This fall, students pursuing a career in the automotive aftermarket will have a larger one-stop shop to apply for scholarships to finance their education, and the industry still has time to target these future aftermarketers.

Pete Kornafel, Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium Scholarship chairman, and the rest of the scholarship committee are working to expand the offering of scholarships on the AutomotiveScholarships.com Web site, which was launched this year. Students visit the Web site and fill out one application for a variety of scholarships. The committee chairman is appealing to the rest of the industry to post more offerings on the site.

"I feel like there's either people who are willing to do this or don't know how to start. In that case, I'm their back room," Kornafel says. "Or there are people who are doing it and we could show them more kids and maybe they'd feel better about where their money's going."

There is plenty of room on the site for those interested, and the Web site will be ready for 2008 scholarships by this September. "I feel like we're capable of taking on all comers," Kornafel states. "There's about eight or 10 of the regional state associations, like APSA, and I met with those guys a couple of times a the trade shows and they all said they'd think about it."

This year, the GAAS Scholarship committee worked with The Breslow Foundation and APSA, a wholesalers association, to promote multiple scholarships. Kornafel notes that the APSA doubled the amount of applications it reviewed this year from 30 to 60. The two groups used the GAAS "reviewer" process to look at applications sorted for them per their criteria. He says for groups that get involved in the Web site, the applications will be sorted to fit their own criteria allowing each group to review that "subset" and select from those applicants.

"Our software allows us to set up multiple reviewer groups and assign specific applications to each one," he says. "We can assign one application to multiple reviewers. So, one application can be considered for more than one scholarship. Each applicant will get reviewed for all awards where they meet the qualification."

The single application requires a transcript, an essay on career goals and at least one reference letter. They are adding questions to the application for the coming year on Skills USA involved at APSA's request. The application can be tweaked once a year before being posted. Kornafel explains that the new setup allows students to check out a variety of scholarships they might not know are available and not spend hours searching and applying for.

"It's great for the kids. If they've got a chance to put in one application and get considered for multiple things, I think that just really simplifies their life," he says. "To the extent that we can figure out how to work with various associations that have slightly different requirements and slightly different goals and make it work, I think it's really cool."

All funds raised for the scholarships are used for the awards, meaning as long as other groups that come on board meet closely with what GAAS Scholarship Committee does, there will be no significant overhead incurred, Kornafel says. The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) hosts the Web site at no charge and, along with the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) provides staff support at no charge.

"If they're radically different in what they want on an application, or the timing, or the kinds of kids they want, then we're both better off staying separate," he notes. "But, I'm learning that several different groups are OK with the GAAS applicants and annual schedule."

To get your scholarship information on the Web site, contact Kornafel by e-mail at [email protected].