Cal State East Bay Launches Pioneer Scholarships Online Scholarship Management Program

• January 27, 2015 10:28am

California State University, East Bay will launch Pioneer Scholarships, an innovative one-stop online scholarship management and portal system, Feb. 2.

Pioneer Scholarships streamlines the application process by eliminating the need for students to repeatedly submit general information, which also saves students extensive research time. The new system imports key information from the student data record, allowing applicants to be considered for all campus scholarship opportunities simultaneously. When students log in using their NetID and password, they complete a general application that matches them to scholarships for which they qualify. The system also recommends other scholarships they may be unaware of or which they qualify for.

When the application process closes at the end of March, faculty and staff review, rank and award scholarships entirely online. This simplifies the process and eliminates thousands of paper copies associated with traditional systems. After selections are made, students receive an email notification from the Pioneer Scholarships system asking them to accept their award and submit a thank-you letter acknowledging the donor — an important step in the donor stewardship process. All awards will be disbursed in the Fall.

“The greatest benefit is that Pioneer Scholarships allows new and current students to be considered for all campus scholarships at once,” said CSUEB Campus Scholarship Coordinator Lisa Lewis. “In prior years, many departments had their own deadlines. Now all scholarships are considered at the same time during the year. But more importantly, the system gives students visibility into the process. They can see if their application is in review or if it has been awarded. They can also see information from their student record that is used to qualify them for scholarships.”

An Open House for the new system will be held every hour on the hour from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Jan. 22 in VBT126. Faculty and staff are encouraged to stop by to view this new e-solution for scholarship management. For questions about the Pioneer Scholarships system, please email Lisa Lewis at lisa.lewis@csueastbay.edu.