Trustee Scholars

Live Application Window: December 15, 2023 through February 15, 2024 3:00 pm CT

The Employee Ownership Foundation has established a new scholarship for children of employee owners working at ESOPs that are corporate members of The ESOP Association. The Trustee Scholars program was founded to assist with post-secondary education expenses for students planning to attend college or vocational programs.

The program is administered by Scholarship America®, the nation’s largest designer and manager of scholarships and other education support programs for corporations, foundations, associations, and individuals. Eligibility for individual programs is determined at the sole discretion of the sponsor and eligible applications are reviewed by Scholarship America’s evaluation team.

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Eligibility

Applicants to the Employee Ownership Foundation Trustee Scholars Program must:

• Be age 22 and under, an employee or dependent child of an employee of a corporate member of The ESOP Association (TEA). Companies must be a corporate member in good standing of The ESOP Association prior to the application deadline date.
  *Dependent children are defined as natural and legally adopted children or stepchildren living in the employee’s household or primarily supported by the employee.
• Be high school seniors or graduates, current college undergraduates, or enrolled in a vocational/technical school.
• Plan to enroll in full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school for the entire upcoming academic year.*

*Certification programs must be through an accredited institution and must run on a standard academic semester calendar. Certification programs must be a minimum of one semester/term in length and applicants must be enrolled at the time awards are disbursed in August.

Requirements

As part of your application, you must upload the following:

• A current, complete transcript of grades. Grade reports are not accepted. Transcripts must display student name, school name, grades and credit hours for each course and term in which each course was taken.
• Copy of the first two pages of the most recently filed IRS Form 1040 used for the Financial Information section of the application. Please black out all social security numbers and bank account information.
• In addition, applicants will be asked to submit a two-minute video answering the following question: “What does employee ownership mean to you, your loved ones, and/or your community?” Only the finalist committee will review videos.

NOTE: If you are providing SAT or ACT test scores, and those scores are not listed on your high school transcript, you will need to upload a copy of your test score report(s) separately. If you are uploading a college transcript, those scores are not required.

Awards

If selected as a recipient, the student will receive a $5,000 award. Up to two (2) scholarships will be awarded to separate individuals.

Awards are renewable up to three years or until a bachelor’s degree is earned, whichever occurs first, on the basis of satisfactory academic performance, maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, and full-time enrollment.

Awards are for undergraduate study only.

Notification

All applicants will be notified in April.

Payment of Scholarships

Scholarship America processes scholarship payments on behalf of the Employee Ownership Foundation. Payment will be made directly to the school in early August.

Selection of Recipients

Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of:

• Academic record
• Demonstrated leadership and participation in school and community activities
• Work experience
• A statement of educational and career goals and objectives
• Unusual personal or family circumstances
• Financial Need Considered, But Not Determinative

Selection of finalists is made by Scholarship America. The Employee Ownership Foundation finalist committee will select scholarship recipients. Not all applicants to the program will be selected as recipients. Students may reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements. All applicants agree to accept the decision as final.

Application Open December 15, 2023 - February 15, 2024 at 3:00 pm CT

Who is eligible for the scholarship?

• Must be a dependent child of an employee OR an employee who works for a Corporate Member in good standing of The ESOP Association
• Who is 22 years of age or under
• Who is a high school senior or graduate, a current college undergraduate, or is enrolled in a vocational/technical school
• Who plans to enroll in a full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school for the entire upcoming academic year (at this time, the scholarship is not eligible for graduate or doctoral education)

Who do I contact for questions about the application form?

• Contact Scholarship America at EOFscholars@scholarshipamerica.org

What if I don’t have an Employee ID?

• This field will only be applicable to those whose company assigns them an Employee ID number. If one is not available, please leave this field blank.

I don’t see or can’t access the application.

• Your profile may have information that makes you ineligible to apply for the scholarship
• If you have any questions, or believe this is an error, please contact Scholarship America at EOFscholars@scholarshipamerica.org

Which 1040 should I upload?

• Dependent children should upload their parents’ 1040
• Employees 22 and under should upload their own 1040

Who will see my financial information?

• No one from The ESOP Association or the Employee Ownership Foundation will have access to or ever see your financial information. Because financial need is one of the factors (though not a determining factor) considered in your application, your financial information will be reviewed by Scholarship America, who properly secures this information as part of its responsibilities

Do I need to be vested in my ESOP to be eligible or for my children to be eligible?

• No. Those vested and not yet vested (or fully vested) are eligible, and their children are eligible, so long as they meet the other criteria.