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I am on a scholarship committee here at my university. I organize it all, send out all emails, tells all reviewers what to do, etc.
We have a rubric that we follow. Some scores are obvious - as in a certain GPA gets a certain number of points. But we also have one number that we decide together as a group based on anything we know about the student. One of our areas is weighted twice.
It makes it much easier as a group to enter in all the numbers to see who really pulls ahead. If we need to narrow it down, we also use EFC and Encumbered funds to tell us how much the family can contribute and how much the student has already been awarded to assist with our final decisions. It does not sound like you would have information like that, though since you are an outside organization.
Years ago we were forced to develop the rubric/number system after an audit. In the years since, we have been told we could go back to our old way, but our committee has really felt like the number system has been the fairest and we have decided to stick with it. I share this just as a suggestion that when you talk about criteria in the future, you may want to look into creating a rubric.
"awesome spectacular students" get less funding than the average student who happens to be at the low SES. Why? Because everyone does think they are sliding through life with all these great advantages,.
I do not find that to be true at all. Each year I attend the scholarship award ceremony at our local high school. Typically the same 10-15 kids get called up over and over with the sometimes exceptions of sports, art and performing arts based scholarships and sometimes military. The kids at the top of the class usually collect the community service, family trust, specialty area and similar scholarships becuase the criteria for most of them are primarily grades. They usually walk away with $50,000 - $75,000 in checks in addition to their school and government scholarships.
There can be no argument these are the kids that get the big scholarships from schools or government programs that are not need based. Most of our top 10 - 15 students usually have full ride offers to at least one school, so the miscellaneous scholarship money becomes book money, living expenses, car/transportation, or beer money.
Some scholarships are given directly to the school or issued by joint check, many are not. Frequently, the student has not even decided where they are going when they receive the scholarship. The larger chancellorship I was involved with in the past went directly to the school. the current one which is pretty small, goes to the student although we may start depositing it with the school or at the book store to ensure it gets used for school purposes. However that is difficult if the student has no yet decided which of several admission offers they will accept. Sometimes schools do not even send the admission notice until late. One of my daughters got the admission notice for U-M Ann Arbor, after she had already started classes at U-M Dearborn.
I do not find that to be true at all. Each year I attend the scholarship award ceremony at our local high school. Typically the same 10-15 kids get called up over and over with the sometimes exceptions of sports, art and performing arts based scholarships and sometimes military. The kids at the top of the class usually collect the community service, family trust, specialty area and similar scholarships becuase the criteria for most of them are primarily grades. They usually walk away with $50,000 - $75,000 in checks in addition to their school and government scholarships.
There can be no argument these are the kids that get the big scholarships from schools or government programs that are not need based. Most of our top 10 - 15 students usually have full ride offers to at least one school, so the miscellaneous scholarship money becomes book money, living expenses, car/transportation, or beer money.
Some scholarships are given directly to the school or issued by joint check, many are not. Frequently, the student has not even decided where they are going when they receive the scholarship. The larger chancellorship I was involved with in the past went directly to the school. the current one which is pretty small, goes to the student although we may start depositing it with the school or at the book store to ensure it gets used for school purposes. However that is difficult if the student has no yet decided which of several admission offers they will accept. Sometimes schools do not even send the admission notice until late. One of my daughters got the admission notice for U-M Ann Arbor, after she had already started classes at U-M Dearborn.
You seem to think that a scholarship that it is touted as $300,000 with the big cardboard check at graduation is actually a check for that amount of money. It is not. For example lets use the most generous scholarships out there the ROTC ones. ROTC scholarships always make the big production of the check, and its "value" but that is the maximum amount it is for, and in 15 years of teaching at a school who has a disproportionately high number of kids going ROTC or military academy those numbers are not what actually gets paid.
For example one of my students this year, got a full navy ROTC scholarship. This is frequently touted as being valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. And it is a great scholarship, especially the stipend, but it only covers tuition and fees and not room and board. So he is listed as having a $500k scholarship or some ridiculous number, but since it doesn't cover his room and board at all, he is still looking at having a cost of attendance of some $60K over 4 years that isn't covered. Meanwhile he will get about $100K value out of his $500K scholarship as it will cover all of his tuition (at his school this is around $20K, fees and about $2500 a year in stipend). Very few kids go to schools that are expensive enough to max out those values and those are some of the most generous scholarships there are.
