Scholarship Application Process

GENERAL INFORMATION

This document describes the application process for scholarships for students enrolled in the College of the Liberal Arts, University Park campus. Other colleges have different procedures. This single application serves as the application for all scholarships and awards offered through the College. Departmental procedures vary.

Applications are due Friday, March 7, 2008.

FORMS TO FILE

  • FAFSA (Free Application for Federal and State Aid) is required for scholarships that stipulate financial need. Forms are available in 314 Shields Building, Office of Student Aid, or at www.psu.edu/studentaid/aidprog/aidprog.shtml . FAFSA needs to be filed for consideration of need based scholarships. If you do not file a FAFSA form, you will be considered for merit based scholarships only.
  • The College of the Liberal Arts Scholarship Application (this online application)

BE SURE TO SUBMIT EACH FORM TO THE APPROPRIATE OFFICE ON OR BEFORE THE INDICATED DEADLINES.

ELIGIBILITY

While on scholarship, students must meet the following eligibility requirements:

  • complete a full-time course load at University Park campus (12 or more credits per semester with a requirement of 30 credits per year)
  • declare a major in the College of the Liberal Arts
  • maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0
  • continue to meet the specific requirements of the scholarship, which may include but are not limited to: county/state and country residency; desire to pursue public/community or government services; leadership; internship; study abroad; outstanding academics; or proof of financial need based on the filing of a FAFSA form.

INCOMING FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS

Incoming first-year students are eligible to apply for Liberal Arts scholarships, however you will need to request a paper copy of this application by sending an e-mail to LAscholarships@la.psu.edu.

RENEWALS

Some scholarships are eligible for renewal. If so, eligible candidates will be invited to complete a new application.

NOTIFICATION

Awards are made prior to June 1 for the upcoming academic year. You will be notified by an e-mail at your Penn State address if you are a current student or mail if you are an incoming student. Only recipients are notified! If you do not receive a scholarship in the first round, your application may be kept on file for the academic year and may be reconsidered if additional funds become available.

DISBURSEMENT

Normally one-half of the award is credited in the fall semester and one-half in the spring semester.

OTHER SOURCES

You should also apply for federal and state grants and loans, University scholarships, and loans. You should consult your major department to inquire about the scholarships they offer. Also, you can inquire about University-wide scholarships at www.psu.edu/studentaid/aidprog/aidprog.shtml.

If you have questions about these procedures, send a brief e-mail to LAscholarships@la.psu.edu.

ACCESS TO ONLINE SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION SYSTEM

In order to access the Scholarship Application System, you need to be on the Penn State University Park network. So if you're logging in from home, or from anywhere off-campus, you need to open a VPN connection. This means you have to have the "Penn State Anywhere" VPN client installed on your computer.

After you have installed the VPN client, open the "ISP to PSU connection."

You can read more about the VPN client at http://aset.its.psu.edu/vpn/ and you can download the client from https://downloads.its.psu.edu.

If you have trouble installing or using the VPN client, you can contact the ITS helpdesk, at helpdesk@psu.edu.

TO APPLY FOR THE LIBERAL ARTS SCHOLARSHIP, YOU WILL NEED TO…

  1. Review the correctness and completeness of the information the system retrieves about you from PSU databases. Incomplete applications and those without the essay and/or résumé will not be considered.
  2. Provide some information yourself, such as your county of permanent residence, your high school, whether or not you are in the first generation from your family to go to college, your anticipated graduation date and your planned career choice. Some of the scholarships we award are targeted to first generation students or students from particular counties or high schools.
  3. Supply a résumé and an essay. These must be submitted in MS Word (.doc or .docx), Text (.txt), Adobe PDF (.pdf) or Rich Text Format (.rtf) files.
  4. Click the 'Save' button at the bottom of the form. The form will time out after 60 minutes, so you need to save your work before then or you will need to re-enter it.

If any of this information is missing, you can return to this system as many times as you need to complete it. Any information which is not editable by you in this system must be updated in eLion. Any information which is editable by you only updates in this application system, not in other PSU databases.

After you click the 'Save' button at the bottom of the form, the system will tell you whether or not your application is complete, and what information is missing. When your application is complete, you will have 24 hours in which you can return to update or correct it. After that, the application will be final – you can e-mail Liberal Arts Staff if you need to make further changes or you wish to withdraw your application.

The application deadline is 3/7/2008.

By submitting this scholarship application, I certify that all information on this application is accurate and I give my permission to the College of the Liberal Arts staff to share this information with a third party when necessary for recipient selection of a specific scholarship. I also permit the College to publish my name on a list of scholarship recipients, should I be chosen.