Getting into college is the first step to a more prominent future, however what about the financial burden that is to come along with it? Cal Poly Pomona offers many forms of financial aid for students to take advantage of. One specific form of financial aid is the annual Scholarship Fest, happening now through April.
The Scholarship Fest is an online forum where students are encouraged to apply for scholarships for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic year.
Through the online forum, there are hundreds of scholarship opportunities available that are updated on a weekly basis. Scholarships do vary depending on department basis and amount awarded.
Alondra Carranza, a second-year transfer general biology student, shares how she found out about the fest though the College of Science’s Instagram page, along with flyer around campus. “I have actually gone on the forum to start the application, I just haven’t really set the time to finish it,” Carranza said.
If one does wish to participate like Carranza, the steps are as easy as one, two, three. Set aside 20-30 minutes to answer some general questions, and if the application isn’t finished in one sitting, there is an option to save what has been completed and log back on later to finish what was started.
The first step is to visit the Bronco Scholarship Portal, and log in with a Bronco username and password. Step two is to complete the general application. Be sure to click the “Finish and Submit” button located at the bottom of the page. Failure to complete this step will will not let users move on to the next.
Lastly, click the “Opportunities” tab and select the “Ours” tab from the drop-down menu and start applying. Once finished, students will receive a confirmation email for every scholarship applied to.
The simplicity with this forum is that one does not need to constantly input information as all of the work is saved for easier access. As an added bonus, one can even get filtered scholarships specifically tailored for the information provided.
If selected as a scholarship recipient, students will receive a separate email with further instructions regarding the disbursement period and other important information. Note that the time frame in which this will happen also varies depending on the scholarship deadline and the committee’s schedule.
According to the financial aid department, the festival is being promoted more due to a push for revamping the scholarship system. Alongside this, the platform is trying to align the scholarship season with the FAFSA and Dream Act application season.
For those wanting to give the platform a try, visit https://www.cpp.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/index.shtml.
