Online Scholarship Clearinghouse



The Problem
Information about scholarships, an increasingly important source of student aid, is difficult for many students and their families to find because it is not available through a centralized database. In addition, many scholarship providers have trouble reaching students who may qualify. Private scholarship services, which charge a fee that many families cannot afford, have proved only marginally successful meeting this challenge. In response, the Scholarship Coalition, composed of scholarship providers and others interested in expanding access to college, is building an online clearinghouse to serve Washington students seeking scholarship assistance. The HECB has agreed to maintain the clearinghouse once it is developed.

The Solution
The Scholarship Coalition proposes a private/public partnership to develop an online clearinghouse for use by Washington students, families, and donors. Coalition members have been contributing their time, energy, and money to developing the initial clearinghouse. They ask the state of Washington to join in the effort by providing $256,000 for its eventual hosting and maintenance.

How It Will Work
The clearinghouse will have these features:

  • It will provide a comprehensive online database for all Washington scholarships.
  • It will be free to students.
  • It will use the content to verify selection criteria in order to reduce false matches from scholarship searches.
  • It will encourage the use of a common profile, allowing individual students
    to apply for multiple scholarships at once.
  • The clearinghouse will enable donors to reach thousands of students statewide.

Estimated Cost: $256,000

FY 2008

FY 2009

Total

$87,000

$169,000

$256,000

Steering Committee Members

College Spark Washington
(Education Assistance Foundation)

College Planning Network

Northwest Education Loan Association

The Seattle Foundation

College Success Foundation
(Washington Education Foundation)

Higher Education Coordinating Board

Independent Consulting Study

williamsworks, a Seattle-based consulting firm, conducted a feasibility study in fall 2006 confirming the need for the clearinghouse and endorsing the project. Copies of the study are at www.hecb.wa.gov/research

The coalition's plan is to seek private funding to begin building the Web-based clearinghouse. An RFP for software development will go out in early 2007. A prototype of the site should be available for testing in January 2008.

The vendor developing the clearinghouse will work closely with HECB staff to ensure the system, once developed, will fit easily into existing IT infrastructure, allowing for HECB staff to efficiently support it in the future.



Progress Report: On December 19, 2006, Governor Gregoire included the maintenance initiative in her proposed budget.

For questions regarding this request, please contact John Klacik at 360-753-7851 or johnk@hecb.wa.gov, Betty Gebhardt at 360-753-7852 or bettyg@hecb.wa.gov or Chris Thompson at 360-753-7811 or christh@hecb.wa.gov.

917 Lakeridge Way SW o P.O. Box 43430 - Olympia, WA 98504-3430 - 360.753.7800 - www.hecb.wa.gov