Principal Scholarship for Excellence
Principal℠ has established a scholarship program to assist employees’ children who plan to continue their education in college, university or vocational school programs. Each year scholarships are offered for full-time study at an accredited institution of the student’s choice.
Principal Scholarship for Excellence
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
Applicants to the Principal Scholarship for Excellence Scholarship Program must be:
- Dependent* children, under age 25, of part-time or full-time (minimum 20 hours per week) employees of Principal in all majority owned locations and offices in the U.S. and non-U.S. locations, who have a minimum of one year of employment with Principal as of the application deadline date
- Maintaining a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (or its equivalent)
U.S. Students
- High school seniors or graduates who plan to enroll or students who are already enrolled in full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two-year or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school for the entire upcoming academic year
Non-U.S. Students
- In the final year of secondary school or secondary school graduates who plan to enroll or students who are already enrolled in full-time undergraduate university level studies for the entire upcoming academic year
Dependents of agents and dependents of executives (Vice President and above) are ineligible to apply to the program.
*Dependent children are defined as natural and legally adopted children or stepchildren living in the employee’s household or primarily supported by the employee.
Awards
If selected as a recipient, the student will receive:
- a $2,500 award
- up to twenty (20) awards will be granted
Awards are not renewable, but students may reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements.
Awards are for undergraduate study only.
In order for the dependent to receive the award, the employee of Principal must be a current employee on the date the award check is issued to their dependent.
Notification
Applicants will be notified in May. Not all applicants to the program will be selected as recipients. Students may reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements.
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 Principal. The award payments will be issued in U.S. currency. Payments are made in one installment in early August. The employee must be employed by Principal on the date the payment is issued.
Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of:
- academic record
- demonstrated leadership and participation in school and community activities
- honors
- work experience
- statement of educational and career goals and objectives
- unusual personal or family circumstances
- an online recommendation
Financial need will be considered. Recipients will be selected from a pool of qualified applicants with primary consideration given to those who demonstrate the greatest financial need.
Selection of recipients is made by Scholarship America. In no instance does any officer, member or employee of Principal play a part in the selection. All applicants agree to accept the decision as final.
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
- 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.
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.
One online recommendation form must be submitted on your behalf no later than April 10, 2026 at 3:00 PM Central Time.
Your application is not complete unless all required materials are submitted electronically.
