The STARS Scholarship System was put in place to help organize scholarships available to Humboldt State University students and to streamline the application process. This page should help you navigate the STARS system and you should read it completely before beginning the application process.

First Steps

  • The STARS system works best with Explorer 7 or higher. It should work with other browsers, but your experience may differ from that described below.
  • You will need your HSU user name, three letters followed by a series of numbers, like abc12, and your HSU password before logging in to the system. The password you will use is the same one that you would use to access your HSU email.
  • You should have already filed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). If you have not done so already, DO SO RIGHT NOW.
  • In order to better match you with available scholarships, you will need to enter some academic information about yourself. You should know your intended degree and major of study while at HSU, as well as your Grade Point Average (GPA), both from high school and any college you have attended, as well as the number of college credits you have completed, if any.
  • You may need to provide letters of recommendation. You should have the names and email addresses of three persons, either teachers/professors or community members, who would give you a good letter of recommendation.

Logging In

  • To use the STARS system, first log in using your HSU user name and password. If you have any difficulty logging in, contact the IT Helpdesk.

Personal Information

  • The STARS system uses your personal and academic information, as well as your responses to a number of questions, to determine which scholarships you have the best chance of being awarded. Make sure that the information you give is correct. Scholarships awarded based on incorrect information may be rescinded and any intent to mislead award committees may affect future scholarship awarding.
  • Once you have completed all sections on this page, click Save and Continue.

The Questionnaire

  • The first screen you should encounter is the Personal Information screen where you will enter your contact information, gender, and ethnicity. If you cannot or do not wish to identify your gender or ethnicity, select Other.
  • Please make sure your county is correct. Some scholarships are awarded based on county of residence, so it is imperative that this information be accurate.
  • Your email address is the primary form of contact for the University, and should be correctly imported from the University database. If the email address shown on the Personal Information screen is incorrect, please contact the Financial Aid Office as soon as possible.
  • The Opening Questionnaire page collects information about you which applies to specific scholarship requirements. Please respond as completely and accurately as possible.
  • If you identify yourself as being of Native American descent, you may be required to provide proof of membership in the tribe you are affiliated with.
  • Once you have completed all sections on this page, click Save and Continue.

Academic Information

  • Please enter all information on this page as accurately as possible. Before the awarding process, all academic information will be checked against the HSU database and any intentionally misleading entries may affect your eligibility for scholarships.

Free-Form Essay Questions

  • Click on the Edit button to the right of each free-form essay question.  A dialog box should pop up with a window for writing your essay. 
  • It is recommended that you write your essay in advance in Word, or the equivalent, and then paste your essay into the space provided.  Formatting may not be preserved so use the default formatting for your editor whenever possible.

Attaching Documents

  • If any supporting documents, letters of recommendation, or multi-media files are required by a scholarship, this is where those files will be attached to your application.  Any files uploaded will be available on all applications you submit, so please specify which scholarship the file applies in the Description of the upload.
  • Large files may take a while to upload, so please be patient.
  • Letters of recommendation are requested on this page as well.  Click on the blue Recommendation Letters button and fill out the form which pops up.
  • Select the Letter of Recommendation template.  It is the only template you can choose.

Applying for Scholarships

  • When you click Save and Continue on the document attaching page, you will be taken to a list of recommended scholarships.  These are scholarships for which you are seen to be a “best fit”.
  • To apply for a scholarship, click Apply Now.

Making Changes

  • To edit information you entered, or to attach additional documents, from the Scholarship Application screen click on the Edit button in the Personal Information panel.  This will take you to the beginning of your application and you can use the navigation links on the left side of the screen to make changes anywhere in your application. 
  • Don’t forget to save changes you’ve made!