Navigating Scholarships at UNC Charlotte: A Comprehensive Guide

Securing financial aid is a crucial step in pursuing higher education. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) offers a variety of scholarship opportunities to help students fund their academic pursuits. This guide provides a detailed overview of the scholarship application process, eligibility requirements, and important deadlines at UNC Charlotte.

Understanding the NinerScholars Portal

All scholarships at UNC Charlotte must be applied for through the NinerScholars Portal, the university’s central resource for scholarship applications. The university does not use an automatic process to award scholarships solely on prior academic performance (GPA, test scores, etc.).

Accessing the NinerScholars Portal

Incoming students who have been accepted to UNC Charlotte, as well as current students, can use their NinerNET username and password to log in to the NinerScholars Portal.

Steps to Access NinerScholars Portal:

Activate Your NinerNET Account: Newly admitted students must first establish their NinerNET account in Banner using the information in their admissions acceptance letter. Undergraduate students can locate their NinerNET username near the bottom of their acceptance letter. Graduate students can locate their NinerNET username in the third paragraph of their acceptance letter. If you have not activated your NinerNET account, locate your NinerNET username on your admission acceptance letter and click the provided link to activate it. There may be a delay of up to 48 hours from the time that you set up your NinerNET account until the time you can log into the NinerScholars Portal. If you already activated your NinerNET account, but forgot your username or password, request it through the appropriate channels. For information regarding the DUO 2-factor Authentication system, please visit DUO Information.
Log in to NinerScholars: Once you have been accepted AND established your NinerNET account, you are eligible to log in to the NinerScholars portal and apply for scholarships. Click the provided link to login to NinerScholars.
Review Scholarship Matches: After you log in, you’ll receive a customized list of scholarships that you may be eligible to apply for. Scholarships you’ve been matched with can be found by logging into the NinerScholars Portal and viewing your scholarship dashboard. Carefully read the instructions and notes at the top of the dashboard page. Then, view your scholarship opportunities under the Scholarships You May be Eligible to Apply For section. New section headings will generate automatically as your applications advance through the application creation, submission, review, and award processes.
Submit Applications: Click the gold Apply button next to a scholarship you want to start applying for. When the application opens, the application menu will display as green blocks on the left side of the page. Each block represents a different material you must complete. Different applications may require you to complete different materials. For example, if a recommendation letter is required, you’ll see a Recommendation block in the application menu. When you click on the Recommendation block, you’ll be prompted to enter contact information for the reference you choose. Answer the question at the bottom of the first page (Scholarship Details block) to self-report if you meet all criteria to be considered for this scholarship. Next, click the Continue button at the bottom of the page or click the next block in the navigation menu to advance to the next application material page. Answering the questions on the Scholarship Details and the Questions to Determine Eligibility pages will confirm if you’re eligible to apply for the scholarship, or not.
Complete and Sign: After you submit all required materials, you’ll need to electronically sign your application. After signing, the system will run a final review and alert you if any materials are missing.
Track Application Status: After you submit an application, it will display in a new section on your scholarship dashboard, Complete Scholarship Applications. Each time you login to NinerScholars, scroll to the bottom of your dashboard page.
Accept Scholarship Offers: Notification for Freshmen Only Early Action select scholarships typically begins in early April. Notification for most other scholarships should be between May and July. Students must accept a scholarship offer in NinerScholars before the offer information is sent to the Financial Aid Office. Once it arrives in Financial Aid it is put in a queue until it can be added to the student’s account.

Eligibility for Scholarships

Incoming vs. Current Students: Undergraduate students who have been accepted for admission, but not yet started classes are considered Incoming students for scholarship purposes. Undergraduate students who have started classes at UNC Charlotte are current undergraduate students. Graduate students who have been accepted to The Graduate School, but not yet started classes are considered New Graduate School applicants for scholarship purposes.
First-Degree Seeking Students: Due to the limited resources available to meet all student need, only students pursuing their first degree are eligible to apply for institutional scholarships. Unfortunately, second-degree seeking students are not eligible to apply for scholarships through the NinerScholars Portal.
Spring Admission: If you’ve applied for spring admission but have not been accepted, you’ll need to wait until you receive your acceptance letter from Admissions to apply for scholarships. If you have already been admitted for the spring term, you must wait until you start classes in January to login to NinerScholars. As a spring admit, the NinerScholars software is only able to correctly match you with scholarships after classes start for the spring semester. If you try to access NinerScholars prior to that time, you will be matched with the wrong scholarships. Remember that all students are applying for scholarships for the upcoming academic year.

