UCAA Offers Numerous Scholarship Opportunities

The process of recruiting, retaining and rewarding top students is one of UC’s highest priorities, which makes it one of the UC Alumni Association’s top priorities, too.

The UCAA Scholarship Program has grown rapidly since it began five years ago, offering scholarship aid to outstanding incoming and current undergraduate students. “Outstanding” is the key word, as the caliber of the yearly applicants and ultimate recipients has sharply risen.

“Each time we sit down to review the scholarship applicants, we’re astounded by the quality of the students,” said Carol Friel, Class of 1958 and 1980 and Chair of the UCAA Scholarship Committee. “We put great time and effort into studying each applicant’s record. All applicants are worthy, yet some separate themselves through their impressive combination of academics and community involvement.”

Friel’s committee recently selected 43 current UC undergraduates out of a pool of 113 applicants to receive UCAA Scholarships. The recipients carry an average GPA of 3.8. The standard of excellence was similar in the spring, when awards were made to 41 students (out of a pool of more than 150 applicants) who will begin their UC careers in September.

“We’re thrilled that the number of applicants is increasing each year, and that these students’ profiles are so impressive,” Friel said. “That is the sole criterion for selecting the recipients.”

She said each of the eight Scholarship Committee members reviews and ranks the applicants independently before coming together to create their final rankings and selections.

The UCAA has scholarships earmarked specifically for legacy students — children or grandchildren of UC alumni and Alumni Association members.

“We feel it’s important to preserve that UC bond over multiple generations,” said UCAA Executive Director David Macejko. “And we have scholarships for incoming freshmen who live in cities and regions that are covered by our 30 alumni chapters.”

Macejko said that the Scholarship Committee conducted a thorough review of its selection criteria and process after this spring’s awards cycle, seeking to ensure objectivity in how students were assessed.

“As the scholarship program has grown and the competition for the available funding has become more intense, so has our respect for the committee’s need to be completely fair to the students,” he said. “The award process is about the students’ demonstrated overall accomplishments. Abiding by these criteria helps ensure the value of all alumni’s degrees and assures UC’s future strength.”

He said the only way the UC Alumni Association can continue to have a vibrant scholarship program and help recruit such high-caliber students to UC is for alumni to participate in the process that makes it possible.

“Put a C-paw license plate on your car if you live in Ohio — that helps generate UC scholarship dollars,” Macejko said. “Consider a donation to the Alumni Association Scholarship Fund. And if you have or know a student who might be a scholarship candidate, spread the word about these wonderful opportunities.”

Many alumni give the university a heads-up about potential UC students by completing an electronic referral form. The UC Alumni Association works closely with the Admissions office to recruit students, and the number of alumni referrals has risen dramatically in the last year.