unused scholarship money is a documented national issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cStudents leave billions of dollars of financial aid unclaimed each year simply because they don\u2019t apply for it,\u201d Kantrowitz said.<\/p>\n
The gap between availability and application reflects what some students describe as hesitation.<\/p>\n
Maggie Quinn, an OU senior and public relations major, said scholarships represent opportunity \u2014 but applying can feel overwhelming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing that comes to mind when I think of scholarships is the amount of opportunities it provides to a lot of students,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cCollege is really, really expensive \u2026 scholarships symbolize just an opportunity for you to continue your education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite receiving annual reminder emails about the OU annual scholarship application, Quinn admitted she has often skipped the application process in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a full-time college student with on-campus jobs, I just haven\u2019t had the time to sit down and do the paperwork,\u201d she said. \u201cI definitely have skipped applying for a scholarship because I didn\u2019t think I would qualify.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boelk said self-disqualification is a common misconception among students who would otherwise find ample opportunities for financial aid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say the single biggest misconception is that students believe they aren\u2019t going to be awarded anything and then simply don\u2019t give themselves a chance,\u201d she said. \u201cGive yourself a chance. Submit the application.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boelk added that it is rare for university-managed scholarships to go unused.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say it\u2019s very rare that a scholarship is not awarded,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to award scholarship funding to students \u2014 which is why we communicate with every student to apply.\u201d<\/p>\n
The university has worked to streamline the process. The annual scholarship tool uses student-record data to match applicants automatically, and built-in smart logic ensures students only see scholarships relevant to their program.<\/p>\n
Still, experts say awareness and follow-through remain national challenges. Kantrowitz has emphasized that the largest barrier is not eligibility, but effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest mistake students make is not applying for scholarships,\u201d Kantrowitz said.<\/p>\n
For students balancing coursework, employment, and rising tuition costs, scholarships represent not just aid, but practical accessibility. The funding exists; students must only understand that it is meant for them \u2014 and take the time to apply.<\/p>\n
Criteria and renewal rules are publicly available through Oakland\u2019s scholarship page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Millions of dollars in scholarship funding are available to college students each year. However, many students never apply…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":{"0":"post-183129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-oakland","9":"tag-oakland-headlines","10":"tag-oakland-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}