Scholarship Types

UNC Charlotte offers both need and merit-based scholarships through NinerScholars. Graduate students please note that scholarships administered by the Graduate School do not require the FAFSA.

Financial Need and FAFSA

Students must have a FAFSA on file with UNC Charlotte with a Student Aid Index (SAI) less than $25,300 to be eligible to apply for scholarships that require demonstrated financial need. Students who indicated on the Scholarship Portal Conditions Form that they have submitted or plan to submit a FAFSA, but their FAFSA has not yet been received by Charlotte, may temporarily match with need-based scholarships opportunities.

Read also: Understanding GPA at UNC Charlotte

The information you provide on the FAFSA is put through a calculation established by the federal government. This calculation provides an amount the government determines that your family may contribute toward your college expenses. This is called your Student Aid Index (SAI). Subtracting the SAI from the cost of attendance gives the Office of Financial Aid your financial aid need at UNC Charlotte.

Key Deadlines

Early Action Deadline: A group of select scholarships in NinerScholars that are exclusively for accepted incoming freshmen have an early application deadline.
General Scholarship Deadline: Application deadline for most scholarships for freshmen and transfer students enrolling fall, and continuing students.

Additional Scholarship Opportunities

Levine Scholars Program

The Levine Scholars Program is a stand alone-program. Interested in applying to the Honors College? We work closely with the Honors College, but we are separate and distinct, with different requirements and responsibilities for our respective students. Levine Scholarship applicants who would like to be considered for the Honors College and scholarships associated with it should complete the separate Honors College application by their priority deadline. Admission to the Levine Scholars Program or admission to the Honors College cannot be applied for through NinerScholars. Students interested in being considered for the Levine Scholars Program or the Honors College must submit separate applications for each. Please note that each program has its own deadlines and requirements.

The Levine Scholars Program looks for students who demonstrate a strong sense of purpose and potential in the program's three core components: intellectual curiosity, commitment to community service and ethical leadership. These qualities reflect the values of the Levine Scholars Program and help us identify individuals who are not only high-achieving, but also driven to make meaningful impact.

Eligibility Requirements:

Students must be applicants for first-year enrollment at UNC Charlotte in an undergraduate program for the fall term immediately following their high school graduation (no gap year).

Nomination and Application Process:

Each fall, the Levine Scholars Program has a multi-step nomination and application process:

Aug. 15 to Oct.: Students must first be nominated or self-nominated for the scholarship to gain access to the application.
- Counselor/College Advisor: Students may be nominated by their school counselor or college advisor at their current high school. Homeschooled students can be nominated by a professor or teacher who is not related to the student. School counselors are notified each year on Aug. 15 with details about the nomination and application process, including access to the nomination form. Students are encouraged to speak with their school counselor or college advisor to discuss the program and review the selection criteria in order to assess fit and competitiveness before seeking a nomination. Nominations are accepted until Oct.
- Self-Nomination: The mission behind developing this process is to provide access to high-achieving students from high schools that historically have not participated in the school nomination process. We encourage students learn about the program and our selection criteria to assess fit and competitiveness before submitting the self-nomination form. The self-nomination form will be available from Aug. 15 through Oct.
Aug. 15 to Nov.: Nominees must submit a Levine Scholars Program application and a university admissions application. Students should visit Undergraduate Admissions to learn about the first-year admissions application. This application must be received and complete by Nov. If you gain admission to UNC Charlotte through the NC College Connect program (NC residents only), you must complete that process, and all required materials must still be received by the Nov.

Recommendations:

Submission of Online Recommendations: Completing this section of the application immediately is highly encouraged to allow ample time for recommenders to submit their letters. Once the information is submitted, recommenders receive a link to the online recommendation form immediately. If a recommender is nonresponsive, a new one may be added.

Albert Scholarships

Albert Scholarships are available to incoming first-year students majoring in engineering. Albert Scholars are members of the University Honors Program.

Read also: Study Abroad with UNC Charlotte

Delbridge E. Scholarship

This scholarship was established to recognize and support students pursuing study within the University Honors Program and/or disciplinary honors programs. Recipient must present evidence of character as demonstrated through their involvement in community service work or reasonably similar extracurricular activities. The Delbridge E. fund supports travel outside the United States for the Delbridge E.

