Sequestration may have resulted in cuts to the U.S. Department of Education, but it will have no effect on institutional scholarships from UNA this year, said Jeremy Byers, scholarship manager at UNA.

The university offers a variety of scholarships to aid students in paying for their education. Awards distributed include endowed, service, performance and excellence scholarships and more, according to the UNA student financial services website.

“The most common scholarship we give out is the fixed-dollar academic scholarship that is awarded to students who score between 25 and 29 on their ACTs,” Byers said.

He said the most prestigious scholarships at the universities are given to the students who have scored the highest on the ACT, such as the presidential scholarship.

“The leadership scholarships offer a high value monetary as well to the best leadership applicants,” he said. “Then you’ve got the National Merit Achievement finalists, which we don’t see a lot of those.”

Byers said he is not sure if new scholarships will be added in the near future; though, the staff at financial services are always discussing ways to create new scholarships to help more students. Financial services is also in charge of keeping up with scholarships paid through the university to students by outside providers.

“We keep a board outside of our office with information on other scholarship opportunities,” he said. “(External scholarships) are very popular with students.”

Kyle West, a junior at UNA, said he has received scholarships from the university, as well as outside sources, that he has added to since coming to UNA.

“When coming to UNA, I received the leadership scholarship along with a scholarship from Joe Wheeler Electrical company,” West said. “My sophomore year I added on a scholarship from the Department of Residence Life by being a community adviser. Now, I have been extremely blessed with the project OPEN scholarship from the UNA nursing department.”

West said he received a leadership scholarship from the university after submitting a comprehensive resume of his student activity while in high school.

Kyle Enloe, also a junior at UNA, said he has had a different experience than West, having never received an academic or leadership scholarship.

“Starting in my senior year of high school, I auditioned for a choral performance award at UNA,” Enloe said. “I have renewed that scholarship each year through more auditions.”

Byers said each scholarship has different requirements that students have to meet in order to maintain, or in some cases reapply for, the scholarship each year. Most of these scholarship requirements involve maintaining a certain GPA and taking a specific number of hours each semester.

“Be mindful of the renewal criteria,” Byers said. “I strongly encourage students to be on the lookout for the endowed scholarship application online. An endowed scholarship is through the foundation office here but are not institutional funds.”

West said he has received scholarships in a number of ways and encourages students to apply for anything they see.

“The more you apply, the better chances you have,” West said. “Never let an opportunity slip away, because you may never know if another one will show up.”

Enloe said he has been discouraged when he has not received certain scholarships in the past, but that should not stop any student from continually pursuing scholarships.

“Don’t ever think you may not be qualified enough,” Enloe said. “Work on the best possible you and the scholarships will come.”