Scholarship Management Software

The vendor is required to provide scholarship management software system should streamline the end-to-end administration of scholarships— including application submission, review, awarding, tracking, and reporting—while improving accessibility for applicants and efficiency for administrators.
- Goals
•    Streamline operations: automate and standardize scholarship workflows—from application submission to award disbursement—to reduce manual processing, duplication, and administrative burden. 
•    Enhance user experience: provide an intuitive, accessible platform for students, reviewers, and administrators that is mobile-friendly and easy to navigate. 
•    Promote equity and access: ensure all eligible students can easily discover and apply for scholarships that match their qualifications and needs. 
•    Improve data accuracy and reporting: enable accurate tracking, reporting, and auditing of scholarship funds, awards, and applicant data through robust analytics and customizable reporting tools.
•    Strengthen integration: seamlessly connect with existing university systems (e.g., student information systems, financial aid, donor management) to ensure data consistency and efficiency. 
•    Support compliance and security: ensure the software meets all required data privacy, accessibility, and security standards.
- System functionality
1. Application management:
•    Support customizable application forms, deadlines, and communications.
•    Allow students to search, view, and apply for scholarships through a unified portal.
•    Provide a dynamic eligibility-matching engine to recommend scholarships based on student data and donor established criteria.
2. Review and awarding tools:
•    Configurable review panels, scoring rubrics, and automated ranking features to support fair and efficient evaluations.
•    Facilitate multi-level, role-based access for reviewers, administrators, and committee members.
•    Allow batch awarding and integration with financial aid systems for disbursement.
•    Ability to flag students who are no longer meeting requirements to receive their scholarship based on change in academic status.
•    User friendly and efficient anonymous review options.
•    Tools to maintain audit trails for awarding and disbursement.
•    Tools to support scholarship renewals over multiple award years.
3. Donor and fund management:
•    Track fund availability, scholarship allocations, and donor restrictions and preferences.
•    Generate donor-specific reports and recipient profiles.
•    Provide audit trails and financial reconciliation capabilities.
•    Implement safeguards to prevent deficits and optimize fund distribution.
4. Reporting and analytics:
•    Dashboard offering real-time visibility into application status, award distribution, and reporting metrics.
•    Customizable reports, dashboards, and export functions for data analysis and compliance reporting.
•    Generate standard and ad hoc reports on applications, fund utilization, and demographic data.
•    Ability to build and generate reports based on user defined rules such as date ranges, as well as reconciliation reports for fund utilization.
•    Enhanced ability to filter applicant and opportunity data.
5. System integration:
•    Seamless integration with existing university systems, such as the banner, Kuali, awarded (donor stewardship), power bi, and ascend.
•    Single sign on capability.
•    Secure database management.
6. Accessibility and security:
•    Compliance with ADA, FERPA, and relevant data privacy standards.
•    Role based authentication and security measures.
•    Ensure compatibility with screen readers, keyboard navigation, and other assistive technologies.
•    Support accessible form fields, error identification, and instructions.
•    Commit to ongoing monitoring and updates to maintain accessibility as standards evolve.
•    Include accessibility support in user training and documentation.

- Contract Period/Term: 5 years
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: February 11, 2026