The priority filing date for scholarships at Ohio University is coming up in two weeks, Feb. 1.
The university-wide scholarship application opened Nov. 1, and it asks for information such as place of residence, basic demographic, family information and educational history, as well as honors/awards and why a student chose his or her career path. The application can be found on the Ohio University website or in their OHIO Student Center under student services.
Information from the application is used by a variety of entities, such as the Office of Student Financial Aid, academic colleges and various scholarship committees. These groups use the information to determine which endowed and restricted scholarships and the Dean's Scholarship go to what students.
In addition, some scholarships require students to fill out the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which has a priority date of Feb. 15.
“You could be living on the street and don't have a dime to your name, but if you have not filled out the FAFSA form, we can't award you a scholarship that's designated for a financial need,” Kelly Ferguson, co-chair for the scholarship committee for the E.W. Scripps College of Journalism, said. “A third at least of our scholarships, you have to have demonstrated financial need, and the only criteria the student financial aid office recognizes is the FAFSA.”
The E.W. Scripps College of Journalism has a separate scholarship application for students due Feb. 3 at 5 p.m.
Ferguson said it is important for students to know they should fill out both applications.
“The link for the university-wide scholarships is on our page, and I write that out very clearly because I want people to apply for both,” Ferguson said. “It's just two applications that a student has to worry about.”
The application for the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism asks for students to provide personal information, involvement in the college and student media, internship experience, grade point average, contributions to the field of journalism and educational history.
“(Scholarships) come from donors, often alumni or journalists who in their retirement often want to give something back to the school because being in the Scripps School of Journalism is meaningful for them,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said one of the most important things students can include on their application is any student media involvement.
“Sometimes, maybe it was meaningful for an alumni because they worked at The Post,” Ferguson said. “They set up this endowment, and they want that scholarship to go to somebody at The Post.”
John Naughton, the assistant dean of Business Academic Advising & Career Services, said the college offers its students awards in the various programs offered by the college.
“It's the directors of those programs and their staff that will work to go through the students who may be eligible for awards and award those scholarships out,” Naughton said. “Obviously, it's dependent upon those who apply.”
Naughton said the Business scholarship application opened Nov. 1, and the deadline is Feb. 1.
To be considered for an upperclassmen scholarship, students must be on track to have at least 30 credit hours completed by the following school year. Any Advance Placement and College Credit Plus credits apply to this amount, as well.
Naughton said the College of Business considers student grades the most when deciding who gets what scholarships.
“If you're a freshman who is applying for an award, you really want to be on top of your academic performance right out of the gate coming in the first semester of your freshman year,” Naughton said. “Right now, all we have are fall grades.”
Each department in the College of Business may have different requirements for its awards. Naughton recommends students stay proactive in understanding the policies and scholarships.
Naughton said the College of Business gives out scholarships with an approximate ranging value of $400 to $4,000. Most students can, however, expect about $400 to $2,000.
For Russ College of Engineering and Technology, students are picked for upperclassmen scholarships from the standard university-wide application.
Ken Sampson, the administrator for the scholarships at Russ College of Engineering and Technology, communicates the information provided by the university to the faculty, who decides which scholarships people receive and communicates what each scholarship means.
“An alumni says, ‘Here's some money and you can use this to award scholarships, but they need to go to seniors in mechanical engineering with a 3.4 GPA,’ or whatever the criteria is,” Sampson said. “I can receive that information from various sources, and then I communicate that to the departments on an annual cycle.”
Typically, Russ College of Engineering and Technology awards approximately $100,000 in upperclassmen scholarships. However, most scholarships go to incoming freshmen into a major at the college.
“The vast majority of our scholarship awards go to freshmen which are used to recruit new students,” Sampson said. “Our goal is to increase the number of students in engineering and use the money to maximize the number of students in engineering that we feel are qualified to succeed in engineering.”
To Ferguson, the best part of working on the scholarship committee at the E.W. Scripps School is to help students out financially. Ferguson said every student is working hard and deserves a scholarship.
“Just apply early, apply often,” Ferguson said. “You can't win if you don't apply.”
