What is the Academic Scholarship?
The Academic Scholarship is designed to award funding to high school seniors and adults in the HCA portfolio to support the cost of instruction (tuition) for in-person or online classes at a variety of educational institutions:

• Community colleges
• Private & public colleges
• Technical schools
• Trade schools
• Vocational schools
• Universities

Who is eligible to apply?
Make sure these two things are true for you before you consider applying for this year’s scholarship:

1. Resident on the lease: You must be on the lease of an apartment community where HCA is a nonprofit partner. Caregivers to a resident are not eligible.
2. High school senior through 54 years old: You must be in your senior year of high school through 54 years of age in order to submit an application in this scholarship category. If you are a resident aged 55+, we encourage you to check out our Dream Big Scholarship at www.hcascholarship.org
   
   

How much are scholarship awards?
Academic Scholarship awards vary in amount between $500 and $2,500 per scholarship recipient based on the quality of an applicant’s submission and the intended use.

How are Academic Scholarship awards issued?
Award payment is made directly to the institution providing a recipient’s classes:

• Paper check: This is the most common form of payment. We mail a check directly to your institution. Upon receipt, the check is typically deposited into a student account specific to you. The cost of classes (tuition) is then debited from that account.
• Credit card: In some cases, your institution may not accept paper checks, in which case we may make payment of your award on a company card. In this instance, please ensure that your institution can 1) receive a single, upfront payment over the phone or by website on the recipient’s behalf, and 2) email proof of payment.

We do not issue awards directly to recipients, nor do we allow awards to be cashed out to recipients at any point in the future.

What award uses are outside the scope of the Academic Scholarship?
The Academic Scholarship is designed to support the cost of instruction (tuition). Scholarships are not intended to support costs outside of these, such as:

• Books
• Devices (laptops, tablets, etc)
• Supplies
• Transportation

Scholarship awards may be applied to these costs ONLY IF tuition has been paid AND the institution allows these expenses to be charged to the recipient’s student account. At no time may scholarship awards be cashed out to the recipient, nor separate award payments be made for anything other than the cost of instruction (tuition).

How are awards determined?
This scholarship is merit-based. We are keen to award applicants who have done the following:

• Followed the application directions
• Submitted a complete application
• Demonstrated a sincere effort

What does an application require?
The Academic Scholarship application has four parts:

1. Contact Info: Your name, phone number, email, apartment community, and apartment number.
2. Academic Plans: Details on where and how you hope to apply any award.
3. Personal Statement: 250-300 words describing yourself and your academic, vocational, professional, and/or personal goals as they relate to the Academic Plans described on your application.
4. Creative Writing: Your response to one of the two provided prompts in 500-600 words.
   
   

What are the 2024 Creative Writing prompts?
Every year we provide two never-before-seen creative writing prompts for your consideration. You choose the prompt that has greater appeal to you, then respond in 500-600 words. The 2024 Creative Writing prompts are as follows:

1. Befriending Failure: Failure often has a negative connotation, especially when it involves putting ourselves in vulnerable positions. However, failure can also be considered an inevitable part of the creative process. Many argue that failure should be embraced as an opportunity to learn and grow rather than something to be feared. When was a time that you failed, but
   were better off because of it?
2. Ten Minutes: If you had the attention of one million people for ten minutes, what message would you want to give them, and why?
   
   

How may I submit my application?
Prepare all of your responses in advance and go to www.hcascholarship.org/apply to enter or copy-paste them into the form provided. The form does not allow you to save your work so be prepared with everything at the time of submission.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
These are the three most important dates for scholarship applicants:

• MONDAY, MAY 6, 2024: APPLICATION DEADLINE All applications must be submitted online
  at our scholarship website www.hcascholarship.org on or by this day, without exception.
• MONDAY, JULY 1, 2024: DECISIONS WILL BE MAILED Announcement letters will be mailed
  to all applicants. Please note that issuing payment of a recipient’s scholarship award will take
  approximately 5-15 business days depending on the nature of payment. Plan accordingly as
  you time the start of any proposed scholarship award use.
• MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2024: LAST DAY TO CLAIM AWARD MONEY! No funding will be
  issued after this date, without exception.
  
  

Have questions or need help? Reach out!
If you have a question that is not answered here or on our website www.hcascholarship.org, please contact Nena Malhotra by email at nena@hcahousing.org or by phone at 626-708-4461, Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm.

If you would like assistance with the application, you may also request an appointment. In this case, we strongly urge you to do so in advance, as we have a limited number of appointment blocks and a high volume of requests.