After You Create a Scholarship
Above: Donors Lynda Humphrey and her daughter Cathy Padget meet three of their recipients at the 2012 Scholarship Luncheon.
We Show Our Appreciation in Several Ways
When you give a scholarship, you help to open the way to a bright new future for the next generation--and that is good for all of us.
- You get to name the scholarship, whether it is current use or endowed.
- You get to choose the criteria for the scholarship--students from a specific department, with a specific interest, from a geographic region, or something else.
- You'll receive information about your recipient, including a personal letter whenever possible. We tell your recipient about you so they know who to thank.
- You'll be invited each year to our annual scholarship luncheon held sometime in the fall, where often (though not always--students have busy schedules) you'll meet your recipient. If you or your student can't attend, we will sometimes be able to arrange another time for you to meet.
- With your permission, we will honor you online, in newsletters, or in other ways.
- We'll invite you to donor events like our big gala in the fall so we can thank you in person for your generosity to UIS students.
Your Recipient is Chosen
In general, for privately funded scholarships, the steps in the award process are these:
- The prospective recipient submits a scholarship application to UIS.
- The Office of Admissions and Financial Assistance reviews the application.
- If approved, the application then goes to an enrollment management committee or, as indicated, to the dean of the appropriate college, the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, or the Athletic Director.
- The application then goes to one of many committees, depending on the scholarship criteria.
- All chosen recipients are verified by the dean, vice chancellor, or director before going back to Financial Assistance for the actual award.
- The financial aid office chooses to award some scholarships by the semester. For these scholarships, recipients' records are reviewed each semester to make sure they still meet the scholarship criteria before receiving additional funding.
You Have a Chance to Meet Your Recipient
Correspondence from Recipients
When students receive their scholarships, we ask them to complete a brief questionnaire and write you a letter.
Please know this: we do not share your address information. All communication from students comes through our office, and we pass it on to you. If you prefer to keep your name private, we will not release that to the student recipient or to anyone else.
If you ever wish to contact your recipient one on one, you may choose to do that on your own. We've seen some close bonds develop between donors and recipients, with some donors even being invited to weddings down the road. But we discourage students contacting you directly. We prefer to leave that choice to you.
Often, the thanks students write are heartfelt, and so they should be. Many scholarship recipients remember their donors throughout their lives: at a time when they needed help the most, someone who didn't even know them stepped in to offer assistance. That's unforgettable to them.
Best of all, many follow your example, eventually giving a scholarship themselves.
Scholarship Luncheon
If we receive your scholarship gift by the early spring, we'll be able to award it before students leave for the summer or during the summer months.
Then, sometime in the fall, we invite all our scholarship donors and their recipients to a scholarship luncheon at UIS. Students who are able to come count it a privilege to thank their donors in person, and many donors come year after year to the event.
Some students are online so will not be able to attend the luncheon, but at your request, we can make other arrangements for you to talk with them.
(Of course, students do have busy schedules with many conflicts, so sometimes they can't come. If your recipient doesn't come, you'll still have a chance to meet other recipients, and sharing a meal with our UIS students is often a treat in itself.)
We'll keep you posted about this event, but remember you'll need to make your gift before the early spring.
Questions?
We welcome our inquiries. Please use the contact information below.
Scholarships
Creating a Name Scholarship
After You Create a Scholarship
