The Erika Matulich Memorial Scholarship is available to students whose education is oriented toward the preservation of the environment and rescue and health of animals, tenets by which Erika lived. Fields such as veterinary medicine, forestry, marine biology, environmental studies, pollution control, and many others qualify. Qualified applicants who are not selected for the Erika Memorial Scholarship are included in all other scholarship awards.

Official Rules: This scholarship sweepstakes starts on August 17, 2024, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time and ends November 15, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Winners will be selected on or about December 2, 2024, and will be informed of their scholarship no later than December 15, 2024. The sponsor, Matulich Foundation Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization, 4621 North Landmark Drive, Orlando, FL 32817, https://matulichfoundation.org is registered with the State of Florida to permit sponsoring this sweepstakes. This sweepstakes is open to any Florida resident aged 18 or over enrolled in a Florida school of higher education, defined as a school that accepts students who have earned a high school diploma. NO CONTRIBUTION, DONATION, PURCHASE, OR PAYMENT IS NECESSARY AND DONATING WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF BEING SELECTED. The amount of scholarship money to be awarded is not less than 5 percent of Matulich Foundation’s endowment, as required by IRS regulations, and may be divided into several scholarship awards with a minimum amount of $1,000 per scholarship. One free entry token is assigned to each student who registers with the Foundation as a supporting member. Submitting the Registration form automatically awards you Class A status as Student Supporter of Matulich Foundation Inc. The Foundation does not accept student members after November 15. In December, all tokens will participate in a random drawing from a list of all students registered with the Foundation as student supporting members. Random drawings continue until all available scholarship funds are allocated to winners. Students who register with the Foundation as supporting members for the first time receive one free sweepstakes token when they register. Matulich Foundation classifies student supporting members into two classes. Students who register with the Foundation for the first time are Class A Supporting Members and they do not pay dues in their first year of registration. Membership lasts one calendar year, regardless of the time students register. The memberships of all students who are members on December 31 are automatically renewed for the next calendar year. Students who wish to remain Class A members are requested to pay annual dues of $3 before March 31. There is no requirement to pay dues. Students who decline to pay annual dues are reclassified as Class B members. Dues collected from Class A members increase the Foundation’s endowment, thus requiring the Foundation to award more scholarships to satisfy the 5 percent minimum requirement of grant awards. All student members regardless of class automatically participate in the annual drawing of scholarship awards. All continuing members, whether Class A or B, receive one free sweepstakes token when their membership is automatically renewed in January. When class A members pay their annual dues, five sweepstakes tokens are added to their account. Members who wish to terminate their membership may do so by selecting the “Cancel Membership” button in their account. All students registered with Matulich Foundation as Supporting Members are included in the scholarship sweepstakes. Scholarship winners and alternates are drawn by selecting 15 random numbers from the entire population of sweepstakes coupons. Winners are selected in the order of winning numbers and assigned a $1,000 award until award funds are exhausted, with three remaining numbers used as alternates in the event winning numbers belong to students who do not qualify for the award. Only one award is granted per winning student. Students selected as alternates are awarded $100 each. Winning students must satisfy the requirement of being enrolled in a Florida school of higher education by completing a winner’s form including verification of status certified by a school official. Students graduating in or before December 2024 are excluded. Winning students who cannot satisfy the necessary qualifications are rejected and alternates are selected in their place.

Example of winner selection process:

This example assumes that 1,000 students have obtained 1,200 sweepstakes coupons and the available award funds amount to $3,400. The following five random numbers are selected by a computer program from the 1,200 available coupons: 726, 9, 97, 288, and 43. Students holding coupons. 726, 9, and 97 are each designated as winners of a $1,000 scholarship, which exhausts the available funds because the minimum scholarship amount is $1,000. Students holding coupons 288 and 43 are selected as alternates eligible to win $100 each. If all three winning students certify as qualified, they receive their scholarships. If one of the three does not qualify, then alternate student holding coupon 288 is awarded $1,000.