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IHB Scholarship Program
Deadline to apply: March 18, 2025 3:00 pm CT

Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company has established a scholarship program to assist children and grandchildren of employees who plan to continue their education in college or vocational school programs.

The program is administered by Scholarship America®, the nation’s largest designer and manager of scholarships and other education support programs for corporations, foundations, associations, and individuals. Eligibility for individual programs is determined at the sole discretion of the sponsor and eligible applications are reviewed by Scholarship America’s evaluation team.

Applicants to the IHB Scholarship Program must:

  • Be dependent children* or grandchildren**, under age 26, of full-time Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company employees who have a minimum of 1-year employment with the 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.
    ** Grandchildren are children of children and do not need to be dependents of employees.
  • Be high school seniors, high school graduates or current college undergraduates.
  • Plan to enroll in full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or vocational-technical school for the entire upcoming academic year.

Awards

If selected as a recipient, the student will receive a $2,500 award. Up to eight (8) awards will be granted.

Awards are not renewable, but students may reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements.

Provided there are qualified applicants, recipients will be selected in proportion to the number of applicants per division of management and labor.

Awards are for undergraduate study only.

Awards can be used for any education-related expenses. Checks are made payable to the college/university.

Notification

All applicants will be notified in May.

Payment of Scholarships

Scholarship America processes scholarship payments on behalf of Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company. Payment is made in early August.

Selection of Recipients

Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of:

  • Academic performance
  • Demonstrated leadership and participation in school and community activities
  • Work experience
  • Essay response to: “How has your parent’s or grandparent’s work at the railroad shaped your life and aspirations?” (1,000 characters)
  • Unusual personal or family circumstances

Financial need will not be considered.

Selection of recipients is made by Scholarship America. In no instance does any officer or employee of Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company play a part in the selection. Not all applicants to the program will be selected as recipients. All applicants agree to accept the decision as final.

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

  • A current, complete transcript of grades. Grade reports are not accepted. Transcripts must display:
    • Student name
    • School name
    • Grades
    • Credit hours for each course and term in which each course was taken.

NOTE: If you are providing SAT or ACT test scores, and those scores are not listed on your high school transcript, you will need to upload a copy of your test score report(s) separately. If you are uploading a college transcript, those scores are not required.

Your application is not complete unless all required materials are submitted electronically.

Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company has partnered with Scholarship America. Selecting the button below will redirect you to the Scholarship America Student Hub!

Please make sure to add studentsupport@scholarshipamerica.org as well as the program email address provided below in the footer as safe senders in your email contact list.