Many scholarships are available for children of disabled veterans. The federal government will pay for up to 45 months of education and training for children of veterans totally disabled in the line of duty. Visit gibill.va.gov/pamphlets/CH35/CH35_Pamphlet_General.htm to see if your child qualifies.
Many private organizations also offer scholarships for children of disabled veterans. The Freedom Alliance offers scholarships to those with a parent who either died in service to their country or became permanently disabled. Information on scholarships can be found at freedomalliance.org/?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=7&Itemid=15.
The Blind Veterans Association offers scholarships to children and spouses of blind veterans. For more information, visit bva.org/services.html.
Children who have lost a parent or have one who is disabled because of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, have special scholarship opportunities.
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) created a scholarship fund for these families. the NASFAA website lists other scholarships for children whose parents either died or were disabled on Sept. 11. Many of these scholarships are from local organizations and serve a particular geographic area. For example, if you live in New Jersey and you became disabled because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, your child could receive a scholarship from the New Jersey World Trade Center Scholarship Fund.
For more information on these scholarships, see nasfaa.org/linklists/911scholarship.asp.
Most parents with disabilities did not receive them in battle or during a terrorist attack. Scholarships for these children are harder to find but still available.
The National Center for Parents with Disabilities, which is funded by the Department of Education, offers 10 scholarships for high school seniors and college students. Students must have at least one disabled parent and be under 21 to apply. For more information on this scholarship, visit lookingglass.org/scholarships.
Another option is scholarships that are specific to the disability. For example, the National Institute for the Blind offers scholarships for children of the blind or visually impaired. The state of Alabama also offers scholarships to children of blind or visually impaired parents who wish to attend a public school in Alabama.
If you have trouble finding scholarships online, use a free scholarship search engine such as fastweb.com. Just enter "scholarships for children whose parents have disabilities" in fastweb.com and see hundreds of results.