Luckily he is in a financial position that the $60k is not an issue for his family, but even those with big ticket scholarships frequently struggle to meet cost of attendance as many scholarships only cover a limited amount of costs or exclude things like room and board completely.
You seem to think that a scholarship that it is touted as $300,000 with the big cardboard check at graduation is actually a check for that amount of money. It is not. For example lets use the most generous scholarships out there the ROTC ones. ROTC scholarships always make the big production of the check, and its "value" but that is the maximum amount it is for, and in 15 years of teaching at a school who has a disproportionately high number of kids going ROTC or military academy those numbers are not what actually gets paid.
For example one of my students this year, got a full navy ROTC scholarship. This is frequently touted as being valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. And it is a great scholarship, especially the stipend, but it only covers tuition and fees and not room and board. So he is listed as having a $500k scholarship or some ridiculous number, but since it doesn't cover his room and board at all, he is still looking at having a cost of attendance of some $60K over 4 years that isn't covered. Meanwhile he will get about $100K value out of his $500K scholarship as it will cover all of his tuition (at his school this is around $20K, fees and about $2500 a year in stipend). Very few kids go to schools that are expensive enough to max out those values and those are some of the most generous scholarships there are.
Luckily he is in a financial position that the $60k is not an issue for his family, but even those with big ticket scholarships frequently struggle to meet cost of attendance as many scholarships only cover a limited amount of costs or exclude things like room and board completely.
I would also add that AFAIK, those military scholarships have strings attached that can be very challenging for students. They have to complete the degree on time. That, in itself, can be difficult. I worked for a degree program that had a required series of courses, the last of which was a real stumbling block for students. I, myself, needed two tries and a lot of help to complete it. I had a student on a ROTC scholarship come to me about it, when I was the academic adviser. I was very concerned for her. And probably, there's a required GPA threshold students have to meet, to keep the scholarship going. I supposed that's true with a lot of scholarships. Many are not money free-and-clear.
You seem to think that a scholarship that it is touted as $300,000 with the big cardboard check at graduation is actually a check for that amount of money. It is not. For example lets use the most generous scholarships out there the ROTC ones. ROTC scholarships always make the big production of the check, and its "value" but that is the maximum amount it is for, and in 15 years of teaching at a school who has a disproportionately high number of kids going ROTC or military academy those numbers are not what actually gets paid.
For example one of my students this year, got a full navy ROTC scholarship. This is frequently touted as being valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. And it is a great scholarship, especially the stipend, but it only covers tuition and fees and not room and board. So he is listed as having a $500k scholarship or some ridiculous number, but since it doesn't cover his room and board at all, he is still looking at having a cost of attendance of some $60K over 4 years that isn't covered. Meanwhile he will get about $100K value out of his $500K scholarship as it will cover all of his tuition (at his school this is around $20K, fees and about $2500 a year in stipend). Very few kids go to schools that are expensive enough to max out those values and those are some of the most generous scholarships there are.
Luckily he is in a financial position that the $60k is not an issue for his family, but even those with big ticket scholarships frequently struggle to meet cost of attendance as many scholarships only cover a limited amount of costs or exclude things like room and board completely.
No. That is not at all what I said. Please try reading again.
You are talking about school or government scholarships. Which, as I said, are handled differently. Shcool issued scholarships never even transfer money. They are just discounts on tuition and sometimes Room and board. It is odd to me you could read what I wrote and not understand that difference or what was said. Do you teach math, science, or gym?
Yes. The Scholarships I am talking about are often issued through a check written to the student. I know this because I have written the checks for one scholarship program, presented checks for two different programs, and my kids have received checks from other scholarship programs. Plus I sit with the other presenters at the ceremony and discuss their practices look at their checks, trade ideas for evaluation to try to make things more fair and more spread out. The checks range from $500 - $30,000.
Sometimes, the giant check is actually paid to the student (well a smaller version of it is issued), but it is not for $300,000. When a student gets that much money, it is not a single scholarship for a single school. It is a full ride or near full ride at several schools, so technically, they are not really getting $300,000 because they can only accept at one of the schools offering a full ride or near full ride.
Overall our 160 or so graduates get millions in scholarship offers, but the reality is 15 of them get multiple huge offers to different schools, another 40 or so might get 30% or 50% of their tuition covered. The ones in the middle do not get much if anything, unless they land some of the private scholarship money. Unfortunately, the top 15 also win many or most of the private scholarships too.
