Cash Auto Salvage
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The Cash Auto Salvage Scholarship

$500 a year for a student who works for it

We’re a Rochester-founded company built on end-of-life vehicles — a business that runs on skilled trades, recycling, and plain hard work. Once a year we put $500 behind a student headed the same direction. Trade and vocational schools count here, not just universities.

$500
Awarded annually, one winner
December 15, 2026
Application deadline
January 15, 2027
Winner announced
Eligibility

Who can apply

Deliberately broad. If you're putting yourself through school — including trade school — this is for you.

  • Legal U.S. resident, age 16 or older
  • Enrolled in — or accepted to — an accredited U.S. two-year college, four-year college or university, or trade/vocational school for the upcoming term
  • Cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher (or trade-program equivalent standing)
  • Any major. Students in automotive technology, skilled trades, environmental science or sustainability, and small-business programs are especially encouraged
  • Employees of Cash Auto Salvage and their immediate family are not eligible
2026 essay prompt
“Roughly twelve million vehicles reach the end of their life in the U.S. every year. What should happen to them? Discuss the economic and environmental case for auto recycling — and one thing you'd change about how America retires its cars.”

500–800 words. We’re an auto-recycling company — we read these ourselves, and we know this subject well. Specifics, lived experience, and original thinking beat polish. Essays that read like a chatbot wrote them are disqualified.

How to apply

Three steps, no forms

01
Write the essay

500–800 words on this year's prompt (below). Original work, written by you. AI-drafted essays are easy to spot in this subject area and will be disqualified.

02
Gather proof of enrollment

A class schedule, acceptance letter, or enrollment-verification letter for the term the award would apply to. A photo or PDF is fine.

03
Email both to us

Send your essay (PDF preferred) and proof of enrollment to support@cashautosalvage.com with the subject line "Scholarship Application 2026". Include your name, school, and program of study.

support@cashautosalvage.com · subject line “Scholarship Application 2026”
Why we run this

The industry runs on people

Trades are the backbone

Every car we buy is towed, dismantled, and recycled by skilled tradespeople. The pipeline into those careers is underfunded relative to four-year degrees — so trade students are explicitly eligible here.

Recycling is the business

Auto recycling returns more steel to circulation than every other industry combined. The next generation of that workforce — and its critics and improvers — are in school right now.

Founder-read, founder-funded

Essays are read by the founders, not a service. One winner a year, paid directly. Small by design — real, repeatable, and ours.

Selection and timeline

Applications close December 15, 2026. The founders — Marc Skirvin and Joe Sebastian Jr. — read every qualifying essay and pick one winner, announced by January 15, 2027. The winner is notified by email, and the award is paid after enrollment is verified — directly to the student or to their school’s financial-aid office, whichever the winner prefers.

The fine print

  • One award of $500 per calendar year. No purchase or transaction with Cash Auto Salvage is required, and applying has no effect on any vehicle offer.
  • One application per student per cycle. Re-applying in future years is welcome.
  • The winning essay may be published on this site with the winner’s permission and byline. We never publish applicant materials otherwise, and application emails are deleted after the cycle closes.
  • Employees of Cash Auto Salvage and their immediate families are not eligible. Void where prohibited.
  • Questions? Email support@cashautosalvage.com or see our contact page.

Financial-aid offices: you’re welcome to list this program. This page is the permanent home for current-cycle dates and criteria — it updates in place each year.