Scholarships

College Scholarships

Distribution

Annually, AJFL awards fifty $2,000 college scholarships renewable for up to 4years of full-time enrollment. Scholarships are awarded according to the number of AJFL members in each of the seven national regions. The names of the scholarship winners will be randomly drawn at AJFL Headquarters in Independence, Ohio following the deadline for submitted applications.

The scholarship period is annually from January and closes at the end of March.

Eligibility

Requirements of an AJFL scholarship applicant are that he or she be a U.S. citizen, at least a high school senior or equivalent, and age 25 or under.

Applicants must be associated with AJFL by either owning an AJFL insurance policy, or by being the child or grandchild of a current AJFL policyholder. – To be eligible for a scholarship, you must have an issued AJFL policy by the end of the previous year.

Applicants also must be accepted for admittance, or already enrolled, for at least 12 credit hours per semester at a recognized institution of higher learning (university, college or junior college, nursing or technical school offering college credit). Graduate schools are not included.

Applications must be received before the scholarship deadline. The deadline will be posted in January of the application year.

Awards

Scholarships are awarded on the basis of chance, not grades. However, the student is expected to maintain a minimum 2.5 GPA to keep the scholarship for the full four years.

Administration

The AJFL Scholarship Committee decides whether individual scholarships should be continued or discontinued. Each successful applicant must provide annual proof of eligibility on or before a deadline set by the scholarship committee to qualify for a continuing award. The day-to-day management of the program is handled by the office of the AJFL Scholarship Administrator.

Memorial Scholarships

Eligibility

AJFL President Ken Laugel introduced the new Memorial Scholarship Award in 2016. The scholarship goes to the children of a transportation worker and AJFL member who is killed in the line of duty while performing the duties of his rade.

In that same year, Brother Troy Jordan lost his life in a tragic train accident. Troy took out a life insurance policy to protect his family just 20 days before the accident. While Troy’s family could never have imagined the events of that day would unfold as they did, they were proud that their husband and father protected their future with life insurance from AJFL. Home office staff worked hard to make sure the proceeds of that plan were paid to the family as quickly as possible and both union members and AJFL members rallied around the family to ensure that they were taken care of.

“Over 150 years ago, the predecessor associations that would become AJFL were formed with the purpose of protecting workers and their families from the hardships that accompanied life on the rails. It is a tribute to those who labored before us and a testament to the values we hold dear that we developed this Award.” said Laugel.