The Andy Pearson Scholarship Program
Yum! is committed to providing education opportunities for our employees and their dependent children. The Yum! Andy Pearson Scholarship Program, named in honor of Yum!’s founding chairman, was created to support growth and development through individual scholarships.
The Andy Pearson Scholarship Program
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.
Eligibility
All active, U.S.-based employees of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, or Yum! and legal dependents* of those employees who:
- Have a minimum of 6 months continuous active employment and have worked on average at least 15 hours per week between September 7, 2024 and June 2025.
- Are high school seniors or graduates, have earned their GED, plan to enroll or are currently enrolled in full-time or part-time (3 credit units or more) course of study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university, vocational-technical school or graduate school.
- Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale (or the equivalent) as of the application date.
*Legal dependents of the eligible employee include spouses and unmarried children under the age of 26 of the eligible employee. Children are defined as biological, adopted, stepchildren or legal wards of the employee.
Employees of Franchise and Licensee stores, Contractors and Interns are not eligible. If you do not know if you are a franchise employee, contractor or intern, please contact your manager.
Awards
- Awards of $2,500 will be granted to students attending four- year colleges, universities, or graduate schools.
- Awards of $1,000 will be granted to students attending two- year colleges or vocational-technical schools.
- Up to five (5) ‘bonus’ awards of $1,500 will be granted to students pursuing an approved food service/hospitality degree.
- Awards are not renewable; however students may reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements.
- Awards are for undergraduate and graduate study.
Notification
Applicants will be notified in May. Not all applicants to the program will be selected as recipients.
Notifications are sent via email. When setting up your account, avoid using a school or work email. Instead, use an active, personal email address that you will continue to have access to.
Please make sure to add studentsupport@scholarshipamerica.org as well as the program email address as safe senders in your email contact list.
Payment of Scholarships
Scholarship America processes scholarship payments on behalf of Yum!. One-time payments are made in June. Employees must remain employed by Yum! through the date that the scholarship is paid. All employees must complete a dependent verification form provided by Sponsor for each dependent applicant. Failure to complete the form(s) by the deadline will result in eligibility forfeiture.
Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of:
- Academic record
- Demonstrated leadership and participation in school and community activities
- Work experience
- Statement of educational and career goals and objectives
- Unusual personal or family circumstances
Financial need is not considered.
Selection of recipients is made by Scholarship America. In no instance does any officer or employee of Yum! play a part in the selection.
Requirements
As part of your application, you must upload the following documents:
- Student name
- School name
- Grades
- Credit hours for each course and term in which each course was taken.
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.
Your application is not complete unless all required documents are submitted electronically.
