Following a last-minute influx of STARS applications and problems with the program’s server, the deadline for applying for scholarships was extended from Jan. 15 to today.
The University offers two types of scholarships: academic achievement and competitive scholarships.
The competitive, non-need-based scholarships are distributed based on the STARS applications primarily using funds donated privately to the MSU Foundation.
Approximately 1,000 of these scholarships are awarded in a given semester from Murray State departments, colleges and privately established endowments. The STARS application looks at a number of criteria including essay questions, letters of recommendation and past academic achievements to determine who is eligible.
Bob Jackson, associate vice president for Institutional Advancement, said despite the reported raise in applicants the number of scholarships will not change.
Jackson said the last several days leading up to the STARS application’s original deadline were quite busy with students who had waited to apply for scholarship money. He said this flurry of activity and the overwhelming late response was one of the reasons they decided to push back the deadline.
“We want to make sure that every student who wants to apply for scholarships has the ability to make the application,” Jackson said. “We wanted to make sure one last time that new incoming freshmen in particular and transfer students knew about the application process.”
He said each year because of donations and endowments established by alumni and friends of the University, the Scholarship office is able to award more than $2 million in scholarships per year. He said the deadline for the STARS application has been extended in the past.
Christian Cruce, associate director of Scholarships and Student Financial Aid, said beside an increase in the traffic of applications the last week before the STARS application deadline, there was also an increase in reports of problems submitting their application.
“We unfortunately saw a high volume of reports that users experienced various problems with the system that were beyond (students’) control,” Cruce said. “In an effort to service as many students as possible, the decision was made to extend the deadline after the company made some improvements on the software’s server.”
Beginning in the fall, Cruce said they have organized numerous opportunities for students to be made aware of the January deadline and how to fill out the STARS application including hosting information tables in academic buildings, residential colleges, Winslow Dining Hall and Waterfield Library among other places. Fliers were posted to inform students and emails were sent to a multitude of those who had applied in previous years.
Cruce said the increase in last-minute applications by students despite the forewarning was due to students, who, like much of our society, are procrastinators.
Kelsey Meriwether, freshman from Henderson, Ky., said the application process took a long time and she had trouble completing it on her Mac computer. She said she understood why the University would extend the deadline.
Meriwether said, however, that while she thought it was nice of the University to give people extra time, it’s worse for those who met the deadline and now have to face additional competition.
“Things like that have happened to me before,” she said. “I’ve stayed up all night to finish a paper or something on time and I come into class and the teacher tells us we can turn it in tomorrow for full credit. It’s kind of upsetting.”
Cruce said no student is ever guaranteed a scholarship simply because they applied before the deadline.
She said regardless of the deadline, students should always make their best attempt to submit the most competitive scholarship education possible.
She said students should expect to hear about any scholarships by mid-March.
Story by Ben Manhanke, Assistant News Editor