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Ted Strickland, Governor Deborah S. Delisle, Superintendent of Public Instruction

TO: 2010 Selected Byrd Scholars

FROM: Mark Lynskey, Program Administrator 

Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program

DATE: December 3, 2010

RE: 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 thesechecks 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.

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5. Upon establishing your account access to our system, you are required to enter your own personal e-

mail 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 

Education’s 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 financialaid 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.

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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 InformationPlease 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

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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