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ScholarshipApplicationStudent Guidehttps://hcc.awardspring.com/Hillsborough Community College FoundationFebruary 2019
Student Guide 2018BEFORE YOU APPLY FOR A SCHOLARSHIPSTUDENTS WILL NEED TO: Have an HCC student ID and login with the username and password you have establishedfor your HCC student access. Do not use the @hawkmail.hccfl.edu as part of yourusername – you will not be able to sign in! Complete the FAFSA and apply for financial aid even if you are unsure if you qualify (seethe HCC Financial Aid website for more information). Students who don’t have a completeFAFSA on file with HCCs Financial Aid department can still apply but consideration forscholarships may be limited. Submit electronic documents, including your transcript. Your application will not beconsidered if you do not attach the required documents. The website acceptscommon file extensions. New students - electronic copies of unofficial high school or college transcripts orGED scores. Current Students – electronic copies of HCC unofficial transcript copied from thewebsite. IMPORTANT: even if you are in your first semester with no completedcredits, you MUST supply your current unofficial transcript showing your currentregistration.Complete short-answer responses (additional instructions follow)STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES: All notices and emails will be sent to your hawkmail email address. It is your responsibilityto check it regularly. Answer questions accurately and honestly. Make a personal request to a potential recommender before sending the email request viathe scholarship application. Then check the status of your letters of recommendation andfollow up with your recommendation sources if not completed.RESOURCES:CAMPUS SCHOLARSHIP COORDINATORS: Brandon Coordinator: Theresa Lewis, BSSB 111Dale Mabry Coordinator: Elizabeth Key-Raimer, DSTU 244Plant City and MacDill Coordinator: Charlene Bell, PSTU 110Ybor Coordinator: Frances Cox, YSSB 207CSouthShore Coordinator: Latima Miller, SMPFHCC Foundation: Josette Bulnes, 813.253.7191HCC Foundation, 813.253.71141 Page
Student Guide 2018IF YOU EXPERIENCE PROBLEMS WITH YOUR APPLICATION TRY A DIFFERENT BROWSERSUCH AS CHROME OR SAFARI.If you have an HCC student ID, you already have an account! Log in using your HCC credentials.Upon login, you will land on the “Dashboard” page. In future logins, your Dashboard will highlightitems needing completion and/or the scholarships to which you have applied. Select “CompleteApplication” to begin your application. For your information, you may view the scholarships availableby selecting “Scholarships”, in the left navigation bar. However, the application will automaticallymatch you to scholarships for which you may qualify.There are 4 required sections to complete. Each section will indicate “in process” or “completed”.You will not be able to apply for a scholarship until all 4 required sections indicate“completed”. Step 5 is an optional section to upload additional documents, if needed.You can move between sections of the application and log in and out as you wish until you havecompleted all sections. A section does not have to be fully complete before moving on to anothersection. However all required sections need to be completed before you can apply for scholarships.STEP 1 GENERAL INFORMATION SECTIONPhone number: enter the best phone number to reach you, if needed. The HCC Foundation mayoccasionally send text messages with reminders or important information. Providing a mobile phonenumber that can receive text messages will allow you to receive these messages.Some questions are marked as “optional” and you are not required to answer these; however, not answeringsome of those questions could limit your consideration for certain scholarships.STEP 2 ACADEMIC INFORMATION SECTIONAccess HCC WebAdvisor to get answers to many of these questions, if you are unsure, and to get yourunofficial HCC transcripts. After you login into HawkNet, click on the WebAdvisor link.You will be asked to answer two required and one optional short essay questions (250 words or less).This section is very important. Our application reviewers will score your responses based on content logic flow spelling and grammarNote: use appropriate capitalization and avoid abbreviations answer each question separately and do not copy responses from one question to the next If you would like assistance writing your essays, please visit the Writing Center on your campus.2 Page
Student Guide 2018How do I fill out the short answer questions?You may do this in one of two ways:1. You may type your response directly in the application. Be aware that you could be “timed out”while doing this, so save often.2. You may compose your responses in Word or another text editing program and then copy and pasteto efficiently complete this section without timing out. Remember the word count is limited to 250.Be sure to review the text after pasting to ensure it contains no unusual characters.Attach DocumentsHow do I upload my Unofficial Transcript? (Please do not upload your “Progress Toward Degree” document)Your application will not be considered if you do not upload transcripts. Click on “Upload File”.Navigate to the location where you have saved a copy of your transcript (the site accepts common fileextensions). Select the appropriate file, click “Open”. You will then see the file name listed on yourapplication. Check your uploaded file for accuracy. If you need to replace a previously uploaded file,you may do so by selecting “Upload New File”.STEP 3 QUALIFICATION QUESTIONS SECTIONThis section contains questions that may qualify you for particular scholarships that have very specificcriteria. Do not be alarmed if you mark many of them “no”; there are many general scholarshipsavailable with few criteria.There is a question for you to identify your home campus. Even if you take classes at more than onecampus or take only online classes, you will still have a home campus. You should be able to find thison WebAdvisor. If it is not correct, please contact one of the counselors on page 1.STEP 4 LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION SECTIONLetters of recommendation are very important. A minimum of one letter ofrecommendation is required. Additional recommendations are encouraged and will also beconsidered. A recommendation from a current or recent instructor is strongly encouraged and will begiven additional weight.You may request letters of recommendation via the scholarship application. It will provide therecommender with instructions and a link to put their recommendation directly into yourapplication. It is important to note the following: You should only send the automated recommendation letter request AFTER you havepersonally made a request for a recommendation from this person. Enter the email address of the recommender carefully and check it before sending. If the emailaddress is incorrect or not valid, you will NOT receive a bounce notice. You may edit the request message, if you wish. Once you have requested letters of recommendation, they will appear on the right side of thepage and show as “pending”. Once a recommender has completed the recommendation, it willdisplay as “completed”. You should check this periodically and follow up prior to the applicationdeadline if the recommendation has not been completed.If you have a paper recommendation letter, you may scan it and upload it in this section.3 Page
Student Guide 2018ONCE ALL FOUR SECTIONS APPEAR AS “COMPLETED” THE “SUBMIT APPLICATION”OPTION AT THE BOTTOM RIGHT OF THE SCREEN WILL BE LIVE AND YOU WILL BE ABLETO CLICK ON IT TO APPLY.Next Steps:You are almost done with the application process! You will automatically be applied for scholarshipsfor which you qualify, based on your application responses.Some scholarships will have additional criteria or requirements. Follow the “Complete Follow-up” linkto complete the required information and to apply for these additional scholarships. Do not apply forthese if you do not meet the additional criteria.YOU MAY CONTINUE TO VISIT THE APPLICATION UNTIL THE DEADLINE TO CHECK THESTATUS OF LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION OR TO POLISH YOUR ESSAYS. FOLLOWING THEDEADLINE, PLEASE ALLOW UP TO 6 WEEKS FOR THE REVIEW AND AWARDING PROCESS TOBE COMPLETED. YOU WILL RECEIVE AN EMAIL NOTICE TO YOUR HAWKMAIL ACCOUNT OFTHE DECISION. PLEASE CHECK HAWKMAIL OFTEN FOR UPDATES AND NOTICES.4 Page
Phone number: enter the best phone number to reach you, if needed. The HCC Foundation may occasionally send text messages with reminders or important information. Providing a mobile phone number that can receiv
