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HCA Healthcare Scholars Program
Deadline to apply: February 28, 2020 3:00 pm CT

The HCA Healthcare Scholars Program, established and funded by The HCA Foundation to support dependents of HCA Healthcare colleagues in pursuing post-secondary education, offers scholarships of up to $5,000 for higher education expenses to eligible dependent children.

The program is administered by Scholarship America®, the nation’s largest designer and manager of scholarship, tuition assistance, and other education support programs for corporations, foundations, associations, and individuals. Awards are granted without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability, or national origin.

Applicants to the HCA Healthcare Scholars Program must meet all of the following criteria:

  • Dependent* children, age 26 and under, of full-time or part-time U.S. employees of affiliates of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (“HCA”) who have a minimum of 90 days employment with such company as of the application deadline date.**
    *Dependent children are defined as biological, step- or legally adopted children living in the employee’s household or primarily supported by the employee.
    **Per IRS guidelines, previous scholarship recipients are eligible to apply even though their parent or guardian may no longer be employed by an HCA affiliate.
  • High school seniors or graduates, and/or current postsecondary undergraduates.
  • Plan to enroll in a minimum of 12 credit hours per term of undergraduate study at an accredited U.S. two- or four-year college, university or vocational-technical school for the entire Academic Year. Online programs meeting the above requirements are accepted. Scholarship deferrals will not be allowed.
  • All generations of students are eligible; first generation college students will be given preference.
  • Any area of study is eligible; STEM majors are preferred.
  • Cannot be children of employees who are Section 16 Executive Officers of HCA Healthcare, Inc.

Scholarships
If selected as a recipient, the student will receive an award ranging from $2,000 to $5,000. The maximum award to a recipient without demonstrated financial need will be $2,000 for the academic year. The maximum award to a recipient with demonstrated financial need will be $5,000 for the academic year. Awards are not renewable, but students may reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements.

Awards are for undergraduate study only.

Children of employed physicians may require additional review.

Selection of Recipients
Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of academic record, demonstrated leadership and participation in school and community activities, honors, work experience, statement of goals and aspirations, unusual personal or family circumstances, and an outside recommendation. Once scholarship recipients are selected, financial data is reviewed to determine the amount of each award, ranging from $2,000 to $5,000. Recipients whose parents choose not to supply the requested financial information or do not demonstrate financial need, as calculated by Scholarship America, will be eligible to receive a maximum award of $2,000.

Selection of recipients is made by Scholarship America. In no instance does any officer or employee of The HCA Foundation or HCA Healthcare play a part in the selection. All applicants agree to accept the decision as final.

If qualified applicants exist, up to 50% of awards will be granted to students pursuing a STEM-related field of study. However, this list is not comprehensive and other fields of study will be considered.

Notification
Applicants will be notified by email using the email address submitted on the application of their results in May. Not all applicants to the program will be selected as recipients.

Payment of Scholarships
Scholarship America processes scholarship payments on behalf of The HCA Foundation. Payments are made in one installment in August. Checks will be payable to the college or university and mailed to the recipient’s permanent home address.

Required Documents
As part of your application, you must upload the following documents:

  • Current, complete transcript of grades. Grade reports are not accepted. Unofficial or online transcripts must display student name, school name, grades and credit hours for each course, and term in which each course was taken.

Your application is not complete unless all required documents are submitted electronically. The application cannot be submitted until the required document is uploaded and all required application fields are completed

Financial Section
Financial data is optional and it’s only considered for the higher award amount. It may be helpful for you to refer to the following document to complete the parents’ financial section of your application:

  • Parents’ most recently filed 1040 tax form (to complete the financial information section only, not a required upload)

Information needed:

  • State of Residence
  • Adjusted gross income
  • Total federal tax paid
  • Total income of parent/guardian
  • Total income of other parent/guardian
  • Yearly untaxed income and benefits
  • Medical and dental expenses not paid by insurance
  • Total cash, checking, savings, cash value of stocks, etc.
  • Total number of family members living in the household and primarily supported by the reported income
  • Marital status of parent or guardian
  • Of the total number of family members, number of students attending college at least half-time during the next school year

Required Employee Information
The employee’s HCA 3-4 ID will be required to apply. If the employee does not know this information, he/she should call HCA hrAnswers at 844-472-6797.

Online Recommendation
Your application requires an online recommendation, so you must submit your recommender’s email address as part of your application. Your recommender will be sent an email with instructions for completing the online recommendation in support of your application.

Obligations
Recipients have no obligation to The HCA Foundation or HCA Healthcare. They are, however, required to notify Scholarship America of any changes in address, school enrollment, or other relevant information, and to send a complete official transcript when requested.

Revisions
The HCA Foundation or HCA Healthcare reserves the right to review the conditions and procedures of this scholarship program and to make changes at any time including termination of the program.

Other Questions?
Other questions should be sent to Scholarship America at hcahealthcare@scholarshipamerica.org. Or, call the dedicated HCA Healthcare Scholars phone number at (507) 931-8398 or the Scholarship America, Inc. toll-free line at (800) 537-4180 and ask to speak to one of the HCA Healthcare Scholars representative.

To access program information in Spanish, please click here.