Best Buy @15 Scholarship Program

Best Buy Children's Foundation is awarding $1 million in scholarships to recognize and reward students who have made extraordinary contributions both inside and outside of the classroom.

The Best Buy @15™ Scholarship Program is administered by Scholarship Management Services, a division of Scholarship America. Scholarship Management Services is the nation's largest designer and manager of scholarship and tuition reimbursement programs for corporations, foundations, associations and individuals.

Guidelines and Application

Eligibility

Applicants must:

• Be registered members on the Best Buy @15™ site,
• Be students currently in grades 9-12 living in the United States or Puerto Rico,
• Have a minimum cumulative high school grade point average of 2.5 (on a 4.0 scale), or equivalent,
• Demonstrate commitment to and involvement in volunteer community service or work experience, and
• Following high school graduation, plan to enter a full-time undergraduate course of study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school in the United States or Puerto Rico. Applicants who are current high school seniors must enroll no later than fall 2010. Applicants who are in grades 9-11 must plan to enroll no later than the fall term following high school graduation.

Award Criteria

Selection of recipients will be based on solid academic performance and exemplary community service or work experience. Consideration may also be given to participation and leadership in school activities. Financial need is not considered.

Awards are for undergraduate study only and are awarded without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, age, gender or disability.

The authorized distribution for awards is $1 million. One thousand scholarships of $1,000 each will be granted.

Awards are one-time only and are not renewable. Previous recipients may not reapply for another award.

Application Procedure

Accessing the application:

1. Students must be registered members of Best Buy @15™. Once registered, use the same email address and password used for your @15™ account to access the scholarship application.
   • If you are not an @15™ member, click here to register.
   • Follow the steps for registering as an @15™ member.
   • Once you've logged in as a registered member, click Contests & Scholarships to link back to the @15™ Scholarship application.
   • Log into the application using the same email address and password as your @15™ account.
   
   
2. Students must identify the two Best Buy stores nearest to the high school they attend.

Correspondence throughout the process will be by email. Students failing to use an email address that will accept bulk email and students who do not regularly check their email will not receive consideration. Be sure to add bestbuy@scholarshipamerica.org to your Contacts, Address Book, or 'safe senders' list.

Applicants may wish to gather the following information necessary for the application:

• List of student's volunteer community service, work experience and participation in school activities
• Student's cumulative grade point average
• High school address and phone number
• Principal name

If you are a Best Buy @15™ member, begin the electronic application process by entering the email address and password you use for your @15™ account in the Applicant Login in the left margin. If you are not a registered @15™ member, click here.

After logging into your application account, you can leave and re-enter the application site prior to submitting the application. To leave the site, click on the Logout link, which you'll find located at the top of the left margin of your application. To return, you must re-enter your email and password.

Carefully review your application before submission. All pages must be completed and entered in the format described in order to submit the application. Proper punctuation and standard capitalization (Jill Smith, 10 Main Street, New York, NY) must be used when entering data.

Once the application is submitted, no further additions or changes may be made. The application must be submitted electronically by 11:59 p.m. on February 15, 2010.

Applicants are solely responsible for submitting all information necessary to the application process. Scholarship Management Services will email acknowledgment of receipt of all submitted applications and reserves the right not to process applications found to be incomplete as of the application deadline. All information submitted is considered confidential and is reviewed only by Scholarship Management Services.

Award Amounts

1,000 scholarships of $1,000 each will be awarded.

Awards are one-time only and are not renewable.

Only provisional recipients will be notified by email by March 8, 2010. Provisional recipients will be required to submit additional information about their volunteer community service and work experience, a high school transcript of grades and a publicity release form. Provisional recipients failing to mail the required documents to Scholarship Management Services and whose application information is not substantiated will be ineligible.

Not all applicants to the program will be selected as provisional recipients. ONLY PROVISIONAL RECIPIENTS WILL BE NOTIFIED.

Payment of Scholarships

Scholarship Management Services processes scholarship payments on behalf of Best Buy Children's Foundation. Payments are made in one installment on August 15. The check will be mailed to each recipient's home address and is made payable to the school for the student.

Students selected as recipients in grades 9-11 will be tracked annually by Scholarship Management Services. Upon graduation from high school and submission of eligible enrollment in an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school in the United States or Puerto Rico, award payment will be made.

Recipient Obligations

Provisional recipients are required to mail a high school transcript of grades, validation of information about their volunteer community service and work experience and a publicity release form to Scholarship Management Services. Signing the application and release form constitutes permission to use the student's name for purposes of advertising, public relations, or other publicity Best Buy may participate in. No other obligations are expected of scholarship recipients.

Additional Information

Click on the Frequently Asked Questions link in the left margin for additional information. Best Buy employees cannot answer questions about this scholarship program. Questions should be addressed to:

Best Buy @15 Scholarship Program
Scholarship Management Services, Scholarship America
Email: bestbuy@scholarshipamerica.org

To submit a question or report a problem, please use the Help link in the left margin of this page.

To the Applicant

By completing the information required in this application, you will demonstrate your eligibility to receive funds contributed by Best Buy to provide students with financial support for postsecondary education. Selection of recipients is made by Scholarship Management Services.

Applicants are responsible for gathering and submitting all necessary information. Applications are evaluated on the information supplied; therefore, answer all questions as completely as possible. All information received is considered confidential and is reviewed only by Scholarship Management Services.

About Best Buy and Best Buy Children's Foundation

Best Buy Children's Foundation grants scholarships to students who excel inside and outside of the classroom. The program provides 1,000 scholarships to high school students who will enter an accredited U.S. or Puerto Rico university, college, or vocational-technical school in the fall following their senior year. Recipients are selected based on academic achievement, community service and work experience. The application period will run from December 28, 2009, to 11:59 p.m. on February 15, 2010.

About @15™

Best Buy believes in the power of teens, and @15™ is a new platform to connect with them, give voice to their perspectives, and invest our resources – including the energy and talents of our employees – to turn their ideas into action and support their efforts to lead social change. Teens bring passion and enthusiasm to tackling tough issues. They're also important to our business – they shop in our stores, and they're our future employees. There's a real opportunity to listen to – and learn from – what teens have to say. And through the @15™ Fund, we'll put the philanthropic power of @15™ directly into their hands. To learn more, visit www.at15.com.

Best Buy and Best Buy Children's Foundation has provided more than $208 million to communities over the past decade.

Best Buy Teach Awards and Teach @15™ has awarded $19 million to nearly 6,500 K-12 schools nationwide by providing gift cards to schools to enable them to purchase more technology for their students to use and learn.

Best Buy's scholarship program has awarded nearly $14.5 million in scholarships to more than 11,000 students.

Best Buy encourages volunteerism by providing grants to organizations where employees share their talents and has awarded nearly $11 million (cash donation) to nonprofit organizations in Best Buy communities nationwide.

The company also connects with the United Way to meet local community needs, supports national organizations whose programs are making a difference in the lives of teens, and works with the Red Cross to provide support in times of disaster. For more information, visit www.bestbuy.com/communityrelations.

Apply now!

Enter the email address and password you use for your @15™ account.