Additional Requirements: A Detailed Guide

This guide covers the Additional Requirements tab of a scholarship and its three stages. Instructional text, External Requests, and post-award follow-ups are in separate articles.

Additional requirements are supplementary information, such as documents or essays, that you collect for a specific scholarship. For example, a donor might want a tailored essay for their scholarship. Only applicants for that scholarship complete the essay, not all applicants.

Additional requirement questions are not used in the filtering/matching process, but applicants can't submit their application for the scholarship until they provide the required information. You create these requirements on the Additional Requirements tab of the scholarship.

There are three stages of the award cycle where you can add additional requirements for applicants: Before Applying, After Awarding, and Renewable.

The Additional Requirements tab with Scholarships boxed in the nav, showing the Before Applying, After Awarding and Renewable stages.

You can add several types of questions to a scholarship as additional requirements, described below. You can also add Instructional text to clarify a question you've added or the additional requirements in general.

Create a new Single Answer question: Question with a list of answer options from which applicants select one answer.

The editor for a new single-answer additional requirement question, where applicants pick one answer from a list of options.

Student view:

The same single-answer question as an applicant sees it, with the answer options presented as selectable choices.

Create a new Multiple Answers question: Question with a list of answer options from which applicants can select multiple answers.

The editor for a new multiple-answer additional requirement question, where applicants can select more than one answer from a list of options.

Student view:

The same multiple-answer question as an applicant sees it, with checkboxes allowing more than one option to be chosen.

Create a new Open-end Answer question: Question to which applicants provide a short answer. You set the minimum and maximum number of words allowed. Optionally, under AI Detection, tick Enable for student responses to check responses for AI-generated text; Warn applicants about AI detection (recommended) lets applicants know their responses are checked.

The editor for a new open-ended additional requirement question, including the maximum word count the applicant's short answer may run to.

Student view:

The same open-ended question as an applicant sees it, with a short answer text box.

Create a new question with a date answer: Question to which applicants provide a specific date answer.

The editor for a new date additional requirement question, to which applicants respond with a specific date.

Student view:

The same date question as an applicant sees it, with a date field to complete.

Create a new question requesting a file upload: Question to which applicants upload a document that you specify.

The editor for a new file upload additional requirement question, where the administrator specifies the document applicants must upload.

Student view:

The same file upload question as an applicant sees it, with a control for choosing and uploading the requested document.

Create a new question with an essay answer: Additional requirement question with essay prompt to which applicants write a response. You can set a minimum and maximum word count for the applicant's response. Optionally, under AI Detection, tick Enable for student responses to check responses for AI-generated text; Warn applicants about AI detection (recommended) lets applicants know their responses are checked.

The editor for a new essay question, showing the prompt, the minimum and maximum word counts and the AI Detection options.

Student view:

The same essay question as an applicant sees it, with the prompt above a response box and the allowed word range shown.

Insert an External Request: Gather information about applicants from an external source, such as guidance counselors, coaches, or teachers. You configure external requests in Settings > External Requests. See External Requests: A Detailed Guide for how to configure and insert external requests.

Search to reuse an existing question: Additional Requirements questions can be reused across scholarships. When multiple scholarships have the same additional requirement, search for the existing question to add it to a scholarship instead of creating it again.

The search field for reusing an existing additional requirement question, above the Select Another Question tiles for creating a new one.

Note: The question is shared across every scholarship it's added to, so the student's answer is shared as well.

For Before Applying additional requirements, the applicant is prompted on their dashboard to answer any additional requirement questions on scholarships they qualify for.

An applicant's dashboard prompting them to answer the additional requirement questions on the scholarships they qualify for.

After clicking Apply, the applicant completes the additional requirement questions.

The additional requirement question an applicant completes after clicking Apply on their dashboard.

Once the applicant provides the required answers, the Submit Application button becomes available and they can submit their application for the scholarship.

Each stage affects the applicant at a different point in the application or awarding process:

Before Applying

Questions created under the Before Applying section must be completed by an applicant after they qualify for a scholarship, but before they can apply to it.

Note: Every applicant must complete and submit the general application to qualify for opportunities.

Because Additional Requirements are specific to a scholarship, they appear as follow-up items after the applicant submits the general application (as in the dashboard shown above).

This way, you don't have to ask everything on the general application, which can make students write essays or submit documents for scholarships that don't apply to them. Make it a Before Applying Additional Requirement instead, and only qualified students answer those questions.

Note: Reviewers see student responses to these questions alongside those from the general application.

After Awarding

The After Awarding section lets you set requirements students must complete after you award them a scholarship. Use it to request a thank-you letter, photos, consents or agreements, or RSVPs to events.

Steps to Configure After-Award Tasks

Add Actionable Items: Go to the After Awarding section of the scholarship and add at least one actionable item, such as a question, a date field, or a confirmation checkbox. Instructional text alone does not create a task item.
Publish Awards: Publish awards to make the after-award tasks visible on the student dashboard.

Like Before Applying questions, outstanding After Awarding items appear as follow-up items on the awarded student's dashboard.

A student's dashboard listing a post-award follow-up item for Access Opportunity Grant, with an arrow pointing to its Continue button.

Note: The scholarship's award status must be published for After Awarding follow-up items to generate. See What Happens Once You Publish the Award Status.

Best Practices for Managing After-Award Tasks

Keep follow-up items published so you can keep updating the After Awarding section.
Newly awarded students see tasks immediately after publishing.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Actionable items missing: Verify that the After Awarding section contains at least one actionable item. Instructional text alone does not create a task.
Publishing status: Confirm that the awards are published. Unpublishing closes the tasks and makes them invisible to students.

Renewable Award

Questions created under the Renewable Award section have a specific use: if a scholarship is configured with more than one payment (on the Details tab), you can ask questions that the awarded student must complete at the time of the future payment. For example, if a student is first awarded on January 1, and the scholarship is up for renewal on September 1 (the next payment date), you can confirm the student still meets the scholarship qualifications by asking those questions. To learn how to configure renewable payments, see Configuring the Renewable Payments Schedule.

Like the other two types of additional requirements, students see any Renewable Award questions you've configured as a follow-up item on their dashboard. A renewable follow-up item is generated 30 days before the payment date, so students have time to complete the questions before the next payment.

Note: The scholarship's award status must be published for these renewable follow-up items to generate. See What Happens Once You Publish the Award Status.