Ted Strickland, Governor Deborah S.

Delisle, Superintendent of Public Instruction

TO: FROM: DATE: RE:

2010 Selected Byrd Scholars Mark Lynskey, Program Administrator Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program December 3, 2010 Scholarship Acceptance and Enrollment Information

Important Dates to keep in mind:

1. Create your SAFE Account as soon as possible 2. Accept scholarship and submit enrollment information as soon as possible 3. Scholarship payments for approved scholars begin immediately upon school approval
Congratulations on your selection as a recipient of the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship. This communication will provide you with the necessary details for you to establish your on-line system access, accept the scholarship and provide your school enrollment information. The system is through the Ohio Department of Education web and will enable you to manage your Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship account and information. The following pages will guide you through the process of setting up your personal account and completing the scholarship acceptance. Finally, you will provide information about your school selection and enrollment in order to complete the payment of your award. Your scholarship payment will be made directly to you, not your school, and it is anticipated that the payments will be made in late August through mid September. There are several specific details that you must keep in mind regarding this award. 1. This scholarship is to be used to assist with the costs of attending any accredited college or university in the United States. The acceptance of this award is preclude if a scholar attends a non-accredited school, a school outside of the United States, a school that do not accept federal assistance or funds or acceptance into any of the military academies. 2. Scholars who accept the scholarship must attend school full time in their first year study. Scholars may request to postpone their first year of enrollment for a period of up to 12 months. Scholars must have been accepted at a college or university and have their request to postpone approved by the college before it is in effect. Scholars also may exercise various educational options in following years. 3. The Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship is paid directly to you as the Byrd Scholar. The payment, paid as check, is sent to the address that you enter into the system. Scholars are encouraged to enter their home address for at least their first year and most likely for all four years of enrollment. Checks are sent to your address as a State-issued warrant (check). Scholars should advise parents to expect these checks from September through October each year, dependent upon your timely acceptance/renewal of your award. It is then up to you to use the funds to pay for associated undergraduate costs and to advise your financial aid office when establishing your college cost accounts that this scholarship will be paid to you as the recipient, not to the school. 4. This award is for undergraduate study only. Students who graduate early, enter graduate studies programs, or do not renew their award in a timely manner are not eligible to receive this award.

5. Upon establishing your account access to our system, you are required to enter your own personal email address. This is essential for me to be assured that I am able to communicate with you as the recipient, and that my communications are being received by you and not by another. If the e-mail address cannot be identified to you, it will delay the processing of your scholarship. You may use your new school-based account as well as any other server account. You are free to use any e-mail address you choose, but it must by solely yours as the scholarship recipient. The first requirement is that each Byrd Scholar establishes a Secure Application for Enterprise (SAFE) Account that will provide secure access to the Byrd Scholarship Program through the Ohio Department of Educations web site. The specific instructions to set up your SAFE Account are on the following pages of this mailing. There is no other process through which to complete the acceptance process outside of the SAFE portal. Paper forms are not accepted. By establishing a SAFE account, you will have secure access to your own personal information that will enable you to maintain your scholarship acceptance, personal information, address and telephone numbers and other details that will enable us to continue to make the scholarship available to you. After you have established your SAFE Account, you will be given access to the scholarship program. By clicking on the link to the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship, you will be granted access the acceptance pages and able to complete your information record. Upon completion of the required information, school financial aid officers will then use our system to verify your enrollment and intended academic schedule for the school year. After their verification, your scholarship will be approved and be paid to you. You are encouraged to establish your SAFE Account soon. You must have your SAFE Account established by (immediately). The Byrd Scholarship Tracking system will be available for you to begin your acceptance on (at this time). If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact me at mark.lynskey@ode.state.oh.us or by telephone at (614) 466-2650 or toll free at 1 (877) 644-6338. Even if you anticipate declining the scholarship, you are asked to complete the SAFE Account set-up and access the Byrd Scholarship Tracking system to enable us to have record of your acceptance or declining of the scholarship. The process will take about 15 minutes. Byrd Scholars should set up their own SAFE Accounts and use their own personal e-mail address or their school-based e-mail address (.edu) if it is available.

Setting up your access to your account

To be able to access the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship System, Scholars must first set up a Secure Application for Enterprise (SAFE) Account. This process requires you to provide information which enables the system to identify you each time you enter the site and allows access into secure programs and information within the Ohio Department of Education Web site. Security: It is expected that the Byrd Scholar him/herself should create his/her own SAFE Account. No one, including a parent, may create a SAFE Account for another person. You, as Byrd Scholars, are being given access to your account information to enable you to manage your information and communication with the Ohio Department of Education. It is required that you establish your own SAFE Account, that you keep secure your account name and password, and that you do not provide access to your account to any person for any reason. If it is determined that an improper person has accessed your account, the account may be closed to protect the program application. If your account is closed, you will not have access to your information or renewal system, and will not be able to complete required steps to receive your scholarship. If you ever have any questions or problems with your SAFE Account, contact Mr. Mark Lynskey immediately. To establish a SAFE Account, go to the Ohio Department of Education Web site at: www.ode.state.oh.us At the top center of the main page, click on the SAFE Sign in link. When the page opens, click on the link that says: I am a new SAFE user. Click Here.

