Suneet Singal Giving: a $1,000 student award

Who can apply?

Undergraduate or graduate students currently enrolled in a degree programme at an accredited U.S. college or university. All fields of study, full-time and part-time enrolment, and international students are welcome. There is no minimum GPA.

The institution must hold institutional accreditation from an agency recognised by the U.S. Department of Education. Check the Department's accredited-institution database. Students in associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programmes may apply, including eligible online students. A completed degree by itself does not qualify a former student who is no longer enrolled.

If a selected student is under 18, a parent or guardian must provide consent before award acceptance. Programme administrators, reviewers, and their immediate family members are not eligible. No purchase, application fee, donation, social follow or public endorsement is required.

Your 2026 essay

Imagine you could choose one of three hypothetical opportunities: $1 million in cash, a week shadowing five business leaders, or a year of travel. Which would you choose, and why? Explain your priorities, the strongest alternative you would set aside, and the assumptions you would want to check.

Write 500–700 words and submit one readable PDF, at most 5 MB, through the designated application form when it opens. The word range applies to the essay body; the title and reference list do not count. No paid coaching or professional résumé is expected.

Your reasoning, experiences and final writing must be your own. You may use spelling checks, accessibility tools and feedback from a trusted reader. Do not submit an essay generated or substantially rewritten by AI. Reviewers will assess the work against the published criteria; an automated AI-detection score will not determine selection.

The three opportunities in the question are hypothetical. The actual award is $1,000. The 2026 range is 500–700 words; this supersedes the inconsistent word ranges in the archived 2025 pages for this new round.

You may choose an everyday experience. Do not include student IDs, government identifiers, detailed medical information, bank details or private information about another person in your essay.

How applications will be reviewed

Human reviewers will first check the published eligibility and submission requirements, then score eligible essays using the same 100-point rubric. The scale concerns the quality of the response, not the applicant's wealth, school prestige, GPA or severity of a personal difficulty.

Each criterion is assessed from 0 to its stated maximum against the prompt. At least two reviewers will assess shortlisted applications independently before a recipient is selected. Reviewers must disclose conflicts and recuse themselves where needed. If total scores tie, compare the rubric criteria in their published order, then ask a third reviewer to reassess any essays that remain tied. There is no random draw.

One application per person per programme is allowed. Students may apply to more than one programme with a separate response to each prompt. The three programmes will award three different students; a student may receive only one of these 2026 awards. The administrator coordinates this after human review.

What happens after review?

Review is scheduled to finish by 9 December. Selected students will be contacted by the programme administrator and asked to confirm current enrolment through a private verification route. Do not send transcripts or identification documents with the initial essay.

Selection is scheduled to be announced on 14 December, with payment scheduled by 18 December 2026. A selected student should respond within 48 hours; an eligible alternate may be contacted if a recipient cannot accept. The programme will confirm payment instructions privately. No bank details will be requested through the public application form.

The award supports education expenses such as tuition, required fees, books or course materials. Students should ask their financial-aid office how an outside award should be reported. A payment method and the final administrator contact will be published before applications open.

A shorter application, with private documents

The initial form will request your name, email, institution, undergraduate or graduate study level, field of study, an enrolment declaration and your essay PDF. It will issue a submission reference only after an entry is successfully stored. Saving notes in a worksheet is not an application.

Applicant PDFs will require authorised administrator access. Optional permission to publish a recipient's name, photo or essay will be requested separately and will not affect selection. The programme plans to retain unsuccessful applications until 18 June 2027, then remove them through its documented retention process. Required award-administration records may be retained separately where necessary.

The final privacy notice, responsible administrator and tested confirmation process must be available before collection begins. This page's preparation status will change only after those checks are complete.

Programme history and identity

This is the 2026 round. Earlier deadlines, eligibility rules and recipient entries remain historical records and do not govern this application. Read about Suneet Singal for the same documented person biography used across the related websites.

Check the application route → · Check programme status →