Spouses and Dependents Scholarships

Rosalind Strickland, an education counselor at Fort Myers, Va., provided MAE with lists of scholarship information broken down by categories of eligibility. Nonprofit organizations provide educational services—including scholarship opportunities for military families—to each of the military branches.

The Navy Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) offers several scholarships under its education programs, designed to help families obtain financing to achieve their college goals (http://www.nmcrs.org). NMCRS offers scholarships on the basis of financial need to qualified applicants. Applicants generally must plan to enroll or already be enrolled in a full-time program and maintain a 2.0 grade point average or better.

The NMCRS has three scholarship programs—the USS Tennessee Scholarship, Dependents of Deceased Scholarship, and the Admiral Mike Boorda Scholarship—in addition to its Vice Admiral E.P. Travers Loans program. Applicants are eligible to re-apply for the scholarship programs every academic year. The USS Tennessee Scholarship provides awards to dependent children of military servicemembers; the Dependents of Deceased to those who were dependents of combat casualties; and the Boorda Scholarship is for specific military commissioning programs.

The Fleet Reserve Association also offers a number of $5,000 scholarships under several different programs to its members and their spouses, children, and grandchildren (http://www.fra.org). Members could be active duty or retired Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard.

Army Emergency Relief (AER) offers a Spouse Education Assistance Program, as well as a program for dependents (http://www.aerhq.org). The dependents’ scholarship, the Major General James Ursano Scholarship Program, is for the dependent children of active, retired and deceased soldiers. Dependents seeking undergraduate college degrees can apply for scholarships based on financial need, academic achievement or leadership.

Applicants must maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average and enroll as a full-time undergraduate student at an accredited college. Qualified dependents must be younger than 23 years of age and remain unmarried for the applicable academic year.

Scholarship funds are split between fall and spring semesters and may apply to tuition, fees, books, and room and board—either on or off campus.

The Air Force Aid Society (AFAS) offers the General Henry H. Arnold Education Grant Program, which awards $2,000 for each successful applicant (http://www.afas.org). Qualified applicants must be sons and daughters of active duty, retired or deceased Air Force members, as well as the spouses of members. The program awards grants to families on a financial aid basis for those who demonstrate need.

For some programs offered by associations, a military family could be associated with any military service to qualify. The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) Education Foundation provides a number of scholarship opportunities for both servicemembers and their families (http://www.afcea.org). The AFCEA Educational Foundation provides scholarships to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Undergraduate applicants may apply for only one scholarship opportunity each academic year. Military veterans or active duty personnel are only eligible to apply as freshmen; other applicants must be enrolled as sophomores or juniors. AFCEA targets scholarships for career fields that include engineers, technicians, programmers, military career personnel and government executives.

Applicants connected to the U.S. military can apply for the Marine Sergeant Jeannette L. Winters Memorial Scholarship, the Lieutenant General Douglas D. Buchholz Memorial Scholarship, the General Emmett Paige Scholarship, the Veterans of Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan or Iraqi Freedom Scholarship, and the Disabled War Veterans Scholarship. Other scholarships are available to the general public.

The AFCEA Educational Foundation’s graduate scholarships work much the same way. Students already enrolled in graduate distance learning or online programs may apply for the AFCEA Distance Learning or Online Scholarship. In addition, eligible students can apply for the AFCEA Ph.D. Fellowship, the Computer Graphic Design Scholarship, the Milton E. Cooper/Young AFCEAN Graduate Scholarship, the Lockheed Martin Graduate Scholarship, the Ralph W. Shrader Diversity Scholarship, or the Scholarship for Working Professionals.

Finally, the National Military Family Association (NMFA) offers opportunities such as the National Military Family Association Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholarship Program (http://www.nmfa.org). These scholarships are awarded to spouses of active duty, Reserve, retired, or deceased servicemembers for secondary or graduate education programs. Scholarship awards vary from $500 to $1,000 each year. Students may use them for tuition, fees, and room and board.