The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has changed the scheduling format for its scholarship program. Previously, the window for applications lasted five months, followed by several months of deliberations before awards were announced. With the new schedule, there will be two (shorter) time frames for filing applications, the first of which opened on Oct. 6 and closes on Dec. 31. Notifications of awardees will be sent starting in February.
A second round of applications will launch on April 1 and extend until June 30. Notifications for those awards will begin in August.
Supported in large part by the Ray Foundation, AOPA offers up to 100 scholarships annually to high school students—and teachers. As many as 90 students and 10 teachers can receive $10,000 or more toward private pilot certificate training.
AOPA Scholarship Manager Taz Thomas said, “The AOPA Foundation scholarship program is more popular than ever. Earlier this year, we awarded more than $2 million to nearly 400 people. With these changes, applicants will learn their results sooner and move forward with their training faster than before.”
