The Ronald McDonalds Scholarship

Wondering if the legendary McDonald’s Scholarships are real? Well they definitely are, and more than $44 million dollars in scholarships have been served up to consumers since the project’s creation in 1985. Designed to help underprivileged children reach their lofty, often gravity-defying educational dreams, the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) offer an array of scholarships for outstanding students with demonstrated financial need and a strong desire for success. Although RMHC is usually thought of in the context of providing comfortable and free lodging to sick children and their families while they are traveling for medical care, RHMC also provides educational scholarships to needy students and employees in local communities. Since its inception, the RHMC has been dedicated to promoting post-secondary education as the best means to invest in a community’s future.

Well Known McDonald’s Scholarship Programs

The most well known McDonald’s scholarship is the RHMC Scholars Program. Qualified applicants have at least a 2.7 GPA and are younger than 21 years of age. There are no restrictions on race, occupation, or gender for this scholarship. During their senior year of high school, students who are eligible to attend a college or technical school may apply for a scholarship to that school, to be awarded by their local RMHC Chapter. The deadline for applying is usually in late January, and the application is made available online at the beginning of the preceding November. Winners are notified of their status during late May or early June. The amounts of the scholarships vary depending on the availability at the local level and once the scholarship is disbursed, the recipient must provide documentation of continued enrollment at college or technical school for the life of the scholarship. This typically means a copy of the student’s semester schedule. Usually, the amount is distributed each semester directly to the school, for one or two years, depending on the terms of the specific scholarship. Unfortunately, the award may not be used to pay room and board or other miscellaneous expenses.

A list of the local RMHC Chapters and the types of scholarships offered by each is available on the RMHC website. A state may have any number of Chapters, with some having only one while others have more than 30. However, most states have 15 or so Chapters that correspond to the state’s major cities. Unfortunately, the amount of money available for each scholarship is not nationally standardized, and therefore some states may have larger endowments and thus larger scholarships. For example, the RHMC of Southern California awards $200,000 annually in the amount of $2,000 scholarships to students in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and the surrounding counties.

In addition to this program, McDonald’s also has larger scholarships with national winners. The first type of these scholarships is dedicated to ensuring minority success and equal opportunity. The RHMC HACER Scholarship is for students who have at least one parent of Hispanic heritage. The RMHC African American Future Achiever’s Scholarship is for applicants who have at least one parent of African American or Black Caribbean Heritage. The third scholarship of this type is the RMHC Asia Scholarship, which is for students that have at least one parent of Asian or Pacific Island lineage.

For each of these three, the prospective scholar must submit a personal statement detailing the unique circumstances and nature of his or her background, career plans, and commitment to community development. The awards are payed out annually over four years, for a total amount of $100,000 or $25,000 a year. Four national winners of each scholarship type are selected each year, or 12 annual winners. Additionally, the above GPA and age requirements also apply to these scholarships, though since they are national, the competition is likely to be more selective, and the GPA’s of successful candidates are likely much higher than this preliminary amount. Recent winners of these scholarships have gone on to Yale, John’s Hopkins, and MIT, for example.

The last type of McDonald’s Scholarship is offered to student employees who demonstrate an excellence in the fields of leadership and responsibility. Called the McScholars Program, this is the most lessor known of the scholarships listed here. A $2,500 scholarship is awarded to one lucky and deserving recipient in each state, and also Washington, D.C. Additionally, three national winners are selected to receive $5,000 scholarships. Current McDonald’s employees can find further information and an application on Station M, the crew team’s web portal. The deadline to apply for each year is in early March.

McDonalds Scholarship Requirements

All scholarships require that students obtain a letter of recommendation from a community leader or teacher, a high school transcript, and write at least one short essay or personal statement. The winners must be legal U.S. residents, though additional scholarships are available for students from outside of the U.S. from foreign McDonald’s Corporations. Further, the student be eligible to attend a two or four year college, university or technical school.

For individuals who would like to learn more about McDonald’s Scholarships or perhaps donate time or money to the fund, additional information, as well as a list of past winners, is available on the RHMC website.