Universal Application: Frequently Asked Questions

Once an application is submitted, it can no longer be edited until it is unlocked by reverting the application. Editing the application on the student's behalf is recommended because the student's eligibility for certain scholarships may change, and this is easier to manage at the staff level. Reverting the common application should be done sparingly.

The first step is to determine whether the question the applicant needs to edit is on the common application (found on the applicant's user summary) or a supplemental question for a particular opportunity. This determines which request on the student's dashboard needs to be returned to draft.

For detailed instructions on reverting, visit Universal Application: Revert Status of Common Application. For instructions on retesting an applicant's eligibility, visit Universal Application: Retest Eligibility.

There are a couple of ways to upload on behalf of a third-party member. Proxying in as the third party is the recommended approach so the number of third-party responses for that student is correctly captured. To do so, follow these steps.

1. Navigate to the Email History page from Communications in the upper navigation bar.
   
    
2. Enter the dates for when the applicant would have requested the recommender, then click Apply.
   
    
   • If the dates are unknown, enter the start date of the scholarship and the date the issue was reported.
3. Click the email subject link.
   
    
4. Click the hyperlinked site.
   
    
5. Click Edit.
   
    
6. Upload the document, then click Submit.
   
    

This message appears when an applicant's responses to application questions or eligibility rules have changed since the original results were created. When this message appears, retest the applicant's eligibility.

For additional details on eligibility results, visit Universal Application: Eligibility Center. For instructions on retesting eligibility and related implications, visit Universal Application: Retest Eligibility.

The scholarship opportunity will need to be added to the universe, including all related information such as supplemental questions and eligibility rules. For step-by-step instructions, visit Universal Application: Add an Opportunity.

Once the scholarship is created, test all students who have already submitted an application. For instructions on testing applicants against a new opportunity, visit Universal Application: Test Untested Opportunities.

Merge fields in approval emails depend on where the email is being sent from. To determine which type of approval email to use, visit Universal Application: Configure and Send Award Emails.

When awarding multiple scholarships to the same student, directing the student to review their scholarships in the system rather than including the scholarship name in the email is a recommended approach. A few hours may pass between notifications when approving another scholarship for the same student, and pointing the student to the system ensures they see the most up-to-date information.

For information on how to resend a third-party reminder, visit Resend Third Party Email. Keep in mind that students and the third-party member will receive reminders and submission confirmation emails sent from your site.

This is the result of the student entering the recommender's email address and then replacing it with a new recommender's email.

To confirm this, go to the student's application and review the third-party group(s). The original third-party email, likely the individual who reached out with questions, will no longer be listed on the student's application. Reach out to the student to confirm who should be recommending them.

If the original recommender should remain, the email can be updated and the request sent on the student's behalf (if they have already submitted). Otherwise, the recommender who made contact will need to be notified that the student selected a different recommender.

When there are unexpected numbers of students in a scholarship pool, reviewing the eligibility rules is the recommended next step.

For information on changing eligibility rules, visit Universal Application: Changes to Eligibility Rules and Questions.

If the rules are too restrictive, removing criteria that are preventing students from qualifying may resolve the issue. After updating the rules, retest eligibility for students who have already submitted their applications. For instructions on retesting eligibility for multiple applicants, visit Universal Application: Retest Eligibility.

The deadline for a universe that is already accepting applications can be extended by changing the hard deadline to a soft deadline or changing the date of the hard deadline. For step-by-step instructions, visit Universal Application: Extend Deadline.

Preferences can be built into eligibility rules to narrow down the number of students who qualify for a scholarship pool. For information on changing eligibility rules to include preferences, visit Universal Application: Changes to Eligibility Rules and Questions.

Custom columns can be applied to the Application Submitted and Application Complete workload pages to surface the question involved with preferences, filter the results, and assign only those who fit the preferential criteria.

From the Eligibility Center

1. In the upper navigation bar, click Search, then click Eligibility Center.
2. Click the process filter icon.
   
    
3. Select the checkbox for one opportunity, then click Save.
   
    
4. Enter the dates for the pass/fail after and pass/fail before fields. The pass/fail after date should be the first day the application opened. The pass/fail before date should be today's date.
   
    
5. Click Search. Students who have applied to this opportunity will be listed below.
   
    

Create a Custom Report

A custom report can be created to display the number of students who applied to the common application.

1. Create a data set for the custom report, then click Run New Report.
   
    
   • For information on creating data sets, visit Universal Application: Data Sets.
2. Click the Filter tab and enter the filter configuration. The filter column should be the process name and the value should be the common application. Click Add.
   
    
3. To add a count of how many students applied to the common application, click the Process Name column header, then click Aggregate, then click Count.
   
    

If a student does not qualify for a single opportunity, they will not appear on the dashboard. Review the Ineligible Universe Requests tab of the universe for the full list of students who do not qualify. For more information, review the Ineligible Universe Requests Tab section of Universal Application: Eligibility Center.

This video walks through how to extend the deadline for existing students with a draft application, and how to open the cycle to brand new students as well. For more information on extending deadlines, visit Universal Application: Extend Deadline.