University of Idaho’s Student Financial Aid Services is releasing “Scholarship Universe,” a new online scholarship database created in partnership with Campus Logic, Oct. 1.
The database will connect students to a wide array of scholarships distinct to certain student attributes. Specific majors will be able to look for scholarships dedicated to their degree and learn requirements and deadlines. Scholarship Universe acts as a replacement to the financial aid’s “huge 3-ring binder of scholarships,” Randi Croyle, the director of Student Financial Aid Services, said. The database will organize and automatically allocate scholarships to students based on their college.
“One of the things they have in that product is a database with outside scholarships,” Croyle said. “So, what we did is we sent them all of the scholarships in our binder to that team, embedded them and added them to a bank of more than 10,000 scholarships that they already had in place.”
All students will be able to access the tool with a UI account. The database will be accessible from the financial aid services’s website and its release will coincide with an extensive advertising campaign around Moscow and the main UI campus.
In addition to helping students find well-fitting scholarships, the database will assist the “over 100 employees across campus” which help with scholarship committees, Croyle said.
“The committees within the colleges will have a virtual option of awarding scholarships,” Croyle said.. “Right now, they are using Outlook and Excel spreadsheets to sort the thousands of students that we have and the thousands of scholarships that we have and the millions of dollars that we have to get this information out. It’s going to help us organize and better manage the funds that we have as well.”
All academic scholarship awards in the 2021-22 academic year will be awarded through this Scholarship Universe. Every “directly awarded” scholarship will not require a reapplication process or a supply of information from students. Scholarships which require auditions or skill demonstrations will be handled separately.
The UI scholarship process will not change from the student’s perspective, Croyle said. Scholarship Universe will make it easier for students to find and apply for scholarships outside UI, but UI scholarships will be attributed as usual, just with a more streamlined process behind the scenes.
Carter Bottom, a sophomore operational management and finance double major, relies on scholarships to attend UI. He looks forward to using the database for the rest of his college career.
“I think it’s great,” Bottom said. “I know there’s a lot of other online sources that do a similar thing, but they make it seem like ads. If it’s through the university, it feels more trustworthy. It makes me feel better being able to go to my university, and they can give me the stuff to help me out with financials.”
The Student Financial Aaid Services can be reached at [email protected] or at 208-885-6312.
Carter Kolpitcke can be reached at [email protected].