College grants for veterans help active duty service members, military veterans, and their qualified family members, such as spouses and children. Many providers offer college grants for veterans who have served in U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard. These function like scholarships and provide funds you do not need to repay if you abide by the terms.
Grants help veterans on two
fronts. One is to make college and career education more affordable. Another is
to support their transition from military to civilian life.
To get a college grant as a veteran, you need to qualify. This may mean being an eligible active duty, reservist, honorably discharged or retired veteran.
There are also grants where you need to have a certain
amount of service time. A specific GPA range, record of community service and financial need are other common criteria.
You may find college grants for veterans within your branch of the military. You can also find ones if you are a member of a veteran group. One example is the Military Order of the Purple Heart scholarship. It is for Purple Heart members and their eligible spouses and dependents. Eligible applicants must be high school seniors who are fully enrolled in an accredited college.
The Pat Tillman Military Scholars program awards veterans or spouses of active and deceased veterans. Eligible applicants must submit two 400 word essays, recommendation letter, FAFSA, and other documents. The awards range from $1,500 to $23,000.
Why Veterans Should Apply For Grants?
According to the NCES, about 43% of all undergraduate veterans in the U.S. receive benefits in 2015-2016. Grants for college may help offset the cost of college when you go back to school. The average amount of education benefits for veterans is about $15,100.
Many student veterans are adults between the ages of 24 and 40. At these ages, almost half are also parents with the expenses that go along with having a family.
Receiving a college grant may be a motivator to return to school for many veterans. In 2015, the average time between high school graduation and college enrollment for veterans was 5 years.
Also, it may be possible to use college grants together with GI Bill funding. But in the case of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, any outside funds may reduce the amount the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pays toward tuition.
List of College Grants for Veterans
To help narrow your search, here is a list of college grants for veterans you might apply to. There are 10,560 grants for veterans worth $21M.
This scholarship is available to any qualified active duty, reservist, honorably discharged or retired veteran of a United States military service branch for attendance at a participating career college. Students must demonstrate financial need.
To recognize the importance of education and the role it plays in personal, professional and economic fulfillment, they offer the Army Women’s Foundation Legacy Scholarship Program. It provides grants to women soldiers, past and present, and their lineal descendants to help them attain their educational goals.
This award is available to Indiana resident undergraduate students who are enrolled at an eligible college or university in Indiana. The student must be a member of the Indiana Air and Army National Guard to qualify. Click here to learn more and apply today!
This contest is open only to military Veterans and their direct family members. Applicants must be legal residents of United States, the District of Columbia or a US territory. Entrants must be sixteen (16) years of age or older at the time of application. Applicants must attend or plan to attend a two-year or four-year college, university or vocational/technical school with an interest in cybersecurity.
This award is available to Missouri undergraduate students who are children and spouses of Vietnam veterans who served between 1961 and 1972 and whose deaths were attributed to, or caused by, exposure to toxic chemicals during the Vietnam conflict. The veteran must have been a Missouri resident when first entering the military service and at the time of death.
This scholarship is available for Illinois resident undergraduate and graduate students who have served at least one year of federal active duty service in the Armed Forces of the United States and have received an honorable discharge for each period of federal active duty service.
These grants will be awarded to active-duty enlisted and junior officers (O1-O3), living in Texas, and pursuing a degree in a scientific field of study. These fields include, but are not limited to: engineering, computer science, information systems, chemistry, physics, and math. Learn more and apply today!
The SkillPointe Foundation’s mission is to ensure everyone has access to training to become a skills-based professional working in construction, healthcare, energy, manufacturing, transportation and other fields. Applicants must be 16 years of age or older, of any ethnicity and educational background.
This program, sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), is open to students in grades 6 through 8. Students must submit an essay addressing this year’s topic, ‘Why I Appreciate America’s Veterans.
The Troops to Teachers Grant is available for Former and retired members of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Reserve components and National Guard may be eligible. Recipients may receive a stipend or if they meet specific military service and application requirements.
