FAQ

• Q.  How do you process the applications?

  A.  Dollars for Scholars receives applications from students who attend a high school within Oldham County, as well as students who reside in the county but are either home-schooled or attend public/private schools outside our county.  After receiving the applications, we remove the identity of each student so that each application is non-identifiable – we pride ourselves in the practice of selecting winners based on an applicant number and not a person.  Only one person on our board knows the student name and the number, all other board members and volunteers only know the applicant number.  

   

  

• Q.  What criteria are used to select from the winners all the applicants who applied?

  A.  Each sponsor has different criteria and some examples of those criteria are: financial need, community service, demonstrated leadership, academic achievement, to a specific major.  For example, one sponsor provides an award to a “C” student who has participated in one activity for 4 years.  Other sponsors require that the student graduate or attend from a specific elementary school, major in Business or attend only a Kentucky college.

   

  

   

  Q.  How do the applications get scored?

  A.  Many of our volunteers have been scoring Oldham County Dollars for Scholars applications since 2005.  All sections are scored based on a rubric that provides guidelines to apply a score to each section of the application with minimal decision-making.  Each score is then entered into an Excel spreadsheet and the final selection is based on the top scores.  

   

  

   

  Q.  How do you judge the essays?

  A.  All student essays are read by three (3) judges and the final score for each essay is the average of all 3 judges.  

  

   

  Q.  How is a final decision made?

  A.  The Oldham County Dollars for Scholars chapter goes above and beyond what is expected of a scholarship selection committee. We do this to ensure that an impartial review and selection process is used when selecting scholarship recipients.  Our chapter is proud that we provide an easy method for students to apply and receive scholarships that never existed prior to the formation of Oldham County Dollars for Scholars in 2004.

   

  

   

  Q.  Who scores the applications?

  A.  With the help of over 30 community volunteers the applications are scored, ranked, and sorted according to the criteria of each sponsor.

   

  

   

  Q.  Do the sponsors have any input on the selection process or is it totally at the discretion of the board?

  A.  Each sponsor is strongly encouraged to send representatives from their business or organization to score the applications, but the Oldham County Dollars for Scholars committee selects recipients based on the criteria set by each sponsor.  The scores are tallied in an Excel spreadsheet and the DFS awards committee board members select the applicant with the highest score that matches the criteria of that sponsor.

   

  

   

  Q.  When do you score applications?

  A.  Sessions are conducted in the morning and evening from the beginning of March through the beginning of April.  All scoring sessions are open to the public.  We are always looking for volunteers to help –please think about joining us!

   

  

   

  Q.  The rejection letter I received stated, "the number of students who applied to the program exceeded the amount of dollars we had to distribute".  With these limitations, why on earth are several students awarded more than one scholarship when many are deserving?

  A.  Oldham County Dollars for Scholars was started in 2004 and distributed scholarships in 2005. During our first year, several of our highest scoring applicants received between 3 and 5 awards.  We received an outcry from our sponsors and many community members whose response was that they expected our organization to provide scholarships to “more” students.  Therefore, for our second year, we provided one scholarship per applicant – and again we had many phone calls and e-mails saying that the community felt that the students should not be “limited” to only one scholarship.  So, in 2007 (our 3rd year), our board voted to award up to $2,000 to each student and if the student qualified for more than one award they would receive it as long as it did not exceed $2,000.  After we did that, we received much praise – so we plan to proceed with that rule into the near future (at least until we get more sponsors which will allow us to increase this amount.)

  

   

  Q.  What are applicants disqualified for?

  A.  Applicants can be disqualified for several reasons such as the content is incomplete, the application does not have a postmark, is postmarked after the due date, or is received with “postage due” , false information is given, signatures are not included, essay guidelines are not followed (see list within the application guidelines.)  A complete list can be found on the “Application Instructions.”