Scholarship Universe

Internal scholarships at UCSB are awarded on a need basis. Nearly all scholarships are awarded to continuing students with a demonstrated record of academic achievement at UCSB. Here's how to be considered for these supplemental awards each year:

1. Apply for Financial Aid:  Applying students must have completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the California Dream Act Application (CADAA).
2. Log into Scholarship Universe in mid-July: The UCSB Supplemental Scholarship Application goes live in mid-July. Students can then log into SU and access the application by navigating to the Scholarships tab on the left side of the screen.
3. Fill out the (very short) UCSB Supplemental Scholarship Application: The single application is linked to multiple scholarships. You only have to submit the application once to be considered for all linked scholarships. The Eva Augusta Josephi Memorial Scholarship, the only other internal UCSB scholarship, is exclusively for students who are hard of hearing.

These awards follow have slightly different rules. Some awards do require students to be enrolled full time, but awards typically are not pulled back unless the student recipient has not enrolled for a quarter when they would receive a disbursement.

These awards are for Fall, Winter, and Spring only. The scholarships awarded during the OFAS Supplemental Scholarship Cycle are awarded across Fall, Winter, and Spring quarter and cannot be moved to a summer quarter. However, upon special request, students may request that their allocation be consolidated into a single quarter.

Award amounts vary across scholarships. These 88 scholarships come from different accounts and awarding rules, so the amounts vary from year to year across all scholarships. We do our best to make renewal students’ awards meet or exceed the amount they received in the year prior.

• Oct 1-Mar 2 Apply for FAFSA or CADAA
• Mid July Internal scholarships application opens
• Early September Internal scholarships application closes
• Mid September-October OFAS reviews applications and begins awarding scholarships in Zones
• November-December Additional scholarships are rewarded on a rolling basis. Students who receive a scholarship will be notified of their award through email and should log back into ScholarshipUniverse to accept it. If prompted, award recipients upload Thank You letters in SU to be shared with scholarship donors
• January-March Our office continues stewardship with Donor/Stewardship team and UCSB Foundation
• June-July Our office reaches out to students missing Thank You letters. Also works with campus leadership to get figures for next year’s scholarship awards & prepares to open the next year's application

Here is an overview of the menu options once you log into Scholarship Universe:

• Dashboard: See how many scholarships you qualify for, and any pending action items you have yet to complete.
• Questions: View the answers to the questions you have answered, as well as change your responses to unlocked questions.
• Scholarships: Access internal and external scholarship opportunities on the scholarships page.
• Applications: Keep track of where you are in the application process for the scholarships you are applying to on the applications page.
• Awards: See your awards on this page.
• My Docs: Store resumes, cover letters, and other supplementary application documents on this page for easy access.
• Feedback: Leave feedback on your user experience

Step 1: Log in Using your UCSB Net ID and password, log in to ScholarshipUniverse.

Step 2: Start matching The first time you log in, you will need to confirm your email address and add your mobile phone number, if you would like to receive text message reminders. You will then be directed straight to a series of questions to begin building your profile. After each question, the “Matches” and “Opportunity” boxes in the top right corner will be updated with the new scholarship opportunities you’ve been matched with based on the answers you have provided. At any time, you can view your matched scholarships by clicking on the “Matches” box.

Step 3: View your matches! You can use the Scholarships tab on the left side of the screen to view the scholarships you have been matched with. The Scholarships screen has several tabs that you review:

• Matches - List of scholarships that the student has met all of the matching requirements
• Pinned - List of scholarships that the student has pinned to their account using the button on an individual scholarship listed
• Partial Matches - List of scholarships that the student has met at least one requirement, but not all of the matching requirements
• Application Submitted - List of internal scholarship applications a student has submitted
• Awarded - List of internal scholarships for which the student has been awarded
• Non-Matches - List of scholarships for which the student does not meeting the matching requirements
• Not Interested - List of scholarships that the student has marked themselves as not interested in by using the no symbol on an individual scholarship

To read more about the scholarships, click on the “View” button. To open the scholarship website in a new tab and apply directly, click the “Apply” button. You can save scholarships to review later, review scholarship statistics, or mark scholarships as “not interested” through the buttons on the right of each scholarship.

Updates to questions can be made on the Questions tab on the left side menu. Answers may be locked based on information from your student record. On the questions tab, you can also continue to answer questions, by clicking on the “Answer More Questions” box in the top right corner.

An overview of scholarships is available through your dashboard page, which is the landing page you’ll see the next time you log in. Alerts of upcoming scholarship deadlines as well as outstanding requirements, such as accepting a scholarship or completing a thank you note, will be located in the “Actions Required” section.