BEC Leadership Scholarship Competition

2026 BEARTOOTH ELECTRIC $2,500 LEADERSHIP SCHOLARSHIP
APPLICATIONS OPEN: OCTOBER 1, 2025

DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 6, 2026
extended date

Please submit both applications and one set of required documents including your personal essay.

Beartooth Electric Leadership Scholarship Application MECA Memorial Scholarship Application
Your Co-op has scholarships for students whose parents/ guardians are served by Beartooth Electric at their primary residence.

Scholarships are available for:

-Seniors graduating from accredited high schools in the Co-op’s service area.
-Graduating homeschool student in the Co-op’s service area.

Beartooth Electric Cooperative’s scholarships are funded by unclaimed capital credits. Despite the Co-op’s best efforts to return capital credits to members, many go unclaimed (people move and don’t provide a forwarding address, for example). As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, the state allows Beartooth Electric to use capital credits that go unclaimed for five or more years for educational purposes in our service area, rather than returning them to the Montana general fund

Beartooth Electric Co-op offers over $32,500 in scholarships each year. BEC has increased the individual Leadership Scholarship funding to $2,500 for service area high school seniors planning to continue their education at a vocational school, trade training program, 2-year or 4-year college or university for the 2025 fall term..

In addition, if you are the top-scoring BEC Leadership Scholarship applicant, you will be awarded an additional $1,000 scholarship and go on to represent BEC in the MECA Memorial Scholarship competition.

BEARTOOTH ELECTRIC SCHOLARSHIP REQUIREMENTS:
The Applicant or Parents of candidates must be served by Beartooth Electric Cooperative in their primary residence and hold an active BEC member and account number.
Applicant must enroll or plan to enroll in a vocational school, trade training program, 2-year or 4-year college or university for the fall of 2026.
Candidates must be in their senior year in high school.

Candidates must present a completed application to Beartooth Electric Cooperative with their certified transcripts, including SAT/ACT scores, activities, employment information, a letter of recommendation, and a written personal statement essay by the deadline.

Scholarship funds are paid directly to the school where the student is enrolled. Checks are mailed to the college’s financial aid office in July, as noted in the application.
YOUR BEC APPLICATION WILL BE JUDGED BASED ON THE FOLLOWING COMPONENTS:

Academic strength — 15%
Activities/Honors — 15%
Employment/Volunteerism/Community — 20%
Financial Need — 50%
Complete the application and submit the required documents to Beartooth Electric before February 14, 2025. You may mail your submission to Beartooth Electric Cooperative, Inc., Attn: Scholarship, PO Box 1110, Red Lodge, MT 59068, email to bec@beartoothelectric.com, or drop it off at our Red Lodge office at 1306 N. Broadway Ave. Don’t forget to email a digital photo when you turn in your submission (bec@beartoothelectric.com).

To get you started on your essay, we’ve shared a few award-winning examples on our website https://www.beartoothelectric.com/community/scholarships/. Take a look and get your application in for a great scholarship opportunity!