SDSU Launching Tool to Improve Scholarship Award Rate
The Aztec Scholarship Portal, to be introduced in spring 2020, will make it easier for students to find and gain scholarship funds.
Once fully integrated, the Blackbaud Award Management system – to be called the Aztec Scholarship Portal and slated for launch in March 2020 – will maximize scholarship opportunities for students. One significant benefit: qualified students will be matched to multiple scholarships through a single application.
“This system serves as a critical addition to our campus technology structure,” said SDSU President Adela de la Torre.
“Many of our scholarships are designed to connect students with their passions and the experiences they want, whether related to academics, study abroad, service or career,” de la Torre said. “Our new enterprise system will simplify the scholarship search and application process for our students. It will also help to improve student retention and success while enhancing how we manage scholarship funds.”
Within the California State University system, 19 other schools partner with Blackbaud to utilize the Blackbaud Award Management software. CSU campuses utilizing the system for scholarship management include those in Fresno, Long Beach, Northridge, Sacramento San Marcos, and San José State University.
Instead of applying to multiple scholarships individually, which has been the common practice, students will need only apply once to be auto-matched to different scholarships simultaneously.
“We are offering customizable solutions,” said SDSU Financial Aid and Scholarships Director Rose Pasenelli.
“This student-centric system will simplify the scholarship search for thousands of students and also streamline the management process for every college on our campus,” Pasenelli said. “This initiative to streamline millions of dollars in funds and hundreds of scholarships is also timely as SDSU has seen continuous improvement to donor support, scholarship and endowment growth over the years.”
Over the last 10 years, SDSU has seen a regular increase in the numbers and amount of scholarship dollars awarded to students.
Ten years ago, during the 2008-2009 academic year, SDSU provided a total of 1,649 awards to more than 1,300 students – with some students receiving multiple awards – for a total of $2.6 million awarded.
During the 2018-2019 academic year, more than 3,200 scholarships were awarded to 2,500 students – again, with some receiving more than one award – at more than $6.1 million.
Blackbaud will also enable SDSU to improve the percentage of all scholarship funds dispersed by the end of the academic year.
For the academic year that just ended, SDSU dispersed 76 percent of the funds. While that percentage is higher than SDSU has seen in recent years, the university has a goal to raise that figure to 90 percent.
“This effort is intimately tied to our continued commitment to serve as good stewards of donor funds, and it is also about changing lives,” said Adrienne Vargas, interim Vice President for University Relations and Development.
“Donors give to improve the lives of students, and these types of scholarship funds allow students the flexibility to focus on their academics in ways that are important for their academic and professional success,” Vargas said. “Ultimately, we are ensuring that every single dollar a donor commits to supporting students is maximized, which inevitably strengthens the success of our students and our organization.”
