Frequently Asked Questions

Applications will open on November 1. The deadline to complete and submit your application is February 29. 

For best performance of this scholarship system use Chrome or Firefox. Be sure that your browser is up to date. 

Scholarships applications can be accessed via the Texas State University BOSS System. 

Once on the BOSS Website, please follow the steps below: 

Click Access BOSS

1. Click Sign In (in lower right corner on mobile; in upper right corner on desktop)
2. Click Sign In With Your Institution
3. Enter your Texas State NetID and Password*
4. Click Login
5. Follow the prompts on the screen to apply**

* If you have not already activated your NetID, please click Activate your NetID on the login page.

** You are encouraged to apply for the Recommended scholarships (that have an Apply button) under the Opportunities tab. While you may appear initially eligible for a scholarship, your actual eligibility will be based on your answers to the supplemental questions for that scholarship.

Private donors, who specify the requirements for student recipients fund the majority of the scholarships that are offered by the College of Education. Scholarship requirements reflect the donors' wishes. For example, a donor might designate that the scholarship that they funded can only go to a student who is a member of a particular student organization, or has a particular talent, or participates in specific extracurricular activities, or performs community services, or resided in a particular area, etc. The scholarship system will indicate the materials (tasks) that you need to complete to satisfy the donor's requirements. Submission of the required materials/tasks will inform the faculty review committee that you meet the donor's requirements. 

The View Scholarships button will only become available once any required tasks are complete. Clicking View Scholarships will show you a list of scholarships for which you are eligible to apply. 

You can increase your chances of being awarded a scholarship by applying for all the scholarships for which you are eligible. 

After completing the Login and any required tasks, clicking View Scholarships will show you a list of scholarships for which you are eligible to apply. To apply to multiple scholarships at one time, use the checkboxes on the left side of the table to select multiple scholarships, then click Add to My List.

In general, most undergraduate scholarships require 3 references (two from professors that you have taken classes from at Texas State University and one professional reference from an individual with whom you have worked, such as a supervisor in a workplace or volunteer organization. You must request permission from the recommenders prior to listing them as references in your scholarship application. It is a good idea to provide recommenders with your resume at the same time you request their permission to list them as a reference in your scholarship application. 

Yes, you will need to contact your potential references and ask their permission to use them as references. 

• You should let them know that they will be contacted via email to complete and submit a brief online recommendation form. 
• Your professors and instructors at Texas State will be contacted via their university email.
• For professional references, ascertain their preferred email address. Some references may work in an environment where there is a "firewall" that prevents outside emails from coming into their work email inbox. If this is the case for your reference, ask for an alternative email address, that they check regularly, and use that email in your application. 
• Be sure to describe the scholarship(s) for which you are applying so that recommenders can tailor your recommendation accordingly. 
• Also, be sure to indicate the deadline for submitting the reference form. 

It is the student applicant's responsibility to monitor the status of their recommendation forms. Applicants will be able to view the status of recommendation forms in the scholarship system. 

References will be contacted via the email address that you listed in your application. Recommenders will receive an electronic link to an online reference form that they will need to complete and submit electronically in order for the form to be visible to the scholarship review committee.

Yes.

The scholarship system is set up so that eligible students will receive separate emails alerting them to each scholarship for which they are eligible.

For example, Student X was eligible for 48 scholarships when the system went live, so they received emails for every scholarship they were eligible for. As far as the letter of recommendation tasks, the student will NOT need to request 2 letters of recommendation 48 separate times. They will be able re-use the same letters of recommendation for all of the College of Education Private Donor Scholarships. 

Because College of Education Private Donor scholarships are auto-apply and all linked together under the parent umbrella, our programmers set the tasks to be "One-Time Only," which means a student only has to do the task for one child scholarship in the list and the materials and recommendations submitted will be used for all of the scholarships s/he has applied for. So, for example, if s/he just did the tasks for the A+ scholarship, s/he would get credit for completing the tasks for all of the other scholarships. 

You will be able to check the status of your references when you log in to the scholarship application site (https://scholarships.txstate.edu).

