In her Article “At One University, Matching Students With Scholarships Just Got a Little Easier” Beckie Supiano discusses how the University of Michigan is creating a database and new computer programming to match students to scholarships that sponsors and donors have made available to its students. This may sound like a no brainer, but Michigan appears to be the first institution to do so.
Believe it or not, once you are accepted to a college you have to hand-apply for any scholarships that might be available, and sometimes you may have to apply not only through admissions but also through the specific college or program to which you have been accepted. The same is true for each year you attend the college. Then several people, without a coordinated effort, may find a scholarship for you—or may not, depending on who is aware of what is available and what your individual characteristics are.
The new programming at Michigan holds the data bases of all available scholarships as well as a data base of individual students and their qualifications. Automatically it searches all the possible matches, optimizing the number of scholarships available across the entire campus. Students need not even apply as the database searches for matches without an application. In times of economic lows, such an efficient system helps make sure you can get all the monies possible, leaving no stone unturned and is not dependent on where you have applied or who knows you.
When you receive admission to college, check out how they match you to scholarships. Knowing what the process is may help you make the most of their system. You could even suggest they begin to use a program similar to Michigan’s to optimize how students can get help paying for college.
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