CALS Scholarship Policies

Student Policies

Thank You Letters

All students are required to submit a thank you letter to the scholarship donor via Scholarship Universe before their financial aid award will be processed.

Full-Time Enrollment

The University of Arizona policy regarding full-time enrollment can be found at this link: http://catalog.arizona.edu/policy/enrollment-policies.

Scholarship Universe

Scholarship recipients are selected from the list of students that submitted the CALS General Scholarship Application on Scholarship Universe.

Graduate Students Enrolled in One Unit of 900-Level Courses

If a graduate student is enrolled in one unit of a 900-level course and their scholarship has not disbursed, academic units should contact CALS Career and Academic Services. On occasion, the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid will need to be directly contacted about these awards in order for them to be disbursed.

 Academic Year Awards and December Graduates

  • Scholarship awards are typically awarded for the academic year: half in fall semester, half in spring semester.
  • If a student is a December graduate, the full amount of the scholarship may be awarded in the fall. Students should contact their academic unit to notify them of their December graduation date. Academic units should contact CALS Career and Academic Services with this information to process the change from a fall/spring award to a fall-only award.

Majors that are Shared by Multiple CALS Academic Units

  • Scholarship applicants who are enrolled in majors that are co-owned by multiple academic units will be eligible for scholarship consideration in all of those units. 

Academic Unit Policies

Academic Unit Scholarship Representatives

  • One academic unit scholarship representative will be selected from each academic unit by the academic unit Department Head or Director for the academic year. This individual is the main point of the contact for scholarships with CALS Career and Academic Services. Once a representative is selected, all scholarship correspondence from CALS Career and Academic Services will be sent to that person. It is the contact's responsibility to disseminate information within their academic unit as they deem appropriate. 
  • This individual is responsible for entering all scholarship awards into Scholarship Universe for their academic unit's scholarship committee. Training will be provided.
  • This person is not required to serve on the academic unit's scholarships committee.
  • This role will serve for an academic year, and it may change year to year.
  • Training is required of the scholarship representative on the overall scholarship process, and how to review students and award winners in Scholarship Universe. This training will be offered in the spring of every year. Please see the Staffing Changes section below for how to handle any mid-year changes to an academic unit's representative.

Academic Unit Scholarship Committees

  • A minimum of two people must serve on a departmental scholarship committee, including one chair. 
  • Final sign-off of winners is provided by the chair with consultation with the department head.
  • Scholarship committee best practices as authored by the UA Foundation must be maintained in every CALS departmental scholarship committee. Find best practices at: http://www.uafoundation.org/uafdn/doc/ScholarshipAdministratorManual.pdf. Page 25.
  • All scholarship committee participants are required to complete the University of Arizona FERPA tutorial to ensure that they have the most current information on Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) requirements.

Recusal Situations

  • CALS is committed to ensuring a fair scholarship review to all applicants.
  • If a committee member is a donor to a scholarship, this person must recuse himself or herself from review of the scholarship.
  • If a committee member has close relations to an applicant (such as a child), the member must recuse himself or herself from reviewing that specific applicant.

Staffing Changes

  • It is the responsibility of the academic unit scholarship representative to notify CALS Career and Academic services of any staff changes that affect the academic unit's scholarship committee as soon as possible. If the academic unit scholarship representative is no longer with the academic unit, the department head must notify CALS Career and Academic Services. Please email Camille Andersen at camilleandersen@email.arizona.edu with any staffing updates.
  • Training for the representative as mentioned in the Academic Unit Scholarship Representatives section above must be completed within 45 days of assuming this role.

Academic Year Awards and December Graduates

  • Scholarships awards are typically awarded for the academic year: half in fall semester, half in spring semester.
  • If a student is a December graduate, the full amount of the scholarship may be awarded in the fall. Students should contact their academic unit to notify them of their December graduation date. Academic units should contact CALS Career and Academic Services with this information to process the change from a fall/spring award to a fall-only award.

