Applying for Wayne State scholarships is now easier than ever with the launch of My Scholarship Portfolio, the Office of Student Financial Aid’s new online scholarship system. Students can now complete one centralized application to be considered for any of the roughly 900 awards available in the 2019-20 academic year. Applications are due March 1, 2019. Awards will be announced in the summer.
“No matter what your major is or where you’re at in your studies, there’s an award that you’re eligible to apply for,” said Abir Beydoun, data analyst with the Office of Student Financial Aid. “The centralized application is designed to maximize a student’s opportunity to earn a scholarship.”
Applications submitted using My Scholarship Portfolio allow eligible students to be considered for any of the Office of Student Financial Aid’s donor-funded scholarships. The application will also enable consideration for private scholarships for the Mike Ilitch School of Business; College of Education; College of Engineering; College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts; Irvin D. Reid Honors College; College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Law School; College of Nursing; and the School of Social Work. At this time, applications for awards from the School of Information Sciences, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and the School of Medicine must still be completed separately, but plans are in place to bring these schools onto the centralized system in October 2019 for the 2020-21 application cycle.
Because many of the awards require demonstration of financial need, applicants are encouraged to also complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) prior to March 1, 2019. However, students can still complete My Scholarship Profile without having a FAFSA on file.
My Scholarship Portfolio can be accessed through AcademicWorks, a platform funded through the Office of the Provost. Prior to the launch of My Scholarship Portfolio in mid-October, there were different applications and deadlines for awards across campus. While the application has been largely consolidated, colleges and departments are still responsible for awarding their scholarships.
Beydoun said the Office of Financial Student Aid has already seen an increase in applications over previous years.
Most applicants can expect to complete approximately 10 questions; options such as major, class standing and GPA automatically populate. Students can update their application to include relevant volunteer information, experiences or references. Additionally, students may log in and make changes to their portfolio until the March 1 deadline, allowing them to adjust their application and review and add any required documentation — such as an essay or letter of recommendation — in as many sessions as they need.
“My Scholarship Portfolio is very intuitive,” Beydoun said. “We’re working to make the application process even easier. We hope that we’ll be able to better serve the students and also better understand their needs.”
To learn more, contact scholarships@wayne.edu or call 313-577-2100.