Grant Management App Starter · Industry version
Scholarship Management Template
A scholarship pipeline built for students and committees — applications, transcripts, renewals, bursar disbursement — in code you own.
Scholarship season compresses everything: hundreds of student applications, recommendation letters chasing deadlines, a volunteer committee scoring over two weekends, and awards that must reach the bursar before fall billing. This starter generates that pipeline as one system your institution owns.
- 6 core entities
- Panel review built in
- Code you own
- Vibe + Governed modes
01 · The problem
Why a generic Grant Management falls short
Scholarship applications have moving parts a generic form can't hold together. A complete file needs the student's essay, a transcript, and recommendation letters that arrive separately from recommenders — often after the student's own deadline. Without third-party document flows in the data model, completeness checking becomes a coordinator's spreadsheet and a hundred reminder emails.
Eligibility and need are structured data, not narrative. GPA floors, enrollment status, field of study, and financial-need bands determine which of forty named funds a student can even apply to — and matching students to every fund they qualify for is the difference between money awarded and money sitting idle because nobody eligible applied.
And a scholarship isn't finished at the award letter. Renewable awards need annual GPA verification before the next disbursement, and payments route to student accounts through the bursar, not to the applicant. A tool without renewals and institutional payment flows leaves the hardest half of the job in email.
02 · Data model
The data model, adapted
Everything in the base Grant Management starter —
programsapplicationsapplicantsreviewsawardsdisbursements— plus the entities this industry actually runs on:
| table | what it holds |
|---|---|
recommendations | Letters requested from recommenders by email, tracked from request to receipt, attached to the student's application file. |
eligibility_criteria | Structured requirements per fund — GPA floor, enrollment level, field of study, need band — used to match students to every fund they qualify for. |
renewals | Annual re-verification records for multi-year awards, gating the next disbursement on continued eligibility. |
03 · Screens
Modules through the industry lens
Student application with document chase
01Students apply once and see a completeness checklist: essay submitted, transcript uploaded, two of three letters received. Recommenders get their own secure upload link, and the reminder emails you used to send by hand send themselves.
Committee scoring by fund
02Each named fund carries its donor's criteria in its rubric — merit weighting for one, need weighting for another. Committee members score their assigned files independently, and recusals for students they know are one click, recorded.
Award-to-bursar disbursement
03Approved awards generate disbursements routed to student accounts by term — fall and spring splits, held until enrollment confirms. The export finance needs for the student information system comes straight from the disbursements table.
04 · In practice
Workflows it models
One application, many funds
01A student completes the general application; eligibility criteria match it against every fund they qualify for. The committee sees the student once, funds fill from the strongest eligible candidates, and no named fund goes unawarded for lack of applicants.
Recommendation letter chase
02The student names their recommenders; the system emails each a private upload link and nudges until the letter lands. Coordinators watch a completeness dashboard instead of an inbox, and incomplete files are visible weeks before the committee convenes.
Renewal verification cycle
03Each spring, renewable awards enter re-verification: enrollment and GPA checks against the criteria the award was made under. Confirmed renewals release the next year's disbursement; lapsed ones free budget for the incoming class.
Scholarship Management template — frequently asked questions
Can one application feed multiple scholarship funds?
Yes — that's the core design. Students complete one general application, structured eligibility criteria match it to every fund they qualify for, and committees award each fund from its eligible pool. Students stop guessing which of forty funds to apply to.
How do recommendation letters work?
Students name recommenders, who receive private upload links by email. Letters attach to the application file when received, reminders send automatically, and students see letter status without seeing the letters themselves.
Does it handle renewable multi-year scholarships?
Yes. Awards can span years with per-term disbursements, and each renewal cycle re-verifies enrollment and GPA before the next payment releases. Lapsed renewals are recorded with reasons, and the freed budget is visible immediately.
Can awards disburse to student accounts instead of students?
That's the default flow — disbursements route by term to the bursar or student account system, with an export finance can load directly. Because you own the code, matching your institution's exact file format is an edit, not a feature request.
Related
Dual7 App Starters
Build your Scholarship Management on your terms
A scholarship pipeline built for students and committees — applications, transcripts, renewals, bursar disbursement — in code you own. Describe your version to start — the output is a project you own.