With scholarship deadlines on the horizon, students are beginning to feel the pressure.
The U’s Financial Aid and Scholarships Office is tabling this week all over campus to help students fill out their FAFSA, a federal financial aid form, and let them know about scholarship opportunities. Hayley Shipton, a financial aid counselor, said most deadlines are throughout February, with the later ones closing on March 1.
Connor Richardson, a sophomore in communication, said he is happy and relieved now that the communication scholarship deadline has passed because the stress was piling up.
“I had a decent-sized math assignment due about the same time, and I ended up not doing the assignment,” Richardson said. “It was too much on top of everything.”
Amber Cook, scholarship services coordinator for the new University Scholarship Office, has seen many frantic students recently.
“We become aware of students who, in their senior year, are short on money,” Cook said. “They come in asking how they can make ends meet, and we ask them to apply for FAFSA.”
The office always recommends that students fill out a FAFSA, even if they do not believe they meet requirements for a need-based scholarship. The scholarship office received a large boost in legislative funds this year to offer more scholarships to incoming freshmen and transfer students. The number of scholarships they were able to give jumped from 1,100 to about 3,400.
As of last year, about 38 percent of students who applied received scholarships. This is a fairly common scholarship percentage around campus.
Monica Heaton, administration manager for the College of Engineering, said those who apply for engineering scholarships generally have a 50 percent acceptance rate. Like most colleges on campus, scholarships from the College of Engineering are funded by private donations, and the budget continues to grow thanks to a development team that visits alumni and businesses to solicit money.
Heaton said most students get stuck on the essay portion of scholarship applications. With so much to do, she said, people often hand in papers without worrying about the prompt.
“Fifty percent or more do not answer the question asked for the essay,” she said.
Erich Hoefler, a freshman in mining engineering, received a scholarship from the College of Engineering. Most of the time, he does not think the time and stress is worth the extra cash. Luckily for him, Hoefler said the Mining Department is so small that almost anyone who applies gets a scholarship.
Although Cook sees the benefits of financial aid, she realizes the applications can make it a struggle as well.
“A lot of the students are in the middle of classes, probably working,” she said. “[Scholarships] are out there, you just have to have the time.”
@carolyn_webber