2026 Scholarship Program is now open - $2,500 total in scholarships available!

November 5, 2025

NORTHERN PLAINS ELECTRIC ANNOUNCES 2026 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Sponsored by Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Northern Plains Electric Cooperative offers two $1,250 scholarships to for the 2026-2027 school year. Qualifying students must be a dependent of a Northern Plains Electric Cooperative member.

Basin Electric, is a consumer-owned and controlled regional cooperative responsible for supplying wholesale electric power to nine Midwestern states.  Each of the 139 rural electric cooperatives that make up Basin Electric, including Northern Plains Electric Cooperative, receives $2,500 from Basin Electric to award scholarships to qualifying dependents of a Northern Plains Electric member, who will be enrolled as a college freshman or college sophomore for the upcoming school year.

The scholarship program, which is in it's thirty-fifth year, recognizes and encourages the academic achievements of students in the region.  It also serves as an investment in the economic future of rural areas.

Applicants for the scholarship must be a high school senior or college freshman enrolled or planning to enroll in a full-time course of study at an accredited, two-year or four-year college, university or vocational/technical school in the Fall of 2026.  

Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of academic record, potential to succeed, leadership and participation in school and community activities, honors, work experience, a statement of education and career goals, an outside appraisal and a written essay on the following topic:
"How does the electricity provided by your electric cooperative improve the quality of life in your community?"

Application deadline - postmarked by January 31, 2026.  
Please mail applications to: 
Northern Plains Electric Cooperative
Attn: Scholarship Program
P.O. Box 608
Cando, ND  58324

Click here to download the printable application

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Pending yearly board approval, luck-of-the-draw scholarships are offered at Northern Plains Electric Cooperative's Annual Membership Meeting in June. Click here for updates.