In honor of Paylocity’s late Chief Financial Officer, Peter J. McGrail, Paylocity has established a scholarship program to advance education among the next generation. In keeping with Peter’s passion for learning, the award was created in his legacy by his Paylocity colleagues to assist children of employees who plan to continue their education in college, upholding Peter’s steadfast belief that learning and curiosity propel lives.
In a career spanning 25+ years, Peter worked as a financial executive for highly successful public and privately held companies. He joined Paylocity as CFO in 2010 and served until 2017. Peter was passionate about driving a learning and development culture across the organization. His guidance and insights were invaluable as Paylocity transitioned from a private to publicly traded company in 2014. Peter had a remarkable ability to manage multiple complex areas of business, while never losing sight of what was most important: his family. He will always be remembered for his wisdom, genuineness, and friendship, as well as his willingness to help others – all of which are hallmarks of Peter’s legacy.
Paylocity hopes that those who receive this annual scholarship embrace learning as a lifelong pursuit, capitalizing on their potential and the power of education to become lifelong learners, just like Peter.
We believe that people matter most and that differences of experience and perspective make us stronger together. We’re committed to lead by example to forge a path forward where dignity, respect, safety, and justice are for all. Scholarship America will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the scholarship application process, please contact paylocity@scholarshipamerica.org.
This 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 Peter J. McGrail Scholarship must meet all eligibility requirements, including:
*Dependent children are defined as biological, step-or legally adopted children living in the employee’s household or primarily supported by the employee.
Up to 40 awards of $2,500 each will be granted, as follows:
Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of:
Essay Topic: What personal obstacles have you encountered and how have you overcome them to get where you are today?
Financial need is not considered.
Selection of recipients is decided by Scholarship America. In no instance does any officer or employee of Paylocity play a role in the selection.
All applicants agree to accept the decision as final.
Applicants will be notified in late April. Not all applicants to the program will be selected as recipients.
Scholarship America processes scholarship payments on behalf of Paylocity. Scholarships are granted in one installment in mid-July. Checks are sent directly to the awardees but are made payable to the awardee’s attending institution.
Paylocity 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.
As part of your application, you must upload the following:
Two letters of recommendations must be submitted online on your behalf no later than February 28, 2022 10:00 pm CT.
Your application is not complete unless all required documents are submitted electronically.
As a part of your application, you will need to get two letters of recommendation submitted on your behalf. One must be academic related and one personal/community related. These recommenders cannot be related to you, but should be people who know you well.
It is your responsibility to follow up with your recommender to ensure they receive the email.
Keep in mind recommenders may need extra time because of their busy schedules. You can come back to this section any time before the recommender deadline to add or change a recommender for a specific program. The recommendation must be submitted by February 28, 2022 10:00 pm CT.
Examples of Possible Recommenders:
Academic: This should be someone that knows you well and can speak on behalf of your academic success and experiences.
Ex: teacher, professor, academic advisor, principal, etc.
Personal/Community: This should be someone that knows you well that you have worked with in the community or that knows you personally, but who is not related to you.
Ex. work supervisor, coach, volunteer coordinator, mentor, other community member, etc.
