The United States is quite proud of the service members and veterans of its armed forces, though it is not always the best at doing anything tangible with that admiration. The GI Bill, and its successor, the Post-9/11 GI Bill, promised great educational benefits to veterans, and in some cases, their children.
In this article we’re going to explore the kinds of scholarships available to veterans and their children and dependants. These come from various sources, both public and private, and it is good to know what your options are. We’re also going to look at whether these are something you can and should take advantage of. Let’s get started!
Affiliated Scholarships
There are a number of foundations which work with the military, but which are not associated with it, which offer scholarships to the children or dependents of active duty military or veterans. Here is a selection of them:
Army Scholarship Foundation
Students must be 23 or younger, and not yet have earned an undergraduate degree. The application is open January 15 to April 15. It is open to the children or spouses of current or former military service members. A 325 word essay is required. Awards are for $1,000, and must be applied for each year.
Fisher House Foundation
This foundation awards 500 $2,000 scholarships each year to the children of veterans or active duty personnel. You must have a GPA of 3.0 or more, be under the age of 23, and be planning on or enrolled in a full time degree program. A 500 word essay is required. Awards must be applied to each year.
Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation
This scholarship is only open to children and dependents of those who served in the Marine Corps or the Navy. They have two scholarships; children of the fallen and children of the wounded. Both are four-year scholarships, which provide set funding each year. You must meet eligibility requirements, including demonstrated need, to qualify for the scholarship.
Children of Warriors Scholarship
Awarded by the American Legion Auxiliary, 15 $5,000 scholarships are awarded annually. Students must be direct descendents of veterans who served during eligibility dates for membership in The American Legion: April 6, 1917, to November 11, 1918; and any time after December 7, 1941. Applicants must have done at least 50 hours of community service in the last year. All applications are due on March 1.
Federal Scholarships for Veterans
The Post 9/11 GI Bill offers educational credits to veterans, and in some cases allows these to be transferred to their children. You can find the full eligibility requirements for doing so here. Regardless, your branch of service must approve the transfer of benefits. Your portal for transferring benefits, and detailed instructions for doing so, can be found here.
Children are available to use these benefits until their 26th birthday. There are separate scholarships available to the children of service members who have passed away.
Here is how the funding works in general:
- The main provision is that veterans who have served a three year term receive 100% funding for a four-year public university. Note that this is done by month, to a maximum of 36 months of funded tuition.
- Veterans who have served for ten years may transfer these same benefits to a spouse or child.
- While the funding can be used at private colleges as well, funding is capped for these.
These benefits are administered using FAFSA, which you will already need to fill out when applying for financial aid. You should check your own eligibility carefully; as with all government programs, paperwork is very important, and needs to be checked to ensure there are no small errors which impact your ability to enroll.
If you qualify for these benefits, we recommend applying for them. College is expensive, but provides a gateway to many more things. If you qualify for GI Bill benefits, then you most definitely earned them, and you deserve to enjoy the fruit of your labors.
ROTC and Scholarships
The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is a program where current college students also undertake military preparatory training, to prepare them to be officers in the armed forces. All officers in the US are required to have a bachelor’s degree unless promoted in the field. While many of these come from dedicated military schools such as West Point, many more come through the ROTC program.
This program exists alongside your regular college coursework, and is compatible with whatever major you are doing. The program consists of both physical and academic coursework, and usually has a summer program component as well. Future naval officers should spend at least some time on a ship, for example.
While not all colleges and universities have an ROTC program, it is present at the vast majority of schools in the US. Participating in ROTC does not impact your chances of college acceptance, but can open additional scholarship opportunities.
ROTC offers merit-based scholarships to students attending college. How these work varies by service branch, but there are usually academic minimums you need to maintain. In addition, upon graduation, you are expected to become a serving officer in whatever branch funded your education. This is legally binding.
While this is a very good scholarship offer, the requirements of ROTC are not what many students are looking for. Calisthenics at dawn and mandated military service are not the first choice of most students. That said, if you are considering joining the military, or caught between service and college, the ROTC is a great way to do both, and have your education fully funded while doing so.
Students not interested in joining the military should not participate in ROTC.
Final Thoughts
Veterans and their children are offered a good deal on college tuition, though there are some hoops they need to jump through to get it. We hope that this article has shown you the financial options available to you, and how you can make use of them when it comes time to fund your own educational endeavors.
Paying for college is always a challenge, one we’ve touched on before (several times even). As costs rise and acceptance rates fall, college seems further off and more difficult to attain than ever before. This doesn’t have to be the case. Schedule a free consultation today to learn how we can help you, or check out our Laurel Scholars program. We’ve helped hundreds of students achieve their educational dreams, and we’re always happy to hear from you.
