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To receive Occidental College need-based scholarships you must: demonstrate financial need be enrolled on a full-time basis make satisfactory academic progress At the time your eligibility is determined, the Financial Aid Office awards your need-based scholarship from the general financial aid budget. However, many need-based scholarships are provided through the generosity of individual donors, private corporations and agencies, alumni gifts, and other College resources. During the academic year the Offices of Institutional Advance and Financial Aid may designate that your general need-based scholarship comes from a specific donor. This does not mean you have been awarded additional scholarship funds but that a specific donor has made possible the need-based scholarship you have already received. The friends of Occidental College want to hear from the students they support. Therefore, you may be asked to write a thank you letter to a specific donor during the academic year. Sometimes students ask, “Why should I write to the scholarship donor when this named award does not increase the size of the aid package I receive?” The answer to that question is simple. We ask you to acknowledge your scholarship award to ensure that donors continue to provide scholarship support to Occidental College. Many donors increase their contributions when they know the gifts have a positive impact on the lives of others. If you find this hard to imagine, let us assure you that our donors confirm this both in the form of personal testimony and through the gifts they gave last year both to increase the size of their scholarship funds or to establish new awards. Although each of you is very busy and you don’t have much spare time, your help would mean very much to the College’s fund-raising program as well as to your fellow students. With each thank you letter, we improve Occidental’s opportunity to continue the growth in scholarship. Because of the importance attached to these acknowledgements, a hold may be placed on the disbursement of your scholarship or your scholarship may be cancelled if your letter is not received in a timely manner. We thank you in advance for your willingness to help the College help you, and future students, receive the scholarship support they need.