To be eligible for this scholarship:

1. You intend to pursue a career in the food and beverage industry. Careers may include food science, food safety, engineering, supply chain management, quality assurance, operations, sales, marketing or other roles supporting the food and beverage sector.
2. You must be a high school senior, undergraduate, or graduate student who meets the following criteria:

• You must be a full-time employee, spouse of a full-time employee, or a child of a full-time employee of companies which are members in good standing of the Food Production Solutions Association (FPSA). The employee must have been employed by a member company for at least one year as of January 1 of the year in which the scholarships are awarded and must be employed by a member firm when the scholarships are awarded.

OR

• You must be a part-time employee, spouse of a part-time employee, or a child of a part-time employee of companies which are members in good standing of the Food Production Solutions Association (FPSA) who worked a minimum of 1,000 hours per year in his/her last two years of service. The employee must still be employed by a member company when the scholarships are awarded and must be employed by a member company when the scholarships are awarded.

1. You must NOT have received a scholarship from FPSA in the year prior.
2. You must submit a completed application by the deadline. Applications without supporting materials will be ineligible.

Note: If the employee is an eligible employee at the time you are notified that you have been selected to receive an award you will retain the award for the full academic term.

What is the Program Timeline?

• Application Open: February 2, 2026
• Application Deadline: March 31, 2026
• Notification of Selection Results: June 1, 2026
• Acceptance Deadline: June 15, 2026
• Funds Disbursed: July 15, 2026

No, the scholarship is only good for the year in which it was awarded.  Funds may not be deferred to another year.  Additionally, winners may not win consecutive years.

The Food Production Solutions Association (FPSA) and the FPSA Foundation.

An independent selection committee made up of industry professionals will evaluate complete applications and select recipients considering:

• Academic achievements and records demonstrated by GPA, course rigor and academic honors
• Essay content including clarity of career goals, demonstration of interest in food and beverage industry and quality of writing
• Extracurricular & Community activities related to career goals, leadership and community service
• Demonstrated interest in and commitment to pursuing a career in the food and beverage industry

Decisions of the selection committee are final and are not subject to appeal. No application feedback will be given.

• Up to five (5) FPSA Scholarships in the amount of $10,000 each will be awarded annually. Award payment is not renewable and may not be deferred.
• Students may reapply every other year as long as they continue to meet the eligibility criteria.
• The scholarships may be applied to tuition, fees, books, supplies and equipment required for course load at any US accredited college or university.
• Students may transfer from one institution to another and retain the award prior to award disbursement.
• Scholarships may not be applied to room and board and cannot be used to purchase a laptop if not required for all students attending the institution or course.
• Funds will be issued via check mid-July. You will need to accept the award, submit a Scholarship Payment Information Form and return it to FPSA. Once received, your scholarship funds will be mailed directly to your institution via check. 
• Your scholarship check cannot be made payable to you, the applicant. 

You must enroll as a full-time undergraduate or graduate student in the fall of the year in which the scholarships are awarded. You must continue the entire academic year without interruption unless approved by FPSA. You are responsible for notifying FPSA of the appropriate office at your institution to receive the scholarship check. You should notify FPSA should your institution not receive the check within 30 days of the issue date. You will receive an email notification when your funds are issued.

 Along with your acceptance letter, you will receive a Payment Information Form which you will need complete and return promptly to FPSA so payment is not delayed. Checks will be made payable to the scholarship payment office as submitted on the Payment Information Form. Your scholarship check cannot be made payable to you, the applicant. You will receive an email notification once your funds have been mailed to your institution. 

Make sure your Application indicates your final college choice. It is your responsibility to make sure your Application is correct at least 30 days prior to the check issue date listed above. If your scholarship check needs to be reissued for any reason, a reissue fee may apply. You may update your application until the application deadline. If you need to make changes to your college choice after the application deadline, email us at scholarships@fpsa.org and make sure to confirm that we have received your update.

You should list your first-choice school on the application. You can change your college choice any time prior to the application deadline. If selected as a recipient, you will be asked to confirm your final school choice. If your school changes after the acceptance deadline, you will be able to update this information on your Application by emailing us at scholorships@fpsa.org.

You, the applicant, must submit the application with a personal email address. Do not use a parent/guardian/spouse’s work email address. Your Application should reflect your legal name and contact information. Where prompted on the application, list the name and company of the parent/guardian/spouse’s information is a current FPSA member.

Official transcripts must be obtained through your high school administration office, or your college registrar's office. Transcripts are normally printed on official letterhead and/or state that they are official. Transcripts may contain or require a signature.

Note: Your official transcript may come to you in a sealed envelope, stating it will become unofficial if opened. When scanning or copying your official transcripts, a watermark may appear noting that they are now unofficial. Despite any watermarks or sealed envelopes, you may open the envelope if needed to upload the document. These documents will be considered official for our purposes. Acceptable file types are .pdf, .zip,.png, .jpeg, .jpg, .tif, .bmp and, .xps. When scanning or copying, you do not need to include a copy of the sealed envelope.

Unofficial transcripts may be accessed through your school’s online student portal. These pages must still be converted to one of the acceptable file formats. Unofficial transcripts must contain your name.

• High School Transcript: College Freshman and Sophomores only.
• College/University Transcript: College Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors, and Graduate Students only.

All required supporting documents must be uploaded to your online application by the application deadline. If you do not follow the upload instructions exactly, your application may remain incomplete. Documents that meet the criteria required for this application that are uploaded by the deadline will be processed and considered on time. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Notifications are sent primarily via email to the email you used to create your account. Ultimately, it is your responsibility as the applicant to verify your application has been completed and submitted.

• Deadline Reminders: Deadline reminder emails typically begin 30-45 days prior to the application deadline.
• Selection Results: Selection results notifications are sent to all COMPLETE
• Funds Disbursed: Once your funds have been issued, you will be notified.

 Your information is never sold to any third party for marketing purposes.

You will receive most notifications from: scholarships@fpsa.org. You should add this email address to your “safe senders list” to ensure important emails are not sent to your spam or junk folder.

While you can opt out of notifications, this is not advised. It is your responsibility as the applicant to ensure your application is complete and has been submitted. If you opt out of notifications, you will not receive deadline reminders and selection results. Your information is never sold to any third party. The only emails you will receive are from FPSA and related to your application and, possibly, other scholarship opportunities.