Setting Up Success for the Class of 2023 and Beyond
As you prepare for the 2023 scholarship season, we want to share a few tools, tips and resources that will help them on the road to success. The Common App is an ideal way for your rising seniors to easily apply for college admissions—which will help students be prepared to apply for your scholarships.
The 2022-23 Common App is now open for applications, with more than 1,000 member colleges and universities across the country for students to explore. A student can create an account, gather materials, answer writing prompts, build a college list, and apply to multiple participating colleges through this platform, without having to start new applications for each school. Students with college credits from a dual enrollment college program can use the platform, too.
Note: if you don’t see some colleges or universities listed, college systems may have their own populating college application platform to make it easier for students to complete an application once and send it to multiple colleges systemwide. To learn more, visit commonapp.org, and follow @CommonApp and #CommonApp on social media.
Meet Your Students Where They Are
According to a Pew Research Center study just released this month, YouTube is the top teen choice of online platforms with 95% of teens between the ages of 13 and 17 having used it, followed by TikTok (67%) then Instagram and Snapchat (60% of teens). By contrast, teen use of Facebook is now at 32%. So, if you don’t have an Instagram account to reach out to your teens, we strongly suggest creating one. You can find samples of chapter Instagram accounts by creating your own account and searching for Dollars for Scholars. If you are feeling adventurous and want to dive into more video content, check out these guides to TikTok and YouTube for nonprofits.
Stretching To Offer Ongoing Scholarships
As you huddle to finalize your offerings for 2023, take a close look and consider these strategies and resources.
- Offer impactful scholarship amounts. Today’s students are more likely to invest the time to apply for larger scholarships that will help them more. And, with today’s college costs, we recommend a minimum $1,000 scholarship amount. If you package your offerings, package to that minimum as well.
- Offer Renewable Scholarships that will support your students for more than just the first year of college. It helps students plan for their education, and stay on track with the knowledge they’ll have more support. All too often, after the first year, students often face a financial cliff where their aid falls off dramatically, causing them more uncertainty and instability to continue their educational path.
- Offer postsecondary scholarships if you are not offering renewable scholarships, to students who are in a second year of college or beyond.
And don't forget, Scholarship America's Fradkin Legacy Award program offers seed funding to expand the dollar amount of your scholarship awards and to start or expand renewable scholarships.
Check out the Fradkin Legacy Application materials in your ChapterNet Administrative portal under Affiliate Resources. There is still time to apply by September 30.
Where Are They Now?
While you are beginning a new scholarship season for your rising seniors, now is the time to look at how you track student success for previous recipients. Tracking the educational outcomes of your students not only helps your Dollars for Scholars describe the success of your mission to donors and stakeholders, but it also can help add membership to your board or circle of donors.
Hear more about how chapters in the Dollars for Scholars network are tracking and sharing student outcomes--join us tonight at the Dollars for Scholars Connect session at 6:30 pm Central Time. Register here if you haven’t already.
California Update of AB 288: Ban on Scholarship Displacement Act
Delivering on its promise, Scholarship America is sponsoring major legislation to end scholarship displacement in California at public and private institutions, with more than 300 organizations and individuals in support. Learn more on our blog about this major legislative milestone.
In other areas of the country:
- Adams County Community Foundation Dollars for Scholars worked diligently to pass legislation to end scholarship displacement in Pennsylvania which was signed into law in June.
- Washington State passed legislation earlier this year to end scholarship displacement at public and private institutions.
- New Jersey and Maryland already have laws in place.
- South Colonie Dollars for Scholars has stepped forward to join initial conversations in New York.
Introducing Two Minute Tech Tuesdays (T3)
We are excited to announce the launch of our new Technical Engagement Initiative, “Two Minute Tech Tuesdays (T3).” As the name implies each Tuesday, we will be releasing a short video tip covering one aspect of ChapterNet. Though ChapterNet’s scope and scale can seem daunting, a conversational understanding of ChapterNet is useful to Dollars for Scholars Board Members and Volunteers alike.
Although Two Minute Tech Tuesdays (T3) videos will contain instructional content, they are not a replacement for the material already found in Affiliate Resources within ChapterNet. The videos will be posted in the Dollars for Scholars private Facebook group as well as in ChapterNet.
Much like appetizers at a party, these bite-sized introductions are to help spark conversations and demystify the Technical aspects of Scholarship Administration. Whether at a board meeting, a fundraiser, or in passing at the grocery store, these weekly quick tips should help your Dollars for Scholars ask “Do we do that too?” and “Could we do something different?”
ChapterNet Updates
The ChapterNet enhancements launched on August 1 include:
- Resetting student profiles
- Financial Info Section
- GPA
- Year in School
- Automated Emails for Compliance Related Issues
- The option for students to change their own custom eligibility question answers.
For detailed information on all of this year’s enhancements, please see the August 2022 ChapterNet Enhancements Overview PDF, available in Affiliate Resources. Video will be uploaded when the changes related to Archiving go live on September 1.
Don’t forget! Annual Data Archive is Happening on September 1
We archive data in ChapterNet to ensure the platform continues to run efficiently, and to start the new scholarship year. For more information, see “ChapterNet Guide: Annual Archive” in Affiliate Resources.
Inactive Student Data Removal: We will be permanently deleting inactive records from ChapterNet. You can read more about this in the email sent on August 23, 2022.
Reminders and Important Dates
- Now – October 15 – Spread the word to students: Dream Award Scholarship accepting applications
- August 25, 6:30 pm CT - Dollars for Scholars Connect: Register Here
- September 1 - ChapterNet data archiving
- September 1 – Send a draft of your Dr. Irving Fradkin Legacy Awards application to your Engagement Director to talk through it
- September 11 - Join this national virtual event, 9.11 Mile Memorial Challenge Virtual Walk/Run to support children of those who died on and since 9/11
- September 30 – Affiliation agreement due
- September 30 – Dr. Irving Fradkin Legacy Awards application due