Contact your recommender and inquire if they have received the email link to the online recommender form. Depending on how recommenders have set up their email accounts, the recommender form may have automatically been sent to the recommenders "junk" email box. You can ask your recommender to check their "junk" email inbox. If it is there, they can go ahead and complete the form and submit it. If the recommender did not receive the email with the recommendation form, you can send it again. If the recommender no longer wished to serve as a reference you can submit another individual as a recommender. 

Texas State faculty recommenders will not be able to use their NetID and Password to log into to the scholarship management system. Texas State faculty recommenders have to create an account based on the email address that the student entered for them. When the student does the recommendation request, they are supposed to enter the name of the recommender and the email address of the recommender. 

The difficulty in logging in to the scholarship system comes when the recommender tries to log in on an account that is different than the email that the student used in sending the recommender invitation or when the recommender has created two different accounts in the scholarship management system and tries to use passwords for the two different accounts interchangibly. 

The first time that the recommender logs into the scholarship system, they must "create" a password to go along with their email address. They do need to remember the email address and the password. When recommenders log in the second time, they need to use the password they created for "that" email address. IF the students enter NetID@txstate.edu once, and the recommender creates the account and password, if a second student enters Alias@txstate.edu, the recommender will also have to "create" a password for that email address, and will  need to log into that email address. 

Example - Student 1 enters the alias email Recommendation Information:

Linda Smith

Linda.smith@txstate.edu (Alias)

Example -- Student 2 enters the NetID email recommendation information:

L.T. Smith

Lts999@txstate.edu (NetID)

Linda then has two recommender accounts in the scholarship system. 

Linda would need to pay attention to the email address that shows when she clicks the link from the recommender email to the scholarship system login page. 

If Linda created the Password for linda.smith as "xyz12345," and she created the Password for Lts999@txstate.edu as "zyx54321," show would not be able to use them interchangeably. If Linda tries to use linda.smith with the password zyx54321, she would not be able to log in. 

Often this happens because the reference clicked on "Save" instead of "Save and Submit." Check with your reference and ask if he/she will go back to the invitation they received via email and if the form has been filled out. If so, click on "save and Submit." If the recommender can't access the original invitation, you send the invitation again and remind your recommender to be sure to "Save and Submit."

Yes, be sure to treat your recommenders with respect. The scholarship system does not automatically send an email to a recommender telling them that their invitation has been withdrawn. As a matter of courtesy, you must contact the reference you are withdrawing because that person has already received an invitation and if you withdraw them, they will log in to the scholarship system and won't see anything to review for you. Recommenders become very anxious when they are trying to submit a reference for a student, whose changes of being awarded a scholarship may be jeopardized if they don't submit the reference form, when in actuality the student has withdrawn the recommender. 

Scholarship applications are reviewed and ranked by College of Education faculty. 

No, Scholarship award notifications are sent only to those applicants who have been selected to receive a scholarship. 

Yes. You are required to submit a thank you letter to your donor. Guidelines for writing and submitting your thank you letter will be provided to you if you are selected to receive a scholarship award. 

You received the email to alert you to the fact that our scholarship applications are now open in case you are interested in applying for College of Education Private Donor Scholarships. 

If you do not wish to be considered for a scholarship you don't need to do anything. 

If you do wish to be considered for the College of Education Private Donor Scholarships you will need to do the following:

1. Go to our College of Education Private Donor scholarship information webpage: http://www.education.txstate.edu/students/scholarships.html
2. Read all of the FAQs
3. Use the Quick Start Guide to get started. 
4. Apply for Undergraduate private donor scholarship for which you may be eligible.
5. Complete the tasks for (SU9005). If you don't complete these tasks you won't be able to apply for the scholarship that are organized under this umbrella.

Once you've completed the tasks for SU9005 you will be able to see all of the scholarships for which you are eligible to apply.

Completing the task above allows you to then complete applications for all of the College of Education Private Donor Scholarships for which you are eligible. Each scholarship may have tasks associated with it that are specified by the scholarship donor.