M. Verna Butterer Educational Trust Application Guide 2026–2027: Requirements & Deadline (USA)

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Important distinction before you apply: This isn’t a pure scholarship. The M. Verna Butterer Educational Trust award is half gift scholarship and half interest-free loan — you’ll want to understand that structure before you build your financial-aid plan around it.

Overview:

The M. Verna Butterer Educational Trust is a Bucks County, Pennsylvania fund established through the estate of Verna McClary Butterer, a longtime Soroptimist member, in honor of her lifelong commitment to education and community service. The trust is jointly administered by its trustees and the Bucks County chapter of Soroptimist International, and it’s built to fund need-based education for local residents pursuing college, university, technical school, nursing school, or other post-secondary programs anywhere in the U.S.

What sets this fund apart for the 2026–2027 cycle is its structure: eligible recipients can receive up to $16,000 annually, but only half of that amount is a true gift scholarship — the other half is an interest-free loan, secured by a signed promissory note each semester, which must be repaid within five years of graduation or final funding. That makes this less like a typical scholarship and more like a hybrid financial-aid package, which is exactly why understanding the fine print matters before you apply.

The trust is also unusually flexible about who can apply: it’s open not just to graduating seniors, but also to students currently enrolled in college, and to non-traditional or returning adult students — a broader applicant pool than most local scholarship funds.

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Nationality & Residency Requirements

• Applicants must be U.S. citizens. This is stated explicitly on the trust’s own application form — unlike many local funds, citizenship status is a required field on the application itself.
• Applicants must meet a two-year residency requirement as a resident of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The application also asks how long you’ve lived in Bucks County, so be prepared to document your residency history.
• There is no published pathway for international students, permanent residents, or DACA recipients — this fund is explicitly restricted to U.S. citizens residing in Bucks County.

Academic & GPA Eligibility Requirements

The M. Verna Butterer Educational Trust GPA requirement works differently at the application stage than at the renewal stage:

• To apply: There’s no stated minimum GPA cutoff for a first-time applicant. Instead, selection is driven primarily by financial need — measured through your FAFSA Student Aid Index (SAI) — along with prior academic performance and activities described in the application.
• To renew (the differentiator most guides miss): Recipients must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 and remain continuously enrolled to keep receiving funding. If a recipient stops attending a post-high-school institution for more than a year, the award is withdrawn entirely, and the student would need to file a brand-new application and go through the full selection process again — not simply “pause and resume.”
• Conflict-of-interest exclusion: Under IRS rule IRC Section 4941, applicants who are related to the Foundation Manager, Board of Trustees, Selection Committee, or Soroptimist International Club members (including spouses, ancestors, children, grandchildren, and their spouses) are disqualified from receiving the award.
• Eligible candidate types: Graduating high school seniors, currently enrolled post-high-school students, and non-traditional/returning students are all explicitly eligible — a wider net than the “seniors only” restriction common to many local funds.

Application Materials Needed

This is a document-heavy, mail-only application. Applicants need:

1. A completed FAFSA, with the resulting FAFSA Submission Summary showing your Student Aid Index (SAI) circled.
2. The fully completed and signed 5-page M. Verna Butterer Financial Aid Application, with the student’s name on every page.
3. A personal essay (approximately 500 words / two double-spaced typed pages) answering one of three prompts covering a unique personal quality, the influence of your community, or a formative personal-growth experience.
4. Official transcripts from each high school or post-high-school institution attended within the past four years.
5. Three letters of recommendation from non-family members — teachers, counselors, employers, coaches, or activity directors.
6. If available, a copy of the financial aid award package offered by the school you plan to attend in the fall.

Step-by-Step How to Apply

1. Confirm eligibility first: U.S. citizen, two-year Bucks County residency, and pursuing post-high-school education at a U.S. institution.
2. File your FAFSA early, since your Student Aid Index directly drives the trust’s need assessment — don’t wait until closer to the deadline.
3. Download and complete all 5 pages of the official application from butterer.org, making sure the applicant’s name appears on every page.
4. Write your essay on one of the three assigned prompts, staying within the roughly 500-word limit.
5. Request three letters of recommendation from non-family members well ahead of time, since these take time to collect.
6. Assemble every required document — application, essay, FAFSA Submission Summary, transcripts, and recommendation letters — using the trust’s own checklist so nothing is missing.
7. Mail the complete package to M. Verna Butterer Educational Trust, P.O. Box 273, Fountainville, PA 18923-0273. Do not email attachments — the trust explicitly does not accept them, and applications with missing items won’t be considered or followed up on.
8. Ensure your envelope is postmarked by March 15. There’s no grace period noted for late postmarks.
9. Watch for notification in late May, with scholarship/loan payments made directly to your institution in July, August, or September ahead of the fall term.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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