Additional Information and Policies

Scholarship Essays: The Writing Resources Center or WRC provides one-on-one writing support for any piece of writing, including scholarship essays. The WRC can help you identify and understand the strengths and weaknesses of your writing, help you find answers to your writing questions, and help you learn how to research, write, revise, and proofread your writing. The WRC offers in-person, virtual, and asynchronous tutoring sessions for support with scholarship essays.
Letters of Recommendation: Please respect the time and effort your reference puts into writing a letter of reference. It may be possible to change your reference request if the initial recommendation letter has not yet been submitted by the reference. Once a letter of reference has been received, you will no longer be able to change your reference request. We always suggest receiving permission from any recommenders before you list their contact information in NinerScholars. Making changes can create confusion for the reference. If you desire to change references, be sure that you personally communicate with both references prior to requesting the change. Once a reference submits their recommendation letter, you cannot change the letter submitted by Academic Reference 1 to Academic Reference 2, or vice-versa. Students are responsible for communicating with their references to ensure the recommendation letter requested is submitted to NinerScholars by the reference prior to the application deadline. If a reference has questions about the recommendation process, please ask them to contact the University Scholarship Office as soon as possible. A student may cancel the original reference request and submit the name and contact information for a new reference. Students are strongly encouraged to confirm the new reference is willing to submit the recommendation letter on their behalf and has adequate time to do so. Letters of recommendation are defined by type (academic, leadership, community involvement, etc.) and are considered Common Application Materials. This is done to reduce the burden on students and their references. Once a recommendation letter is is submitted by a reference, that same letter is attached to all applications requiring that type of recommendation. Please let your recommender know before you submit the reference request that it may take up to 24 hours from the time you submit the recommendation request until the time they receive it. If your reference still has not received the request, ask your reference to check their spam file.
Scholarship Disbursement: Scholarship funds are applied to your student account. If your student account has a balance owed the scholarship will be applied to that balance. If there is no balance owed or your scholarship pays the balance and there is money left over, it is refunded to you. Please visit the Niner Central for extensive information regarding financial aid, payment plans, and student accounts. Scholarships may not be visible in a student account until a few weeks before the awarding semester begins and may not appear on the initial financial aid statement or e-bill sent out by Financial Aid. Scholarships are applied to a student’s account ten days prior to the first day of class in the semester for which it is awarded. Committees of faculty and/or staff around campus review student applications and select recipients for the scholarships that they administer. Check your My Financial Aid section in your My Charlotte portal. If the scholarship is not listed, then contact the organization that awarded you the scholarship to verify if the funds were sent to UNC Charlotte. If you received a scholarship check awarded by an external organization, submit the check to Niner Central so the funds can be deposited into your university student account.
External Scholarships: Outside (or external) scholarships are opportunities created by private companies or organizations that are shared directly with the University Scholarship Office and have an application and award process that is conducted outside the NinerScholars Portal, and are not affiliated with the university.
Annual Application Requirement: Institutional scholarships at UNC Charlotte are awarded annually and therefore require an annual application be submitted through the NinerScholars Portal that reflects a student’s current class, GPA, major, etc. Student scholarship profiles and application materials do not carry over from one year to the next.
Scholarship Renewal: If a scholarship is renewable, you will clearly see the semesters it is renewable for listed on the Scholarship Terms and Conditions page of your initial offer. If you do not see this information, you should not assume that the scholarship is renewable. Renewable scholarships are processed through the NinerScholars Portal each year, and recipients are not required to reapply annually. However, the college or department that awarded your scholarship will review your academic status each year after grades are posted to verify that you continue to meet the terms and conditions of the award. If you do not see your renewal offer by that time, you may contact the Scholarship Administrator listed for that scholarship. Only after the student accepts the renewal offer will the award process.
Scholarships for Fall and Spring Semesters: Scholarships offered at UNC Charlotte support educational expenses during the fall and spring semesters only.

R. Bernard Reeves Scholarship

The R. Bernard Reeves Scholarship honors the legacy of R. Bernard Reeves and support the future UNC Charlotte greek life students by donating today. The Zeta Delta Chapter was chartered on August 1, 1970, with Bernard being initiated as a member in 1973. Post graduation, he served as the chapter advisor from 1977 until his passing in 2015. For nearly 40 years, he provided an exemplary template for over 300 Zeta Delta initiates and countless others across the province to contribute positively to our communities, uphold the ideals of this grand fraternity, and to just be “Good "Kappa Men". His dedication to the fraternity was apparent as he also held several positions throughout the province and Charlotte’s Kappa alumni chapter. Bernard will always be remembered for his commitment to Zeta Delta and UNC Charlotte, and we honor his legacy with this scholarship.

Scholarship Purpose

This scholarship is intended to provide financial support to students pursuing study at UNC Charlotte who are members of UNC Charlotte's Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, or members of a Greek organization from populations historically underrepresented at UNC Charlotte.

Read also: Guide to UNCC Health Resources

tags: #uncc #scholarships #requirements