The UW-Oshkosh financial aid office announced that its scholarship system AcademicWorks would be replaced by AwardSpring on April 21.

Students were notified of this change via email five days before the system closed on April 26.

During that time, students were told they could attain records of their scholarship information, including award letters and application statements, until the April 26 deadline.

UWO’s switch to the new scholarship system AwardSpring is expected to be completed by Sept. 9.

Students are now unable to view their scholarship information until the AwardSpring system is finalized, but UWO Scholarship Manager Beka Smith said most students looking to apply for scholarships will not be impacted.

“I don’t anticipate this change will have much of an impact on the application cycle for students — applications for the current scholarship cycle will be wrapped up prior to April 26,” Smith said. “The scholarship cycle typically opens the first week of classes in fall, and I anticipate the new system to be fully up and running by then.”

While most students will not have to apply for scholarships until the new system is up and running, Smith said those seeking an emergency scholarship application will have a temporary process to follow through UWO’s Financial Aid Office.

“The only application that is typically open over the summer is our emergency scholarship application,” Smith said. “We will be providing an alternative method for students to apply for that so that process isn’t interrupted.”

Smith said that she will remain available to assist students with questions about funding applications during this transition.

“If students have a need for emergency funding to help pay off their account balance, they can reach out to me directly, or they can contact the Financial Aid Office or Student Accounts for more information on how to apply for funding,” Smith said.

Smith said she does not have information about the decision behind UWO’s switch from AcademicWorks to AwardSpring.

“The UW-Oshkosh Foundation holds the contract for the scholarship system and pays for it, so ultimately, it’s the Foundation’s decision which software system we use,” Smith said.

UWO has used the same scholarship system since the Foundation contracted AcademicWorks in April 2016 to simplify the application process and provide students with a comprehensive list of available scholarships.

AcademicWorks is an integrated system that uses student records to help match them with potential scholarship opportunities.

AwardSpring utilizes similar student information systems to allow students to import information like their major, GPA, and class schedule into an application.

Micki Dirks-Luebbe, the UWO Foundation’s executive director, did not comment on the scholarship system change and directed inquiries to Andy Anaam, the executive director for university relations and communications.

Anaam said that many campus organizations collaborated to ensure AwardSpring was the right fit for UWO.

“The decision to move to a new scholarship system was made through a cross-campus committee that included Enrollment Management, Financial Aid, Admissions, student success teams and the UWO Foundation,” Anaam said. “The Foundation supports the software investment, while the selection itself was a collaborative, campus-wide decision.”

Anaam said the driving force behind the change was to improve the scholarship process for every party involved.

“The move to AwardSpring reflects a focus on improving the overall scholarship process — streamlining administrative work, enhancing the application experience for students, and strengthening how we connect scholarship impact back to donors,” Anaam said.

Students can expect to receive more information on the launch of the new scholarship website via email this summer.