Supporting Students To Pursue Computing Degrees: A Tale of A University’s Computing Excellence Scholarship

In 2021, the University of North Alabama decided to invest $2.5 million per year in scholarships for the next 10 years supporting students pursuing computing degrees. This paper will tell the story of why the university officials decided to make this major investment, how the computing department developed a process to screen and award scholarships and examine the initial findings during the first three years of this initiative.