Scholarship Management Update - Changes to Reviewer Duties

September 5, 2025

The Ï㽶ÊÓƵScholarship Process Improvement Team has been busy this summer innovating the scholarship process. The Ï㽶ÊÓƵFoundation, UA, UAA, UAF and UAS have worked collaboratively to improve students’ educational journeys by making scholarships more accessible, timely and effective. The Ï㽶ÊÓƵFoundation Board of Directors, has approved a formal Scholarship Management Policy,  in alignment with the Ï㽶ÊÓƵBoard of Regents’ Student First Attainment Framework. In addition,  we are on schedule for the new scholarship management system, AWARDED, to go live on October 1, 2025. 

Here’s how the approved policy and new platform will affect the scholarship review process:

  • Our new platform is designed for FERPA compliance. 
    • In response to the tightening standards in student data protection from the federal Department of Education, we will utilize AWARDED’s blind review functionality.
    • Student names and identifying information will not be visible to reviewers. The Review Scorecards will only show the Banner data associated with the scholarship criteria, the answers to the student profile questions, and the answers to any supplemental information required for that particular scholarship.
  • All scholarship applications and student award selections will be submitted through the AWARDED platform to ensure consistency, regulatory compliance, and proper tracking. 
    • Departments that manage a page of their university website will need to update the scholarship pages with links to AWARDED instead of the previous general scholarship application links.
  • All enrolled Ï㽶ÊÓƵstudents will be considered for scholarships. While the scholarship pools will be larger now that all students are eligible, our new policies and platform have adapted to this change with a new division of labor: 
    • Review Committees will only have to rank scorecards. 
    • Financial Aid staff will process awards based on rankings, donor intent, and student cost of attendance.
    • Broad-qualification scholarships that are based only on Banner data no longer need committee reviews. Financial Aid staff and the Ï㽶ÊÓƵFoundation Scholarship Team will process these awards based on donor intent and industry best practice.
  • New rolling deadlines will spread the scholarship awards across all three semesters of the academic year, so committees do not have such a heavy lift all at once.
    • Review Committees will have a posted deadline to complete their rankings each semester and then Financial Aid staff will begin processing awards as soon as the deadline has passed, regardless of whether the rankings have been completed.
    • A schedule of scholarships and deadlines will be distributed in October 2025.