statistics • Number of Scholarships Awarded • On-Campus: 2,726 • Off-Campus: 2,072 • Total: 4,798 • Funds Disbursed • On-Campus: $3,899,678 • Off-Campus: $1,438,729 • Total: $5,338,407 • Number of Students Awarded • On-Campus: 1,897 • Off-campus: 857 • Total: 2,754 • Average Scholarship Award • $1,938

19. Questions?