Get Ready for Next Cycle: 8 Ways to Streamline Your Scholarship Application
Fall’s not just about changing leaves and pumpkin spice. For many scholarship providers, it’s when they start preparing for the upcoming cycle (which’ll be here before you know it!). A well-designed, student-friendly application process is a great place to start—and it's a critical part of your mission to get your scholarships to best-fit students.
When you’re ready to start prepping your next cycle, here are eight practical tips to help you create student-centric, simplified forms, technology, and content (students—and future you—will thank you).
1. Simplify Your Application Questions
Review your most recent application. Is there anything on there that you don’t need? Maybe it’s because it’s outdated or you never even use it anyways. Remove everything that’s non-essential. Instead, focus on what you truly need to understand an applicant’s strength of fit with your scholarship opportunities. For example, if a scholarship is needs-based, ask for limited financial information, and don’t ask for it if it's not relevant.
2. Make Your Application Mobile-Friendly
So many students complete forms and academic coursework from the phones. Most estimates are that 60-80 percent of students use their phones for school-related engagement. It’s mandatory that your forms, especially your application, are easily readable and fillable on a mobile device. This also means reducing or eliminating upload requirements that can be difficult to complete on a phone. If your scholarship management platform vendor isn’t on the leading edge when it comes to mobile forms, it might be time to start shopping for a new one.
3. Humanize the Application
Use questions and prompts that allow students to share their story in their own words. The results are eons better than what you’d get from generic essay questions or recommendation letters. We love what results from prompts like, "Tell us about your educational journey" or "Describe a day in your life". Responses can give you and your reviewers invaluable insights while making the process feel more personal for students. They also require original, personal thinking—a student can’t put them in ChatGPT and expect strong outcomes.
4. Ditch Recommendation Letters
Almost all recommendation letters are generic form letters, don't provide helpful insights into students, and are an irrelevant hoop that students have to jump through. Don’t make students track down recommendation letters—you’re almost guaranteed to get a crappy result. Instead, consider asking students themselves self-reflective questions that get at the same information, like “Tell me about a project you're proud of and what you learned from it" or “What was a piece of feedback that changed your perspective, and how did you apply it?”
5. Trust Students with Self-Reported Information
You save everyone a ton of time and effort by trusting students to self-report information. Instead of requiring copies of transcripts or financial documents (please be mindful of students’ and families’ personal information if you insist on doing this), build fillable or checkbox fields and let students tell you the information directly. This significantly reduces the time and energy it takes to apply as well as your post-application processing.
6. Use Technology for Common Questions
Use chatbots, video shorts, or even email auto-responders to answer students’ frequently asked questions before, during, and after application season. Brainstorm the list of things you get asked most often, then use a tool like ChatGPT or Gemini to make your chatbot. Alternatively, you could film team members answering each of the questions. Or, take the simplest approach and set up a vacation responder with a Q&A that preemptively answers key questions. These tools give students immediate help and let your team focus on the tightrope-juggling act that is a scholarship cycle.
7. Ditch the Jargon
Ughhhhh, this one is my Achilles heel. I have a great fondness for all the nonprofit administration/higher education/philanthropy/scholarship jargon…But trust me: It does not go over well with students. Look through all your student-facing messaging—from your website to the application itself—and take out any jargon and replace it with clear, simple language. If you're not sure what to change, ask a student advisory group to review your communications for clarity, or pop the content into ChatGPT and ask it to rephrase it for a college student audience.
8. Use Student Voices to Inform Your Strategy
The best way to understand what students need? (You know this one!) Ask them! Ask for their feedback and participation often so that you can make sure you’re centered on their experiences. There are low-lift options for doing this, like adding a few questions to your application form to get feedback on that part of the process. You could take it a step further by hiring students to review applications, or having a year-round student advisory council that guides on more than just the application phase of the process.
Need help with your application process—or more? Schedule a free consultation with us to talk about transforming your program in advance of next cycle.
