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Award Cycle Preparation Best Practices

Daniel Orofino • Aug 23, 2021

Here at AwardSpring, we’ve seen many award cycles come and go - and we’ve noticed some important preparations that can help an award cycle run like a well-oiled machine. Read on for the steps you can take right now to make your next award cycle your best yet!


Determine when your important milestones will be.


Think about the major functions and events you’ll host over the year – how does your application, review, and awarding process fit in with those dates? When should your application deadline be? When should scholarship money be distributed? Once these dates are settled, it’s much easier to work backward to determine when the application window should open, award decisions should be made, and other important scholarship activities should take place. You may want to consider breaking up a single longer cycle into two shorter ones; two shorter cycles can even overlap if necessary, with our Overlapping Cycles functionality.


Set goals for the year.


Figuring out your biggest priorities up front will help you use your time wisely throughout the award cycle. Are you still coping with retention issues after last year’s COVID-19 disruptions? (If so, here’s a guide to getting your award cycle set up in times of uncertainty.) Is recruitment an important aspect of your scholarship program? Consider requesting custom reports to help you track recruitment, retention, and more. Is equitable awarding a focus? What about your endowment - do you plan to give it all away, or reserve some portion of it for next year?


Prepare for the worst, but expect the best.


The COVID-19 pandemic was a reminder that anything can happen to derail your plans. Make sure you have a plan for maintaining your award program if something new were to go wrong on campus or in your community, or if we have to return to lockdowns this year. Your AwardSpring platform is already configured to support remote work but reviewers, administrators, and students may benefit from remote work communication tips and a reminder that they can access their accounts on any device and from anywhere.



Revisit students’ previous questions and problems.


We suggest taking a look back at last year’s biggest problems or most frequent questions to guide you towards impactful changes to make this year. Review correspondence with students, notes you took, or memories you have about any aspect of the application process that proved troublesome.


Confirm all scholarship details.


Review all of your scholarship listings for needed updates before the new award cycle begins. In particular, double check whether the award values and qualifications have changed. If you had a hard time attracting qualified applicants to a particular scholarship in years past, check out our guide on increasing qualified applicants. Making scholarship stipulations more inclusive and improving the application experience for applicants can go a long way toward getting more applicants overall.


Engage donors.


Engaging donors throughout the award cycle can ensure a strong future for your scholarship program. Before a new award cycle starts, consider reaching out to donors to discuss any changes to scholarship requirements, to thank them for their support, and to report their impact on student recipients. You can encourage direct communication between donors and students right in the AwardSpring platform to help donors truly understand the impact of their gift.


Think like a marketer.


Marketers know that it can take 8-20 “touchpoints”, or points of contact with a prospect, before converting a prospect into a customer. Consider that you may need a similar number of contacts with prospective students before you can convert them into applicants! Make sure your prospects hear from you regularly, on a variety of channels, to increase your chances of converting them. Post on social media, send out email reminders, add content to your institution’s home page, and invest in some printed marketing materials – and make sure that your messages are clear, to the point, and have simple, eye-catching calls to action.



Review and update your application.


The final step before starting a new award cycle is to make updates to your application. AwardSpring users may wish to review our previously published blog post about updating your AwardSpring site. For a complete primer specifically focused on applications, check out this guide to optimizing your application.


 

AwardSpring Blog

By Jill Murphy 08 Feb, 2024
The FAFSA Simplification Act has brought about significant changes to the financial aid landscape, ushering in a new era in the FAFSA application process. While you’re likely familiar with the details, let's take a moment to recap the key highlights of this transformative legislation. Key Changes: Transition to SAI: The cornerstone of the FAFSA Simplification Act is the replacement of the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) with the Student Aid Index (SAI). This shift aims to provide a more nuanced assessment of financial need, offering flexibility with SAI values, including the possibility of negative figures down to -1500. SAR to FSS: Another notable change is the rebranding of the Student Aid Report (SAR) as the FAFSA Submission Summary (FSS), reflecting the evolving nature of the application process. Negative SAI and PELL Grant Eligibility: One of the significant departures from the previous system is the allowance for negative SAIs. This change necessitates adjustments in how institutions package students for need-based aid. Additionally, PELL grant eligibility will now be determined using criteria separate from the FAFSA and resultant SAI, with the incorporation of IRS tax return data where feasible. As you embark to adapt these new protocols, it's essential to remain informed and proactive in navigating the evolving landscape of higher education finance. As an AwardSpring partner, we’ve made suggestions on how to leverage these changes to better support students on their educational journeys and ensure access to the opportunities they deserve. AwardSpring offers the following recommendations to guide institutions through this process: Recommendation #1: Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to Student Aid Index (SAI) The most consequential change to teams that are putting together Financial Aid packages or making scholarship awarding decisions are the EFC to SAI transition. We recommend you consider one of two options: Option 1: Re-label existing EFC fields as SAI to maintain continuity in data collection If you choose to re-label existing EFC fields, be mindful that doing so may impact historical data analysis, requiring a clear understanding by the consumers of any reports of the transition from EFC to SAI effective the date you make this conversion Option 2: Keep your existing EFC fields for historical purposes and create a new SAI field In this instance, you’ll need a thorough review of all of your qualifications and/or awarding decision-making processes to ensure SAI is being used and EFC is properly retired Notables: In the case where you’re using our SIS Integration feature, we’ll want to coordinate which path you’ve chosen so we can update the import process accordingly AwardSpring currently doesn’t allow our numeric fields to go negative creating a gap between the new SAI protocol and our existing numeric fields. We’ll be addressing this in a March, 2024 release so you can capture negative SAI values, if desired In either case, you’ll want to review scholarship qualifications tied to EFC and/or SAI, and ensure compatibility with the possibility of negative SAI values Recommendation #2: Student Aid Report (SAR) to FAFSA Submission Summary (FSS) Much like repurposing EFC for SAI in our first recommendation, you have another consideration with SAR vs. FSS: Option 1: Evaluate the option of re-labeling existing SAR upload fields as FSS to streamline data collection recognize that this adjustment repurposes the field, necessitating careful consideration of historical data interpretation Option 2: Alternatively, create separate fields to accommodate the transition, albeit with potential rework depending on your unique configuration and whether you utilize SIS Integration Recommendation #3: Other FAFSA Fields There’s more variability here since you may have a wide degree of fields to consider. You should tailor any changes based on the specific field type, whether it’s being used as a qualification, and whether you’d need to make corresponding changes in your SIS. Summary Proactive assessment and strategic adaptation of FAFSA-related questions are crucial to seamlessly transition to the new framework outlined by the FAFSA Simplification Act. By carefully considering these recommendations, you can ensure alignment with regulatory changes while maintaining efficiency and accuracy in financial aid processes. As always, if you’d like to talk with our expert staff, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at support@awardspring.com.
AwardSpring: The #1 Scholarship Management Software
By The AwardSpring Team 22 Sep, 2023
We're absolutely thrilled to announce that AwardSpring has clinched the prestigious #1 spot in the G2 report for Scholarship Management Software, but we didn't stop there!
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