Students studying in online degree programs at the University of Arkansas must apply by Feb. 15 to be considered for the W.E. Manning Memorial Scholarship to be awarded in fall 2019.

The Global Campus asks faculty, advisors, administrators and friends to share this scholarship deadline with students in online programs.

Up to seven U of A students in undergraduate or graduate online degree programs can benefit from scholarships of $2,000 per student. The application is available on the University of Arkansas ONLINE website, which promotes more than 30 online degree programs offered by U of A colleges.

Scholarship candidates must demonstrate financial need, academic merit or significant community service. The scholarship committee will give preference to Arkansas residents and first-generation higher education students. For scholarship purposes, a student will be defined as a first-generation student if neither parent earned a higher education degree.

The U of A Academic Scholarship Office will announce the awards about 45 days after the Feb. 15 deadline. Scholarships will apply to tuition and fees for the 2019-2020 academic year.

"The W.E. Manning Memorial Scholarship is intended to help students overcome one of the major barriers to higher education - cost," said Donald Judges, vice provost for distance education and head of the Global Campus said. "This year, we are pleased to announce that we have increased the number of available scholarships to seven."

The Global Campus awarded scholarships to four students in 2018, the first year the scholarship was offered. It honors the memory of William E. Manning, a passionate U of A educator who joined the Global Campus in 1975 and died in 1993. Manning, who was 51, was Director of Credit Studies, an office that now facilitates U of A Self-Paced Online Courses.

The work Manning and others did in the 1980s and 1990s set the foundation for what has become the Global Campus, a service unit dedicated to helping academic colleges develop and deliver high-quality online education and workforce development programs. The Global Campus provides instructional design services, technology services, media services and assistance with marketing, recruiting and strategic academic development.

Scholarship candidates must be enrolled in online degree programs from the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences; the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences; the Sam M. Walton College of Business; the College of Education and Health Professions; the College of Engineering; or the School of Law.

Gifts can be made to the Manning Scholarship fund through the U of A's Online Giving site.