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 2020.

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

Up to 20 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.

The scholarship committee will give preference to scholarship candidates who demonstrate financial need, academic merit or significant community service. Preference also will be given 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 60 days after the Feb. 15 deadline. Scholarships will apply to tuition and fees for the 2020-2021 academic year.

"The W.E. Manning Memorial Scholarship helps online students overcome one of the major barriers to higher education — cost," said Cheryl Murphy, vice provost for distance education and head of the Global Campus. "Now in its third year, the scholarship will benefit as many as 20 U of A students, which is five times the original number of recipients."

The Global Campus awarded scholarships to four students in 2018 and seven students in 2019. 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.