Scholarship Tips Checklist

Here are a few tips to maximize your scholarship opportunities:

• Apply early. The peak time to apply for scholarships is January through May for the upcoming school year. Remember the early bird gets the worm!
• Check for scholarships frequently. Check your department, college, and the UCF Scholarship Listing Page for updates to scholarships.
• Get Involved. While some scholarships do not require involvement, it does help showcase who you are as a person. Also, being involved helps identify your involvement within your community i.e. campus, local, church, sports.
• Complete Your FAFSA. Some scholarships do not require the FAFSA, however, it is recommended for consideration of scholarships that require completing the FAFSA.

Students many times do not apply for scholarships that involve writing essays. However, scholarships that require essays do not usually have many applicants which may increase your chances of earning a scholarship.

Here are a few tips to write your award-winning essay:

• Tailor your essay for your intended audience. While writing your essay, it is important to stay focused on the topic and specifically address the essay question.
• Target your audience by using keywords. Identify the goals of the donor as well as identifying why you should be selected for the scholarship.
• Stand out. Make the committee interested in who you are by grabbing their attention. Give the committee something different, so brainstorming will be very important before you begin writing your essay. Grab the reader’s attention with your essay and make the reader want to learn more about you.
• Introduce yourself. Explain who you are, what your goals are, and how receiving the scholarship will help you accomplish your educational objectives. Scholarship committees often make decisions on awarding scholarships and want to know more about you, so using the essay is a good way to introduce yourself to the committee. Examples also include campus and community involvement, and hobbies.
• Avoid negative messages. When writing your essay, avoid negative messages such as tear-jerker. Many use this method in hopes of being selected for a scholarship. However, it may have the opposite impact and not accomplish the intended message.
• Write positive messages. In keeping with the theme of tailoring and targeting your audience, it is important to do so with positive messages. Positive messages are important when discussing negative situations. It gives great insight to you as a person, i.e., how you have overcome difficult situations.
• Proofread. Essays should be proofread several times over to ensure that there are no typing or grammatical errors. Utilize your resources such as the UCF Writing Center or having a financial aid advisor review your essay.

Most students entering college encounter their first real-world situations with large amounts of money. We’ve compiled information on budgeting your money, as well as other financial literacy tips.

Students expecting to receive money from an institution outside of UCF should utilize the Self Report Tool to notify the Office of Student Financial Assistance of the anticipated funds.

Scholarship checks can be mailed or dropped off to the Office of Student Financial Assistance for processing.

• Do not pay for scholarship searches. You have many options for free scholarship search engines as well as campus resources.
• Avoid Scholarship Guarantees. Be wary of scholarship organizations that guarantee you will receive a scholarship based upon a small application fee. No one can guarantee you will receive a scholarship by paying an application fee.
• Avoid Giving Personal Information. Do not provide personal information such as bank account numbers, and credit card numbers.
• Money-Back Guarantee. Avoid scholarships that promise your money is guaranteed to be refunded if you do not receive a scholarship.

If you believe you have encountered a fraudulent scholarship, visit the Federal Trade Commission website for help.

Many donors request students work with their institution to verify their enrollment and/or academic information. For requests pertaining to a student’s financial aid awards or cost of attendance can be submitted to the Office of Student Financial Assistance’s Document and File Upload tool.

Requests for enrollment, GPA, academic standing, etc. should be directed to the Registrar’s Office.

Scholarship awards received in excess of a student’s assessed Cost of Attendance or Financial Need threshold may cause a reduction in other aid, such as grants, work study, or loans. To reduce impacts, we encourage students receiving outside scholarships to utilize the Self-Report Tool to notify the institution of the expected funds. Colleges and departments providing UCF scholarship funding are encouraged to submit the Scholarship Award Estimates Template before the term the award is expected to be disbursed in.