Scholarship Guidelines
Young Christian Leaders (YCL) Scholarships are monthly awards of $1,000 given to high school seniors and/or currently enrolled full-time college undergraduates who have been endorsed by their peers, family and spiritual leaders as a person possessing a profound measure of character, commitment to service, and financial need.
- Awards are made as a LUMP SUM in the amount of $1,000 directly to the winner's college/university.
- Scholarship funds must be applied toward undergraduate tuition, fees, room, board, books and other college expenses.
- Applications may only be submitted once per calendar year by the 15th of the month before the applicant expects the award. (e.g., apply by April 15th for a May award)
- All applications received by the 15th of the month will be considered for the next month's contest. Applications received after the 15th will be considered for the month after the next. (e.g., an application received on April 16th will be considered for June).
- The scholarship contest period is from September 1st to August 30th.
- A banquet will be held at the end of each scholarship contest year to honor the awardees.
- All YCL application requirements must be included in the same package. Any documents or materials sent separately will not be accepted or returned.
Eligibility
High school seniors or active college students must:
- Be attending, active members of their local church. College students who attend school away from home will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and a representative from the Scholarship committee will verify the applicant's membership status with his or her home church.
- Have attained at least a 3.0 grade point average on 4.0 scale in previous school semester/marking period.
- Provide an official transcript from their high school or college that includes their GPA. An official transcript is obtained from the guidance counselor or college registrar. No report cards, progress reports, photo copies, faxes, or hand delivered documents will be accepted.
- Be already enrolled or have plans to be enrolled full time in an undergraduate degree program.
- Be permanent residents of New York, New Jersey or Connecticut, but may attend school outside of these areas."
How To Send Information To Scholarship Committee
- Applicant must mail all required documents in ONE PACKAGE. The scholarship committee will not accept application materials that are mailed separately, hand delivered, dropped off at the front desk, etc. All application packets must be mailed.
- Please send completed application packet to the following address: Buttafuoco & Associates – Attn: Young Christian Leaders Scholarship – 9 Broadman Parkway, Jersey City, NJ 07305. Please Note: It is recommended that you mail the completed scholarship package by certified mail so you will have a receipt for your records.
Scholarship/Contest Rules
- Pastors can recommend an unlimited amount of students to the scholarship program.
- Only two students per church can be selected as a top 10 nominee for any given month, and no more than 24 students may be selected from the same church in a 12-month period.
- Voting can only be done online via our website:www.YCLScholarship.org
- Each voter may have one vote per day, so repeat votes must be submitted on different days.
- Nominees will accumulate points for thirty calendar days. The calendar month starts the 1st day of the month they are nominated and closes on the last day of that calendar month.
- All qualified applicants will be automatically enrolled in each month’s nominee selection process for one year.
Selection Process
Once an application is successfully submitted, the selection committee sifts through all submissions and makes ten nominations for that month's voting and scoring. At the end of each month, all nominees are evaluated and their category scores are tallied. Each nominee must then satisfy a high enough score in four categories to receive the award. The two students with the highest point totals will be notified and awarded $1,000.
The categories are:
a) Online votes—(25 points);
b) Character—(25 points);
c) Accomplishments/Service—(25 points);
d) Need—(25 points)
Each nominee can be awarded up to 25 points in each category for a maximum total of 100 points.
Example: If Joe Smith was selected as one of the 10 nominees and then received the most amount of votes online he would be awarded 25 points. If he then receives 20 points for character, 22 points for Credentials and 21 points for need. Joe Smith has a total of 88 points. If his total is one of the top two scores then he will receive the scholarship."
CATEGORY I: Online Voting
Once selected, each of the ten nominee's profiles will be posted on www.YCLScholarship.org and the community is invited to cast votes. Points are earned strictly on the basis of how many votes each nominee earns in relation to the others. If nominee A earns 10,000 votes and nominee B earns the next highest vote count of 600, A will earn first place and B will earn second. The maximum possible online voting points earned is 25.
CATEGORY II: Character
It is important to Buttafuoco & Associates that each of the students it supports is willing to use her/his gifts to advance God’s kingdom. To that end, YCL candidates should be able to demonstrate sound judgment, compassion for others, and willingness to put their best effort towards their education. We believe authentic Christian character easily exhibits the heart of Christ as detailed in Galatians 5:22-23a: "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” We believe there are many youth with these qualities and look forward to supporting their futures.
CATEGORY III: Accomplishments/Service
YCL awardees have a history of community service, involvement in ministry, professional ambitions/experiences and leadership accomplishments. These students take to heart the advice the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12
CATEGORY IV: Need
In order to ensure good stewardship, the selection committee will pay close special attention to any extenuating circumstances that applicants and/or their families face. Reviewing such information will also provide the committee with the additional insight needed to make decisions. Applicants are encouraged to supply any and all information that will demonstrate the need.