The STEM Scholarship Program will now be the STEaM Scholarship Program
alliantgroup’s philanthropic arm, the Blue Heart Fund, is excited to add Accounting majors to its annual STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Scholarship program expanding STEM to STEaM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Accounting and Math). Since 2017, alliantgroup has awarded scholarships to high school seniors pursuing a college major in these technical fields. The addition of accounting majors to the program is in response to more and more accounting programs receiving an official STEM designation from the federal government, as well as the alarming drop in graduates to fill the ever-widening talent gap in the accounting industry.
Since its inception, the Blue Heart Fund has awarded more than $1 million in scholarships to students across the United States who are pursuing a degree in STEM. In addition to expanding the program to include accounting majors, the scholarship program will now also offer scholarships to college students already in one of the STEaM majors.
The move to spotlight accounting studies comes as more than 99% of the country’s top CPA firms have expressed challenges in finding adequate staffing. And, there has been a 16% decline in accountants and auditors over the last few years according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These statistics combined with a rise in seemingly flashier careers in technology and other business disciplines has left a dwindling pipeline of accounting talent.
“I am on a mission to help students understand how exciting and rewarding a career in accounting can be. Over the past couple of decades, the idea of becoming a CPA has lost its luster, but the demand is there and the opportunities are endless. I love working for a company that is walking the walk. Let’s incentivize students to explore these disciplines and realize the exponential growth and prospects in the field of accounting,” said Jim Brady, CEO of alliantTALENT, a subsidiary of alliantgroup.
“We hope to excite students about these fields and careers. Enabling more opportunities for students to jump into these technical fields will only strengthen our communities and the U.S. economy,” said Dhaval Jadav, alliantgroup CEO.
The deadline to apply for alliantgroup’s Blue Heart Fund 2024 STEaM Scholarships is April 23rd. For more information, click here.
alliantgroup is the nation’s premier consulting and management engineering firm with a mission to strengthen American businesses through reinvestment in innovation and job growth. We educate businesses, the industry groups that serve them and the accounting firms that advise them on federal and state credits and incentives that are legislated by our government to keep the U.S. competitive in the global landscape. alliantgroup is headquartered in Houston, Texas with additional offices located in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis, New York, Irvine, Sacramento, Washington, D.C.; and Bristol and London in the U.K.
