San Patricio Electric Cooperative will award 15 scholarships, worth $2,000 each to the class of 2021.

SPEC is committed to giving back to the community it serves and is proud to invest in its future. Through the San Patricio Electric Education Trust, the cooperative provides a scholarship program that helps area high school seniors cover the expense of continued education.

Applications for the scholarship program are now available at sanpatricioelectric.org/scholarship.

Scholarship Eligibility Requirements

• The applicant must be a senior graduating from a high school or homeschool program located within SPEC’s nine-county service area.

• The applicant’s parent or legal guardian must be an active member of SPEC and receive electric service from the co-op at the student’s primary address.

• Applicants must be of good character, as evidenced by at least three letters of recommendation from the high school they are currently attending, or the homeschool equivalent.

• Applicants must provide an official high school transcript.

An independent scholarship committee evaluates applications based on financial need, academic achievement, community involvement and leadership abilities.

The deadline to submit all documentation is April 1.

About SPEC’s Scholarship Program

The San Patricio Electric Education Trust was established in 1999 to help local students with the expense of higher education and further the co-op’s commitment to giving back to the communities it serves. Since its inception, the San Patricio Electric Education Trust has awarded more than $1 million in scholarships to local students.

Each scholarship awarded is split evenly among the student’s first four semesters of college, provided the student continues to meet the requirements established for the program. After each semester, the student must submit documentation to show they have maintained a GPA of 2.5 or higher, are enrolled as a full-time student and have successfully completed a full-time course load.

How is SPEC’s Scholarship Funded?

Our scholarship program is funded, in part, by unclaimed capital credits. Each year, we make every reasonable effort to locate former members who are owed capital credits. When those members cannot be located, we escheat that money to the state of Texas. Then, the state returns a portion of those escheated funds to the San Patricio Electric Education Trust to be used for our scholarship program.

The success of our scholarship program is also dependent on the generous donations of our members. Typical contributions to our scholarship program come from retired capital credit checks. Some members choose allocate their credits to the fund each year and some donate them after estate settlements.

If you would like to donate your capital credits to the scholarship program, please give us a call at 361-364-2220.  Your donations help ensure the San Patricio Electric Education Trust will have the funds necessary to continue awarding scholarships for years to come. Thank you for taking an interest in our Youth!