Rewarding Students Who Create Business Plans to Provide Solutions to Meet the Needs of Low-Income Seniors

AARP Foundation is working with struggling individuals age 50 and above by being a force for change on the most serious issues they face today: hunger, housing, income and isolation. Through the AARP Foundation Prize, AARP Foundation offers cash prizes to teams in existing university business plan competitions for business plans that provide innovative solutions to substantially advance the needs of low-income older people in one or more of the AARP Foundation's focus areas.

Over the next 20 years, the proportion of older people in the U.S. population will increase rapidly. In 2010 there were 40.2 million people in the United States age 65 and above, making up 12.9 percent of the population. By 2030, that number is expected to grow to 72 million, or 19 percent of the population. At that point, almost one in five Americans will be over age 65.

Teams submitting business plans for the AARP Foundation Prize should demonstrate an understanding of the environment in which their proposed solution must thrive, and are strongly encouraged to review publicly available data on aging. Among many useful resources are the statistics on the aging population provided online by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the U.S. Administration on Aging and AARP's Public Policy Institute (PPI).

How to Compete

If you would like to compete for the AARP Foundation Prize:

1. Review The Four Challenges faced by low-income individuals aged over 50 described below. Your solution must be relevant to one or more of these challenges.
   
2. Review the list of participating universities to confirm that the AARP Foundation Prize is available at your university. If you would like your university to participate in the AARP Foundation Prize, please contact us.
   
3. Select your university from the list of participating universities. You will be directed to your university’s business plan competition enrollment Web page. Follow the process specified there to submit your business plan to the competition. Review and comply with your university’s rules. You do not need to contact the AARP Foundation directly.
   
4. If the AARP Foundation decides that your proposed solution is relevant to one or more of the Four Challenges and that it represents the most practical and scalable solution in your university’s business plan competition, you will be awarded the AARP Foundation Prize at the final awards ceremony.