Those ROTC full ride scholarships do not seem to be that common at our school. They pop up only every three or four years. they usually do not go to a kid who is collecting a bunch of other scholarships. The ROTC people sure do put on a show when presenting though.
Late breaking news. A 3rd applicant got in under the wire. She is a bit less of an uber achiever than #1, and parents are richer. Number 2, just moved to #3, unless the committee goes more heavily on need. News at 11:00.
Late breaking news. A 3rd applicant got in under the wire. She is a bit less of an uber achiever than #1, and parents are richer. Number 2, just moved to #3, unless the committee goes more heavily on need. News at 11:00.
Her parents are richer, so #2 gets booted to last place? What kind of sense does that make?
No. That is not at all what I said. Please try reading again.
You are talking about school or government scholarships. Which, as I said, are handled differently. Shcool issued scholarships never even transfer money. They are just discounts on tuition and sometimes Room and board. It is odd to me you could read what I wrote and not understand that difference or what was said. Do you teach math, science, or gym?
Yes. The Scholarships I am talking about are often issued through a check written to the student. I know this because I have written the checks for one scholarship program, presented checks for two different programs, and my kids have received checks from other scholarship programs. Plus I sit with the other presenters at the ceremony and discuss their practices look at their checks, trade ideas for evaluation to try to make things more fair and more spread out. The checks range from $500 - $30,000.
Sometimes, the giant check is actually paid to the student (well a smaller version of it is issued), but it is not for $300,000. When a student gets that much money, it is not a single scholarship for a single school. It is a full ride or near full ride at several schools, so technically, they are not really getting $300,000 because they can only accept at one of the schools offering a full ride or near full ride.
Overall our 160 or so graduates get millions in scholarship offers, but the reality is 15 of them get multiple huge offers to different schools, another 40 or so might get 30% or 50% of their tuition covered. The ones in the middle do not get much if anything, unless they land some of the private scholarship money. Unfortunately, the top 15 also win many or most of the private scholarships too.
Those ROTC full ride scholarships do not seem to be that common at our school. They pop up only every three or four years. they usually do not go to a kid who is collecting a bunch of other scholarships. The ROTC people sure do put on a show when presenting though.
Why does it matter what class I teach? Does that change the fact that I sit on two scholarship commuters, as a multiple time class advisor I know the details of the students awards, arrange all the rotc and big scholarship presentations at graduation, organize the senior breakfast were the scholarship are given and so on? Our entire school is populated by kids who are in the top ten at their home districts. Your pronouncements about the east free rides, big bucks and investments of scholarship money of graduates, and so on is not representative of the realities of the typical "top student" at least not the thousand or so I have personally been involved with for the last decade.
I am on a scholarship committee here at my university. I organize it all, send out all emails, tells all reviewers what to do, etc.
We have a rubric that we follow. Some scores are obvious - as in a certain GPA gets a certain number of points. But we also have one number that we decide together as a group based on anything we know about the student. One of our areas is weighted twice.
It makes it much easier as a group to enter in all the numbers to see who really pulls ahead. If we need to narrow it down, we also use EFC and Encumbered funds to tell us how much the family can contribute and how much the student has already been awarded to assist with our final decisions. It does not sound like you would have information like that, though since you are an outside organization.
Years ago we were forced to develop the rubric/number system after an audit. In the years since, we have been told we could go back to our old way, but our committee has really felt like the number system has been the fairest and we have decided to stick with it. I share this just as a suggestion that when you talk about criteria in the future, you may want to look into creating a rubric.
Thanks. You perhaps have a larger number of applicants than we will ever have, but in our view, the essay questions are the most important. You can pretty much tell if their mother made them write it, or how adept they are at putting their thoughts on paper.
There are no weighted guidelines as far as need vs merit.
We have 2 applicants, so far. A 4.0 girl, from a magnet school, with many other sports and community contributions. Her parents are teachers, and comfortable financially.
The second candidate had a 3.0 from a public school, comes highly recommended, and seems like a worthy candidate. His parents are poorer.
I am torn. Part of me wants to give the poor student the boost. Part of me does not want to penalize the girl for being born of educated parents.
What to do?
I tend to decide on my emotions and I have compassion, so I pick the 3.0 guy, simply because I give the little people a chance. Big shots like 4.0 Girl doesn't need my help; she can apply to other scholarships and will likely be accepted into any college she wants.
But that's just me though. Anyone who decides on Logic and Facts alone will tell you the 4.0 girl deserves it because she's a model student.
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