Scholarships for Children of Wounded or Fallen Military Service Members and Veterans
This article provides a comprehensive overview of various scholarship programs designed to support the educational aspirations of children of wounded, ill, injured, disabled, or deceased military service members and veterans. These scholarships recognize the sacrifices made by military families and aim to provide financial assistance for higher education.
Our Military Kids (OMK) Grants
Our Military Kids (OMK) provides grants for children of deployed National Guard and Reserve service members and children of combat-injured service members and veterans. These grants support participation in various activities, including:
- Sports
- Fine and performing arts
- Camps
- Tutoring
- Driver's education
- High school band trips
- STEM programs
Eligibility for Deployed National Guard and Reserve
- For overseas or stateside missions of 180+ days (cumulative within 12 months), each child is eligible for two (2) grants up to $300 each, to be paid to the same or different activity providers, for a total benefit of $600.
- Applicants must provide a copy of the official mobilization, deployment, or contingency exercise deployment (CED) orders that show that the service member is deployed/activated with the National Guard or Reserve for at least 60 days.
- Those under the Deployed Program are not eligible.
- Grant requests for tutoring services or private lessons provided by an individual must include a copy of the instructor’s teaching certificate or license.
Eligibility for Combat Injured Program (CIP)
- Each child eligible for OMK's Combat Injured Program (CIP) may receive one $300 grant every six (6) months, for a maximum of four (4) grants per child plus an additional fifth (5th) Flexible Extra (FLEX) grant available at any time during the military parent's recovery.
- The service member/veteran must be actively receiving treatment for injuries or illnesses and have a case manager or medical/mental health provider who can certify this information in writing.
- Applicants must submit a letter from a case manager or medical/mental health practitioner certifying that the service member or veteran meets all the criteria for the Combat Injured Program and is receiving treatment. A case manager letter template may be available.
- Eligible veterans are those with a parent or guardian of any branch of service who is receiving care for illnesses or injuries sustained during a post-9/11 overseas contingency operation.
- Veterans must have an individual (not combined) VA disability rating of 30% or more in one of the following categories: TBI, PTSD, amputation, spinal cord injury, burns, mental health, or one of the presumptive conditions outlined in the PACT Act.
OSC Scholarship Program
The OSC Scholarship Program aims to support wounded, ill, and injured service members/veterans and their families by providing need-based financial assistance grants to aid in the pursuit of higher education.
- OSC will award a one-time grant of up to $5000 to a select number of dependent high school seniors of qualifying service members (10 scholarships will be awarded).
Eligibility
- Unmarried dependent children of deceased, wounded, injured, or ill veterans in their senior year of high school.
- The dependent child must be seeking an advanced degree from an accredited college or a certification from an accredited vocational or technical institution.
- This scholarship is for undergraduate students, including those pursuing non-degree certificate programs that are longer than 12 months.
- Veterans must have received an honorable discharge. (A discharge status of other, general, under honorable conditions, dishonorable, etc. is not eligible).
- Family adjusted gross income for the 2018 tax year that does not exceed $100,000.
Additional Scholarship Opportunities
Numerous other organizations offer scholarships to children and dependents of military service members and veterans. These include:
- Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation: Administers programs for Marine Corps associations that offer scholarships to grandchildren of members.
- Air Force Aid Society: Offers scholarships for children of Air Force service members, including those residing overseas, through the General Henry H. Arnold Education Grant Program and the General George S. Brown Education Grant Program.
- American Legion Scholarship: Offered through the American Legion Auxiliary Scholarship for Non-Traditional Students.
- AMVETS Scholarships: Annually awards scholarships to Veterans/active military, their sons, daughters, or grandchildren.
- Army Women’s Foundation Legacy Scholarship Program: Provides grants to women soldiers, past and present, and their lineal descendants to help them attain their educational goals in certificate programs, community college coursework, undergraduate degrees, and graduate degrees. Scholarships are based on merit, academic potential, community service, letters of recommendation, and need.
- Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation: Provides college scholarships and educational counseling to military children who have lost a parent in combat or accidents.
- Digital Workshop Center Veterans Tech Skills Scholarship: For active or retired military service members and their families interested in pursuing a certificate program at Digital Workshop Center.
- Housing Scholarship: Provides students with an affordable living option, where recipients live in a home-like setting and share household responsibilities.
- Liberty University’s Heroes Fund Scholarship: Provides scholarship assistance for qualifying disabled veterans, Purple Heart recipients, and spouses of veterans killed in action.
- Marine Corps League Scholarship Program: Offers over three hundred scholarship grants annually.
- Marine Science Scholarship: For applicants who demonstrate financial need and academic excellence.
- MOAA Scholarship Fund: Provides scholarships, grants, and interest-free loans to students with veteran or active-duty military parents from all ranks and branches.
- Navy League of the United States: Offers endowed scholarships through the Navy League Foundation.
- Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society Education Programs: Provides educational assistance to Navy and Marine Corps families.
- NBCC Foundation Military Scholarship Program: Encourages service members and veterans to pursue careers in professional counseling.
- NVBDC/Denny’s HFE Scholarship: Awards scholarships to high school and college students for their ideas on bringing communities together; applicants must be high school seniors active in the JROTC program.
- Paralyzed Veterans of America Scholarship: Helps members and their immediate families gain post-secondary education.
- Rosewood Family Scholarship: For direct descendants of Rosewood Families affected by the incidents of January 1924; requires an Initial Student Florida Financial Aid Application.
- Scholarships for Children and Spouses of Deceased or Disabled Veterans and Service Members (CSDDV): Provides scholarships for dependent children or un-remarried spouses of Florida Veterans or Service Members who died as a result of service-connected injuries, diseases, or disabilities sustained while on active duty or who have been certified by the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs as having service connected 100% permanent and total disabilities. CSDDV also provides funds for dependent children whose parent is classified as a prisoner of war or missing in action.
- Scholarships for Military Children Program: Recognizes the contributions of military families and celebrates the role of the commissary in the military family community.
- Tailhook Education Foundation: For children, stepchildren, or grandchildren of current or former Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers, or Naval Aircrewmen.
- TFS Scholarships: Veterans should use scholarship funds like “gap insurance” to pay for any tuition, housing, fees, or books not covered by their benefits. Dependents of veterans may or may not be covered by the benefit programs, making scholarship funds even more important for them.
- The Women’s Army Corps Veterans Association Scholarship: Recognizes relatives of Army Service Women, based upon academic achievement and leadership.
- Tillman Military Scholarships: Supports educational opportunities for veterans, active service members, and their dependents.
- Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Scholarship Programs: Offers several scholarship programs across the nation.
- Wings Over America Scholarship Foundation: Provides college scholarships to dependent children and spouses of all US Navy personnel who served within Naval Air Forces.
Additional Support for Military Families
Beyond scholarships, several organizations provide additional support services to military families, including:
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- Fisher House Foundation: Provides "a home away from home" near military medical centers for families experiencing a medical crisis. The Fisher House Foundation also partners with the Military Times Foundation to create the Fisher Service Award, which awards funding to nonprofits with innovative programs improving the life of active-duty and veteran communities. Fisher House Foundation sponsors a separate scholarship program for military spouses called the Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholarship Program, administered by the National Military Family Association. Prior to becoming President, Barack Obama donated the after-tax proceeds from his children's book, "Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters," to the Fisher House Foundation to establish a scholarship fund for children of fallen and disabled service members.
- Hero Miles: Administered by the Fisher House Foundation, this program provides airline tickets to wounded, injured, and ill service members and their families.
- Hotels for Heroes: Provides hotel rooms to the families of wounded, injured, and ill service members undergoing treatment at authorized medical centers when a Fisher House is not available.
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