Building Faculty Buy-In: The Missing Piece in Scholarship Visibility

When scholarship applications fall short, the focus usually turns to student outreach: emails, social posts, campus events. But one of the most powerful—and overlooked—channels of influence is right down the hall: your faculty.

Faculty members are in daily contact with students. They see academic progress, know who’s struggling financially, and are often the first people students turn to for support. Yet many scholarship programs don’t include them in the outreach process.

In this post, we’ll explore five ways to engage faculty as strategic partners in your scholarship visibility efforts—boosting both application volume and equity along the way.

Make Faculty Awareness a Priority

You can’t expect faculty to promote scholarships if they don’t know what’s available. Start by making scholarship visibility a standard part of faculty communication and onboarding.

How to do it:

• Add a “Scholarship Snapshot” section to your faculty newsletter
• Create a shareable slide deck or one-pager summarizing key deadlines and award info
• Host a 10-minute scholarship update during faculty meetings each semester

Consider offering a “faculty scholarship liaison” role in each department—someone who agrees to act as the go-to person for scholarship updates and questions.

Why it works: Faculty are trusted voices. The more informed they are, the more likely they are to share opportunities with students who need them.

Provide Easy-to-Use Messaging Tools

Faculty are busy—and many aren’t sure what to say when promoting scholarships. Equip them with tools that are quick to use and require no additional lift.

Create a toolkit that includes:

• Short scholarship blurbs for syllabi
• Email templates to send to advisees
• Suggested language for LMS announcements (e.g., Canvas or Blackboard)
• FAQs about eligibility and deadlines

Make this toolkit available as a PDF or Google Doc linked in every faculty email. Update it each cycle.

Why it works: Lowering the activation energy for faculty increases the likelihood they’ll follow through.

Invite Faculty to Nominate Students

Instead of just asking faculty to promote scholarships, invite them into the process. Create a low-lift way for them to nominate or refer students who might be strong candidates.

Example strategies:

• A short online form where faculty can submit names (with student consent)
• An email they can send to a student saying, “I thought of you for this opportunity…”
• A way to loop faculty into recommendation letter writing for relevant scholarships

Be sure to follow up with nominated students so they feel personally invited to apply.

Why it works: Personalized encouragement from a trusted professor can give a student the confidence to apply—especially if they’ve never seen themselves as “scholarship-worthy.”

Share the Impact of Faculty Involvement

Faculty are more likely to stay engaged if they understand the difference their involvement makes.

Try this:

• At the end of each scholarship cycle, send a thank-you message highlighting application stats and stories
• Share quotes from students who mention faculty nudges in their applications
• Offer spotlights in internal newsletters: “Thanks to Dr. Rivera’s outreach, four students in her department received awards this year.”

Also consider looping faculty into donor reports where relevant—especially if their students received named or departmental scholarships.

Why it works: Everyone wants to feel like their efforts matter. Showing faculty their impact builds long-term buy-in.

Treat Faculty as Part of the Scholarship Ecosystem

Too often, scholarship management is siloed within financial aid or advancement. But faculty touch every part of the student journey—so integrating them into the ecosystem makes sense.

Here are a few longer-term strategies:

• Include scholarship promotion goals in department-level planning
• Invite faculty to join scholarship review committees (where appropriate)
• Ask faculty leaders to co-present during scholarship info sessions

This approach reframes scholarship visibility as a shared, campus-wide goal—not just an admin task.

Why it works: When faculty feel like co-owners of the scholarship process, they’re more invested in student outcomes.

Final Thoughts: Faculty Make the Message Stick

Your scholarship visibility strategy isn’t complete without faculty. They see potential, spark confidence, and provide crucial context that digital outreach simply can’t replicate.

If you want to reach more students—especially those who don’t think they qualify—engaging your faculty isn’t optional. It’s essential.

AwardSpring helps institutions create streamlined, collaborative scholarship ecosystems where everyone—students, staff, and faculty—plays a part in helping financial aid reach those who need it most.

Learn How AwardSpring Supports Cross-Campus Scholarship Engagement