Pedernales Electric is extending the deadline for area high school and home-schooled seniors to apply for $50,000 in scholarships. Applications are now due Friday, March 23. This extension will give students more time to prepare and submit their applications and related materials.

PEC will provide 30 scholarships — 25 worth $1,000 and five worth $5,000 — to deserving seniors. The scholarships can be used to pay expenses at any accredited university, college, junior college, technical school or trade school. Each scholarship recipient must be a senior, and his or her parents or legal guardians must be PEC members.

Scholarship recipients are selected based on application responses, academic performance, standardized test results and financial need, as well as motivation and personal character. The PEC Scholarship Committee selects the independent judges who determine recipients.

PEC has supported local students and higher education through its scholarship program for more than a decade. Scholarship recipients will be announced later this spring.

Applications are available online at www.pec.coop/scholarship and must be submitted by Friday, March 23.