Applicant Guide

Below is a guide we have put together for you to provide to applicants who need instructions for proceeding through the application process in AwardSpring. You can download the Word or PDF version at the bottom of the article.

The purpose of this guide is to walk you through the process of applying for scholarships using the AwardSpring platform.

Start by navigating to your organization’s AwardSpring site. The URL will be provided to you by your organization’s administrator.

You will land at the login page. (Note that this page is customizable so your organization’s login page may look different than the below example.)

In the left menu, Scholarships and Donors are clickable.

Scholarships will show you a list of all scholarships that are being offered by your organization along with their respective award amounts (if known) and deadlines.

Click into a scholarship to see additional information.

Click Donors to view profiles of the donors and the scholarships they are sponsoring.

Click into a donor page to see additional information.

TO LOG IN:

Sign In: Use if you already have an account. Enter your email address and password and click the Sign In button.

Register: Use if you do not have an account. You will be directed to a registration page. Enter all of the required information and click the Create Account button. You may then be asked to accept your organization's Privacy and Use Policy: select the agreement checkbox (shown checked in the last image below) and click Accept Agreement.

After login/registration, you will be directed to your Dashboard. Important information about your application status and additional instructions will be displayed for you here.

To start filling out your general application you can click Application in the left menu, or an Apply button on your dashboard.

There are several sections that make up the entire application. Complete all of them in order to submit your application.

You may see an embedded External Request form that requests information from a third party (i.e. a letter of recommendation from an instructor). This tool allows you to send a request for a letter of recommendation via email. External Request forms are part of the application. The application may contain more than one External Request form.

Select I'll request it from a recommender, enter the recommender's first name, last name and email, add a message, and click the Send Request button. The third party will receive an email request and provide the requested information directly in AwardSpring.

After you click Send Request, the request is listed with the recipient's name and email, the date it was requested and Status: Pending. The Resend Request and Send New Request buttons are available while the request is pending.

When the recommender completes the request, the status changes to Completed and the date it was submitted is shown.

When every section is marked Completed, the Submit Application button in the lower right corner becomes available. Click it to submit your application, and you will be redirected to your dashboard.

To view your qualifying statuses for scholarships click the Scholarships tab and look at the Status column. Statuses include Awarded, Applied, Qualified and Not Qualified.

Click the Dashboard tab to return to your dashboard to view additional information or take further action.

You may be eligible for additional scholarships that require additional information. The dashboard will prompt you to complete these next steps.

In this example, the applicant has been awarded two scholarships, the Veterans & Military Family Scholarship and the Access Opportunity Grant, and each needs follow-up information to finalize the award. The applicant clicks the Continue button on a follow-up item to provide the required responses and/or documentation.

A follow-up item can ask for a written response. For example, the Veterans & Military Family Scholarship asks the applicant to write a thank-you letter to the donor in an editor on the page, with a 150-word minimum. Another follow-up can ask for a file instead: the Access Opportunity Grant follow-up is an Upload File form.

When you have finished a follow-up item, click the Submit Follow-Up button. Proceed through all follow-up items for all scholarships listed.

After the follow-up items are submitted, your dashboard may still list other items, here Forge Ahead and the Annual Juried Student Art Award, each with an Apply button. Applying to these is your choice; they are separate from the general application and the award follow-ups. The Annual Juried Student Art Award is available whether or not you submitted the general application. Forge Ahead appears once you qualify for it.

You can click Apply to complete one of these items as well. In this example, Apply on Forge Ahead opens its scholarship page with an essay question and a text editor. If you choose not to, it will stay on your dashboard.

However, if you complete these items, your dashboard will be cleared of tasks. At that point you are all set! Your organization’s administrator will provide you further direction if it is needed.