Don’t Let Scholarship Season Pass You By!

While the first day of spring has officially passed and the Tucson air becomes warmer and more inviting, the Scholarship team in the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (OSFA) and several other campus departments and outside scholarship organizations are working hard on posting, and in many cases, reviewing candidates for scholarships for the upcoming Fall 2021 semester. Scholarship Season officially started in late Fall 2020 and continues through early spring 2021 but is ending soon…so don’t let your student miss this opportunity!

Years ago, students had to look through physical scholarship binders (I remember those days) to find scholarships they could apply for. Years later, the search for scholarships upgraded with the use of the internet. But those of you who have ever typed “scholarships for school” or “college scholarships” or some other combination with the word “scholarship” into an online search engine know… there is a such thing as information overload and that… is not helpful at all when you are a busy student trying to find money for school.

Introducing… Scholarship Universe! Scholarship Universe is the University of Arizona’s scholarship matching tool that is available to all admitted Arizona students. Students need to just login, complete their profile questions and then let the system match them to scholarships for which they are eligible to apply! This allows students the time they need to focus on the application materials and applying to as many scholarships as they can.

And now…is the best time to do it! You may think this is early but it’s not, this is the peak season for scholarship deadlines so if your student has not logged into Scholarship Universe yet or for a while, it’s time to encourage them to login now so they don’t miss any amazing scholarship opportunities.

Here are some quick tips for making this Scholarship Season as successful as possible!

1. Watch the helpful videos OSFA created to support students in navigating Scholarship Universe and the scholarship searching/application process! Everything from logging in, creating your profile to creating more scholarship matches is included in these short, easy to follow videos! Start HERE
2. Attend OSFA’s Perfecting Your Scholarship Search workshop! Get all the insider tips and tricks from OSFA directly. If you can’t attend the workshop live (via Zoom), no worries, the workshop is recorded and accessible to you HERE
3. Apply for scholarships of all dollar amounts, not just the big ones. Even the smallest scholarship will help! Not all expenses are large, so maybe the scholarship covers a couple books or a month’s worth of food expenses… it all helps!
4. Save and access all your scholarship application materials in Scholarship Universe! Many scholarship applications ask for similar application materials including cover letters, letters of reference, letters of interest, etc. Scholarship Universe will keep all these materials for you so you can access and use later!  
5. Lastly, don’t wait for the deadline to apply! If you are eligible, get your application materials in as soon as you can so you know you will be considered for the award.

We know there is a lot going on right now but securing additional funding for scholarships is not something to miss out on! You can learn more about Scholarship Universe and students can login HERE

Happy Scholarship Season!