Military Spouse Scholarships
Military spouse scholarships are available around the United States through national, regional and local levels. There are many organizations which realize that being dependent on a married partner who is employed by America’s fairly active military can be dangerous financially, especially if the service members is tragically killed in combat. Fortunately there are a number of methods military spouses can entertain to attempt to fill a financial gap in the money they need for high educations costs. These military spouse scholarships are offered to those married to current service members, deceased personnel and in many cases extend to a child of the marriage.
While this article cannot possibly contain the many different programs available, a great extended source on additional resources can be found through the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES). DANTES provides an exceptionally comprehensive list of programs available for military spouse scholarships, so all interested persons who do not find military spouse tuition assistance in this article or would like to know what else is available should make the website their next stop.
It is important to know that many of the individual branches of the military offer scholarships for military spouses as well as loans for family members dependent on a service member’s paycheck. Beyond this, many national and regional organizations offer assistance as well. Once such example is the Air Force Association Military Spouse Scholarship which provides $2,500 to those selected for a reward. In order to be eligible for this program applicants will need to be currently married to a member of the Air Force, Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve who is on active duty, have been accepted into a college, and be entering a degree granting program. All application material for this program must be submitted no later than April 30 of 2011.
Another great program comes from the Air Force Aid Society military spouse scholarship. This program provides a non-renewable $2,000 grant to winners of an award. In order to be eligible for the program, all applicants will need to be spouses of or dependents on an active duty, retired, or deceased member of an Air Force oriented military branch. On top of this applicants must be high school graduates, accepted into a university and maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average. The deadline for this program is March 11.
The Anchor Scholarship Foundation gives out military spouse tuition assistance to the tune of $500 and has done so since 1981 when the group was founded. In 2010 they awarded over 42 different spouse scholarships. All applicants for this military spouse scholarship will need to have a sponsor who is currently on active duty in the US Navy or be retired with six consecutive years served. Winners of the award must be attending a four year college or be a graduating high school senior who has been accepted into a university. While a 2011 deadline date has not yet been announced, interested students should watch the website for forthcoming information.
Another group which offers scholarships for military spouses is the Folds of Honor Foundation which gives out two different scholarships for $5,000 based on differing criteria. General eligibility for both programs requires that applicants be a spouse or dependent on an active duty military member, a military member who died, or received the Purple Heart. Both of the military spouse , students will need to show proof of their significant other’s disability obtained through active duty as well as proof of dependency.
The Immediate Use Scholarship requires all applicants to be under the age of 24 while the Future Use scholarship can be given out based on an intended use at an unspecified time in the future. All application materials must be submitted no later than May 15.
There are clearly many different military scholarships for spouses that individuals will be able to gain access to. While this article can’t appropriately lay out every single one, interested applicants should check the DANTES financial aid listings which will point them in other possible directions.