The Dec. 15 deadline to apply for scholarships is quickly approaching.
Each December, Tech accepts scholarship applications for the following school year. All students are encouraged to apply, regardless of major.
“Each department has specific scholarships that they award. Then we have a lot of scholarships that are not major specific. So it doesn’t matter what major you are; you will be reviewed,” said Kelly Chambers, scholarship manager.
There are over 550 scholarships offered to current and incoming students. Each year Tech awards about $7 million of scholarship money, not including the HOPE scholarship and athletic scholarships.
“Most of our scholarships are donor-funded, so donors have given money to Tech specifically to help students with scholarships. Of the 550 scholarships that we have, about 500 of those are donor-funded,” said Chambers.
Although Tech offers hundreds of scholarships every year, many students are unaware of the opportunity.
“I didn’t apply for any because I really didn’t know about them, and I was a transfer student,” said senior communication major Jared Anderson.
However, there are students on campus who take advantage of Tech scholarship opportunities every year.
“The scholarships I have received through Tech have helped me focus more on my academics and good grades,” said senior nursing major Danielle Miller. “It has taken some of the financial pressure off of my mind so that I can focus my attention on what college is all about, which is building a foundation to become successful in your career path.”
Students concerned that their GPA is not high enough to receive a scholarship should not be dissuaded from applying. The scholarship committees take other criteria into consideration as well.
“Even if your GPA isn’t a 4.0 or a 3.5, we still encourage everyone to apply because with 550 different scholarships, there are a lot of different ones and a lot of different criteria,” said Chambers. “We have scholarships for financial need, students who are involved on campus, students with leadership positions, maybe SGA or a Greek organization. We have some that specifically look at students who have employment of some kind.”
The deadline to apply for scholarships is Dec. 15, although students are encouraged to apply earlier.
“Don’t wait until the last minute. Apply now. Start the application process early because, while the application is not going to take you very long to complete, some scholarships do require an essay,” said Chambers.
To be considered for Tech scholarships, apply online via ScholarWeb. Scholarship offers for the 2015-2016 school year will be made by March 15, 2015.