On the first page, read through the agreement, then at the bottom of the page, click on "I agree". o On the following pages, you will be asked to provide specific information to enable the system to build your account information. This information is not provided to any one outside the Department of Education and is only accessible by specific program administrators. The guide at the top of the page will assist you in following the progress of the set-up.

o Type in your driver license number, date of birth and the last four digits of your Social Security Number. If
you do not have an Ohio Driver License, the second option will allow you to complete this first step by faxing in a copy of your state ID. You must have some type of state issued identification to be able to establish a SAFE Account. If you have provided the necessary information, click on Continue. o The following pages will ask for identifying information, some of which will be automatically completed by the system. Already uploaded into the system is your Byrd Scholarship nomination information, so the system will begin to look for you as you are setting up your account. You may see a screen stating that some of your information may already exist. If the information listed is correct for you, click the "This is me" button that appears on the screen. If you are not listed, you can continue by clicking the "Here" in "Click Here if you do not see your information in the list. This will allow you to continue the set-up.

Example of the page you may see:

o Please complete the additional screens to enable your SAFE Account to be developed. You will also be asked to provide an e-mail address. This e-mail is a crucial part of the set-up. You must provide a current email address to enable the system to test the communication and so that I can be in contact with you regarding the Byrd Scholarship. o As soon as you provide your e-mail address, an e-mail will be sent directly back to the e-mail address you provided. The e-mail message will contain a link and e-mail confirmation key. This enables the system to complete the set-up. Click on the link in the e-mail that will take you back into the SAFE portal wherein you will create an account name and secure password. o **You are advised to store youre SAFE Account Name and Password somewhere secure where you can locate it when you need to log into the system. o When you are finished, you can go back to the ODE home page or the link provided above, click on the signin button and use your account name and password to access the Byrd Program.

When you wish to enter the Byrd Program again, all you will need to do is to go to the ODE home page at www.ODE.state.oh.us and click on the SAFE Sign in link at the top of the page. When the sign in boxes appear, enter your account name and password. The system will open and you will find the Byrd Scholarship link. Click on the link to access the system.

Acceptance of the Robert C. Byrd Scholarship and inputting enrollment information To Request access to the Byrd Scholarship Tracking System: Log into your SAFE account. Click on the link at the top of page that says: Please click here if you would like to
request access to these applications: GED, Byrd.

On the following page, you will see the REQUEST INFORMATION section. In the drop down box, you need to select Byrd Scholarship as the application and select Byrd Scholar as the membership requested. After you click on Submit, you will see the role of Byrd Scholar approved at the bottom of the page under Requests. Please click on your name shown in blue under the SAFE Account Sign Out button in the left side menu bar. You will see the Byrd Scholarship in the list of applications you have access to. Now that you have access to the Byrd Scholarship application, you can proceed to accept the Byrd scholarship: Click on the link to Byrd Scholarship Tracking System. After reading through the cover letter, click the Next button at the bottom of the page. On the web page, you are asked to indicate your anticipated enrollment status for the upcoming school year. Choose the option that reflects your status for this coming year. To accept the scholarship, select the appropriate enrollment option then click on the Accept button. If you chose to decline the scholarship, please indicate the reason for declining, then select the Decline button at the bottom of the page. Student Information Please complete all requested information. This is used to maintain the current record of your contact and enrollment status detail. Be sure to verify your address and contact information very carefully! This information may be updated any time until the financial aid office approves your submission. Click on the submit button when finished. It will bring up a review page to view the information you submitted. If it is satisfactory, click on the Accept button. If you need to make corrections, click on the Continue to Edit to return to the prior page A printable copy of your submission will appear for your records. Financial Aid Office Approval The financial aid office at your college will be contacted and requested to review your submission. If their records agree with your submission, they will approve your scholarship payment for this year. If there is a discrepancy between your submission and their records, you will need to meet with them to clarify your intended enrollment or rectify the discrepancy to allow them to approve your submission. A message will appear when you re-log in to your main page if the financial aid office has disapproved your submission and will require further action on your part to amend the discrepancy. To Make Changes in Current Year Enrollment Status

If you must change your enrollment status after the scholarship payment has been approved by the school and/or payment has been received, it is necessary for you to contact the program administrator at Mark.Lynskey@ODE.state.oh.us or at (614) 466-2650 or 1(877) 644-6338. Please keep this communication on file for reference