Scholarship Student Resources
UNC Scholarship Gratitude Survey Guidelines and Requirements
Congratulations! You have been offered a donor-funded scholarship from the University of Northern Colorado.
Scholarship support for students like you would not be possible without the incredible generosity and support from our donors. To ensure that UNC donors are adequately thanked by the recipients of their generosity, we have established guidelines and suggestions to aid you in responding to the Scholarship Gratitude Survey. Should you submit incomplete or insufficient responses, your survey will be rejected, and you will be asked to complete it again. If your survey is rejected, it will result in delays in your scholarship funds being disbursed.
The Importance of Thanking Our Donors
Nothing means more to donors than hearing from the students whose lives they’ve impacted.
Many UNC scholarships honor or memorialize a loved one or are established by passionate families that intend to leave a legacy of philanthropic support that enable students to pursue their education at UNC for generations to come. The output gleaned from students’ responses to UNC’s Scholarship Gratitude Survey serves as a meaningful expression of gratitude that often furthers a donor’s relationship with UNC and the students they support.
What to Expect When Completing Your Scholarship Gratitude Survey:
Once you access the scholarship gratitude survey, you will be asked to respond to 4 short essay questions. You must respond to every question to successfully submit the survey for review. Acceptable responses will be thoughtful and thorough, sample responses to the questions are provided below each question. The survey questions are also listed below to aid you in preparing responses before accessing the survey.
Survey Questions:
- Please write a paragraph telling the donor about yourself. (Appropriate responses might include, your hometown, family background, talents and hobbies, extracurricular involvement, and anything else about your life and family that you would like to share). (100-200 words)
- Please explain to the donor why you chose to attend UNC; why you selected your major/minors, and how your education at UNC will help you to achieve your future career goals or post-graduation plans. (100-200 words)
- Please write a paragraph talking about what you are most looking forward to inside and outside of the classroom this year. How will you be involved and how will you take advantage of your time as a UNC Bear? (100-200 words)
- Please write a paragraph expressing your appreciation for the donor for providing the funds that made this scholarship possible and express to the donor what receiving this scholarship means to you, your educational journey, and how it has impacted you and/or your family. (100-200 words)
Useful Tips and Tricks in Completing Your Survey:
- Timely communication is important. Once you receive your scholarship offer, please prioritize completing your scholarship gratitude survey promptly. This will also ensure that you receive your funds quickly.
- Your responses will be shared with donors. Please review the donor biography that is listed in the scholarship description to ensure that you are familiar with the donor, their rationale for establishing this scholarship, and other relevant information about who you are writing to.
- These questions are specifically aimed at receiving the responses that donors like to receive. Please be sincere in your responses, as if you are speaking directly with the donor about how much their support means to you.
- If you have received multiple scholarships, you will have to submit an individual and personalized survey for each scholarship. Academic Works no longer offers an Auto Fill function.
- Please make sure that your responses do not contain spelling or grammatical errors.
- Do not reference dollar amounts in your letter. Consider using phrases like “your support” or “your generosity” rather than using “money”.
- Do not submit the same responses as previous years for renewed scholarships. Many donors retain records from past recipients, they will notice duplicate responses from past years.
- Reminder: a scholarship committee made up of UNC Faculty and Staff selected you for this scholarship using criteria established by the donor – the donor did not select you specifically. Rather than thanking them for ‘selecting you’, thank them for providing you with financial support, their generosity, making this scholarship possible, etc.