Full Amount of Endowment Payout to be Spent Every Year

  • Academic units and the CALS General Scholarship committee will award all scholarship funds that are available for the academic year. The intent of scholarship endowments is that the payout funds will support students every academic year.
  • Academic units may not opt to not award a scholarship in order for the payout to be larger in future years. 
  • Exceptions may arise where the academic unit is not able to find eligible students for a specific award. If this occurs, please work with Camille Andersen in CALS Career and Academic Services.

Updating an Endowment Specification

Contact Camille Andersen at camilleandersen@email.arizona.edu regarding a proposed update to an endowment. Changes require coordination with CALS Career and Academic Services, CALS Alumni and Development, CALS Business Services, the UA Foundation, the endowment donor(s) and the corresponding academic unit (if applicable).

Check Donation Policies

  • All check donations to fund scholarships must be processed by CALS Career and Academic Services in coordination with CALS Alumni and Development. Click here to view how every type of check donation will be processed and awarded.
  • If CALS academic units receive donation checks, the checks and all accompanying documents must be forwarded to Camille Andersen the same day they are received by the academic unit to ensure timely processing. This requirement is based on the University of Arizona Financial Services Manual (section 8.12).
    • Checks and accompanying documents may be forwarded to CALS Career and Academic Services in person or via certified mail. Per the University of Arizona Financial Services Manual (section 8.12 Gifts): "Checks, cash, or documents containing credit card information should never be sent through campus mail." 
  • For scholarship donations where the donor designated a specific recipient (or recipients), CALS Career and Academic Services will deposit the donation check, then forward the information to the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (OSFA) for awarding. CALS Career and Academic Services will follow this process effective Spring 2019 and onward:
    • Check and accompanying documentation received by CALS Career and Academic Services
    • Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (OSFA) Scholarship Designation Form needed for processing. PDF can be found from this OSFA website: http://financialaid.arizona.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/donors.
    • If the Scholarship Designation Form was not included with the donation check, Camille Andersen will follow up directly with the donor.
    • Deposit of check to corresponding account is completed using the UA Foundation deposit form (GU form) and process.
    • Email notification sent to scholarship recipient and OSFA that the check has been deposited and is ready for OSFA to award.
    • All accompanying documents and the KFS deposit information (GU deposit form) will be included in the email to OSFA.
    • Scholarship Designation Form will be included in the email to the scholarship recipient.

Scholarship Administration Process Policies

CALS UA Foundation Projects to be Listed on Scholarship Universe and Managed by CALS Career and Academic Services

  • UA Foundation projects beginning with the prefixes 20-11, 40-03, and 40-13, are designated as scholarships. All CALS projects with these prefixes will be listed on Scholarship Universe and managed by CALS Career and Academic Services.
  • UA Foundation projects beginning with 20-10, 40-02, and 40-12, may include scholarships as part of the project purpose. If a project's purpose includes the option of scholarships or student funding, CALS Career and Academic Services will contact the corresponding academic unit to determine if the unit chooses to manage the project, or opts for management by CALS Career and Academic Services.

CALS Shared Scholarships

If a scholarship's endowment agreement allows for eligible students in multiple academic units, the endowment payout will be shared accordingly:

  • If eligible majors are shared between two or three academic units, the endowment payout will be shared with the associated academic units. The scholarship will have a separate listing for every academic unit on Scholarship Universe.
  • If the eligible majors are shared between four or more academic units, the full amount of the endowment payout will be awarded in the CALS General Scholarships Committee meeting to eligible students. The CALS General Scholarships Committee includes representatives from every CALS academic unit to ensure a diverse committee to review applicants.

New Academic Plans

If an academic unit creates a new major (academic plan), academic units will contact CALS Career and Academic Services. A review of departmental scholarships will be needed (completed by Career and Academic Services) to determine if students in the new major can be included in future scholarship review cycles.

UA Foundation Endowment Funds Transfers

Endowment transfers will be completed by Camille Andersen. Files of all requests are saved and can be provided to an academic unit upon request. 

Please note that this page may be updated at any time. If policies change for academic units, the main scholarship contact for each academic unit will be notified by CALS Career and Academic Services.