Scholarships
Purpose of Scholarship Program
To assist in the training, re-training, and advancement of employees or potential employees of farm, industrial and outdoor power equipment dealers to create a larger pool of qualified, committed long-term employees for those dealerships.
Eligibility
EDF’s Scholarship Program is available to all employees or potential employees of United States farm, industrial and outdoor power equipment dealer members, subject to the following:
Employees or potential employees must be approved by the dealer principal for training, re-training or professional advancement.
The employee or potential employee must be enrolled and accepted in a higher education curriculum, which is approved by the dealer principal as training applicable to the dealership’s needs. Scholarship recipients must be enrolled full-time in the approved course of study.
An employee working toward certification in the ag industry.
The dealer principal must be willing to provide matching funds of up to $1,000 per recipient per year and must be a current member of the North American Equipment Dealers Association to participate.
Awards
EDF scholarships are currently set at up to $1,000 per recipient per year. The EDF Trustees, based on the availability of funds, will determine the number of scholarships and the amount of the scholarships available on an annual basis.
Scholarship funds will be divided at the discretion of the Trustees, as follows:
Ag Technician Programs
Parts & Sales Programs
Other higher education curricula approved by dealers as being beneficial to dealership operations, including but not limited to business, accounting and management.
Selection Process
At the EDF Trustees Meeting, awards from each category will be assigned. If scholarship requests exceed funds available in any category, the scholarship awards will be made by random drawing. Funds remaining in any category may be re-directed to another scholarship category at the discretion of the Trustees.
Scholarship awards are renewable for each subsequent year of the student’s educational program, as long as the student remains eligible and the dealer principal agrees to participate with matching funds. Students must reapply annually, and submit a progress report from their faculty advisor, dean or department chairperson.
Scholarship funds will be directed to the student to offset costs of tuition after the completion of their semester or school year. Any breech of enrollment or unsatisfactory performance in the course of a student’s studies will result in cancellation of the scholarship, at which time any remaining scholarship funds will be returned equally to the dealer and association.