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The application program will be available again in December. Please return then to view the updated Eligibility and Awards for the 2024 academic year! If you are an applicant who would like to discover more scholarship opportunities you might qualify for, please continue to the Scholarship America Hub and sign up!

Rent-A-Center Make a Difference
Scholarship Program
Application status: Closed

Rent-A-Center, Inc. has established a scholarship program to assist Rent-A-Center (includes corporate Rent-A-Center, Rent-A-Center Franchise locations and Acima’s SLC corporate office), Get It Now!, Home Choice, AcceptanceNOW/Acima and RAC Franchising customers, their spouses, and their dependent children.  The program also helps the dependent children of employees of Rent-A-Center (includes corporate Rent-A-Center, Rent-A-Center Franchise locations and Acima’s SLC corporate office), Get It Now!, Home Choice, AcceptanceNOW/Acima, RAC Franchising and RAC Field Support Center employees. Scholarships are offered each year for full-time study at an accredited institution of the student’s choice.

Haga clic aquí para ver las pautas del programa en español.

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.

Eligibility
Applicants to the Make A Difference Scholarship Program must be:

  • Customers in good standing (current customers or customers within the past two years) of Rent-A-Center (includes corporate Rent-A-Center, Rent-A-Center Franchise locations and Acima’s SLC corporate office), Get it Now!, Home Choice or Acima.

OR

  • Spouses or dependent children of the above customers who are living in the customer’s household.

OR

  • Dependent children, 25 years of age or younger, of current employees of Rent-A-Center (includes corporate Rent-A-Center, Rent-A-Center Franchise locations and Acima’s SLC corporate office), Get it Now!, Home Choice, Acima or RAC Field Support Center who have been continuously employed for at least one year on December 1, 2023.

OR

  • Dependent children, age 25 or younger, of current Rent-A-Center  Franchise owners.

Applicants must live in the U.S. or Puerto Rico.

Applicants must be high school seniors or graduates who plan to enroll or students already enrolled in full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or vocational-technical school in the United States or Puerto Rico for the entire upcoming academic year.

Applicants must be studying to obtain their first bachelor’s degree.

Applicants must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of at least 2.00 on a 4.00 scale (or its equivalent).

Awards
If selected as a recipient, the student will receive a $2,500 scholarship. Awards are not renewable, but students may reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements.  Awards are for undergraduate study only.

Selection of Recipients
Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of:

  • Academic record
  • Demonstrated leadership and participation in school and community activities
  • Work experience
  • A statement of career and educational goals and objectives
  • Unusual personal or family circumstances

Financial need is not considered.

The program’s goal is to grant twenty (20) awards to children of employees and franchisees, and thirty (30) awards to customers, their spouses, and children. Awards will be distributed to these two categories in proportion to each category’s number of qualified applicants. Awards to customers, their spouses or children will be granted to represent the diversity of the customer base of the applications received.

Selection of recipients is made by Scholarship America. In no instance does any officer or employee of Rent-A-Center, Inc. play a part in the selection. All applicants agree to accept the decision as final.

Notification
Applicants will be notified in mid-April. Not all applicants to the program will be selected as recipients.

Payment of Scholarships
Scholarship America processes scholarship payments on behalf of Rent-A-Center, Inc. Payment is made in one installment in early August.

As part of your application, you must upload a current, complete transcript of grades. Grade reports are not accepted. 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 considered complete unless all required documents are submitted electronically.

 

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.

Rent-A-Center, Inc. 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.