$50,000 in college scholarships to students active in community service – application period begins April 1

To help students supplement the cost of their college education and reward them for their volunteer efforts, Citizens Bank today announced that it once again is offering the TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship program. Now in its third year, Citizens Bank will award a total of $50,000 in college scholarships to students who demonstrate good citizenship through community volunteerism and leadership.

The application period for the TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship will begin on Monday, April 1 and run through Friday, April 19, 2013 or until 3,000 applications have been received, whichever occurs first. Winners will be announced this summer.

A total of 40 college scholarships will be awarded to U.S. residents who are 16-years of age or older and are attending or accepted to a federally accredited four-year college, university or graduate program and who have been active in community service. The school scholarships will be awarded this summer for the 2013-2014 academic year.

“As a company that helps students finance their college education, we created this scholarship program as a way to highlight and reward students who are devoting their time and effort into making their communities better places to live,” said Jerry Sargent, President of Citizens Bank and RBS Citizens, Massachusetts. “We believe in contributing to the health and prosperity of our communities and look forward to seeing this year’s applicants and the contributions they are making in their local neighborhoods.”

Citizens Bank will award 40 college scholarships totaling $50,000. One winner will receive $5,000; four winners each will receive $2,500; and 35 winners each will receive $1,000. Applicants are asked to submit an essay of no more than 250 words or a video up to 60 seconds long that describes their community volunteerism and leadership. They must also provide two references that are directly connected to their community involvement. For full details, rules and to apply, go to citizensbank.com/scholarship.

As part of its commitment to students and making education more affordable, Citizens Bank’s TruFit Student Loan product is available to students who live or attend school in the continental U.S. The TruFit Student Loan is a private student loan available with a fixed or variable rate and flexible repayment terms of five, 10 or 15 years, giving students the choice to select the option that best fits their needs. Borrowers receive interest rate reductions for automating their payments.

Citizens Bank also offers online tips and tools to help students prepare and save for college as well as find information on how to apply for financial aid, federal and private student loans. The site includes a financing calendar with important dates and deadlines for securing funding and a student loan calculator to help students determine how much they will need to borrow to pay for college and how much they will owe once they graduate.

Information about the TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship program can also be found on Citizens Bank’s Facebook page beginning April 1, 2013.

About Citizens Bank.  Citizens Bank is a division of RBS Citizens, N.A., operating its seven-state branch network in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. It has 253 branches and 744 ATMs in Massachusetts.  RBS Citizens, N.A., is a subsidiary of RBS Citizens Financial Group, Inc., a $128 billion commercial bank holding company. It is headquartered in Providence, R.I., and through its subsidiaries has approximately 1,400 branches, approximately 3,600 ATMs and more than 19,000 colleagues. Its two bank subsidiaries are RBS Citizens, N.A., and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. They operate a 12-state branch network under the Citizens Bank brand in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Charter One brand in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. RBSCFG has non-branch retail and commercial offices in more than 30 states. RBSCFG is owned by RBS (the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc). RBSCFG’s website is citizensbank.com.