To be eligible for a SBMEF scholarship, applicants must be female, a citizen of the United States and enrolled in a licensed, accredited or state-approved institution. The Trustees reserve the right to add additional criteria such as the scholarship value, academic institution, field of study and grade point average for any named scholarship. SBMEF scholarships are non-renewable. A scholarship recipient must cash her scholarship check within 60 days of issuance otherwise her funds will be forfeited. The recipient's academic institution will return unused scholarship funds to SBMEF. All SBMEF funds awarded are limited to tuition, books or fees. Today, women are outpacing men in post-graduate education, pursuing careers in male-dominated industries and closing the parity gap on wages and opportunities in the workplace. The enormous strides women have made in advancing their education is, in part, attributed to the scholarships funded through the SBMEF.