The cost of higher education is one of the biggest obstacles students face when they enroll in college. Scholarships have long been offered to University of Utah students, but students often didn’t have the time or resources to apply to very many, if they even knew of their options.
To address this issue, the university adopted an integrated scholarship platform called Scholarship Universe. As of July 2026, the cross-functional team leading this work through the Student Experience Project has migrated 2,235 scholarship opportunities into the system, representing nearly every institutional scholarship currently identified by the university. Thanks to the efforts of staff and faculty members across campus, students can now search and apply for scholarships they may qualify for in one place, including institutional and external scholarships.
A campus-wide effort
Identifying and migrating scholarship funds has been a huge group effort. Anthony Jones, Executive Director of Scholarships and Financial Aid, led the project with his team, but he shares that they partnered with each college, center, department or office offering scholarship funding.
Some departments also participated in a pilot to test Scholarship Universe before its campus-wide rollout, helping shape how the system was implemented.
Heather Clarkson, Student Scholarship and Funding Administrator for the College of Nursing, says the previous process often created confusion for students. “The previous system required them to complete a general application before allowing them access to a department’s application,” she said. “Students sometimes believed they’d applied for scholarships from the College of Nursing when they’d only completed the general application.”
Since implementing Scholarship Universe, the College of Nursing alone has seen a 150% increase in applicants, and the implementation team anticipates seeing similar improvements across campus units.
University Advancement team members also played an essential role in implementation by identifying donor-funded scholarships for migration and building processes that better support both donors and students.
“University Advancement is thrilled to see Scholarship Universe launched and a more central and easier way for students to find and access the support offered by generous scholarship donors,” says Lindsay Nelson, Principal Director for Student Success on the University Advancement team.
Without faculty and staff cooperation, this project would not have been possible. Not only did faculty and staff identify scholarship opportunities across campus, “they’ve all jumped in to test, build it and give us feedback,” says Jones.
A simpler student experience
Students have already been benefitting from using the platform. Jones says that his favorite piece of feedback was when a student told him, “I thought I did something wrong because I was done with the application so quickly.”
By bringing scholarship opportunities and applications together in one place, Scholarship Universe significantly reduces the need for students to search across multiple websites, emails, and departmental processes.
Student Logan Bogesvang remembers piecing together scholarship opportunities through department websites, internet searches, emails, staff recommendations and his own spreadsheets. “That approach can work,” he said, “but only if a student already knows where to look and has the time to stay organized.” Bringing those opportunities together in one place helps students discover scholarships they might otherwise have missed.
The platform is designed to help all students, but it can be particularly impactful for nontraditional students. Katie Brimhall shared, “Through Scholarship Universe, I was connected with and ultimately received the Heidi and Greg Miller Single Parent Scholarship. Receiving that scholarship has been life changing for me as a nontraditional student and single parent pursuing a degree in social work.”
Reducing the burden of paying for school alleviates financial challenges, but that scholarship meant even more to Brimhall. “It feels like a vote of confidence in my future, and that encouragement has inspired me to push myself academically and stay committed to my goals,” she says. “As a student, that kind of support means more than people may realize.”
A new platform
Scholarship Universe also helps students spend less time completing repetitive applications. Once students enter their basic information, it carries forward into future applications, leaving them to complete only scholarship-specific requirements.
The platform also gives faculty and staff better insight into scholarship demand, helping identify where student need exceeds available funding.
Nelson explains, “When we can tell a donor that over 200 students were eligible to be matched with their scholarship and were in need of funding, but we were able to award just two of those students, we have a better story to tell about the need our students have for scholarship support, using data from the Scholarship Universe system.”
As the University of Utah moves forward with this platform, the project team plans to continue gathering feedback and making improvements to the system. “Once this process becomes habit, we’ll have the capacity to work on getting new scholarships in and expanding further,” says Jones. With a more complete view of scholarship demand across campus, the U will be better positioned to identify needs, secure additional scholarship dollars and demonstrate the impact of those investments on student success.