In the midst of budget cuts and increased number of available scholarships for the school year of 2011-2012, about $100,000 in scholarship money went un-awarded.
The EC Foundation had more than $600,000 in scholarship money available last spring, but roughly one sixth of that amount went unclaimed.
Katie Gleason, executive director of the EC Foundation, said that majority of the un-awarded money was in scholarships that were intended for particular areas of studies.
“We have a lot of (major-) specific scholarships in the Fine Arts Division as well as in the Career and Technical Education, but because of the specificity of these scholarships we need to have students that are studying in that area to apply,” Gleason said.
Gleason added that aside from the major-specific scholarships, scholarships were also determined by merit or by financial need.
Despite the scholarship opportunities, many students still fail to apply or complete the applications, Gleason said.
Donna Factor, Spanish professor, said that many students do not apply because they do not know that they are eligible for one. Factor is among the faculty who had actively informed students about scholarship availability.
The eligibility requires that a student must have completed 12 graded units that are course-applicable, a GPA of 2.0 or better, and a letter of recommendation from a faculty member.
The eligibility requires that a student must have completed graded units that are course-applicable, a GPA of 2.0 or better, and a letter of recommendation from a faculty member.
Factor said that students were often discouraged because of the amount of legwork they have to do to start and finish the application process.
Aside from the perception that they do not qualify for a scholarship, students who may have initiated the process sometimes fail to complete the process.
Last year, 300 applications, out of the 1000 received, were unfinished and disqualified, Gleason said.
The Foundation had reached out to faculty and asked them to be involved in informing their students and they overwhelmingly agreed, Gleason said.
“We are trying to get the word out more and more,” Gleason added.
The Scholarship Office, under the Foundation, will also conduct workshops to help students complete and submit their applications.
Students find this information helpful in applying for a scholarship.
“The announcements from faculty, banners and posters plays a part (in the application process),” Fiat Tapaneeyakorn, economics major, 20 said, “but student responsibility is also important,” she added.
Lawrenz Manalo, architectural engineering major, 20, said that reminding students about scholarships plays a part, but it also depends on the person whether they will apply or not.
The foundation will open the application process earlier for school year 2013-2014 to give time for a more thorough review of submitted applications, Gleason said.
The scholarship application will be done electronically through the MyEcc portal.
The online applications will be open starting Monday up to Dec. 14, and will be awarded in April 2013.
The scholarship aims to assist a broad population of students.
“The Foundation has over $600,000 that we can award each year to incoming high school students, current and continuing students, and transfer students. Each scholarship is very specific to what student population the donors are trying to assist. Some of them are broad. For instance, it may be for a particular area of study, or they are just merit-based, or financial need based,” Gleason said. .
