Samantha Chaffin
News Editor
Idaho State University will soon be moving to an online, electronic scholarship application process.
According to Associate Director of Scholarships Debbie Green, the scholarship office hopes to be testing the system by December and implement it in January for the 2014 to 2015 academic year awards.
“It’s going to allow students to easily search, apply and even accept awards so it’s gonna be a really great [thing] for students,” said Green.
Green said all scholarships currently open and accepted through the scholarship office will be part of the new system. However, not all departmental scholarships will be included as only a few will be piloted in the first year.
The new electronic system will be separate from BengalWeb and will not affect how financial aid awards are currently accepted.
Green said she hopes eventually the scholarship system can be tied to the BengalWeb system to accept awards.
“Until we start really seeing how it works it’s hard to say when [tying the system to BengalWeb] will happen or how that will happen until we actually get in there and start working on it.”
Students will be able to accept scholarship awards online but the system is a completely separate system.
“Everything’s electronic now,” explained Green. “You know the paper days are pretty much gone. It’s going to be a lot easier for students to go [into the electronic system] and say, ‘here’s my major’ and see all the scholarships that pop up that they’re eligible for. It’s gonna be a great thing.”
Green said students currently often have a difficult time understanding how to apply for scholarships or what scholarships they’re eligible for and the new system will guide them along, tell them what to apply for and even apply them automatically for certain scholarships.
Green noted she recently attended a conference where it was clear that many other schools are moving to or already using a similar online system for scholarships.
The system is being funded through a line-item on the Financial Aid and Scholarships office’s budget. Green said ideally the system will save money in the long run.
The scholarship office is currently trying to come up with a name for the system and would like student input.
Students can contact the scholarship office, located in Museum Bulding room 327, at (208) 282-3315.
