The Scholarships for Military Children Program awards an annual scholarship, funded through contributions, for each commissary operated by the Defense Commissary Agency worldwide. Dependent unmarried children, under age 23, of active duty personnel, reserve/guard and retired military members, or survivors of service members who died while on active duty or while receiving retirement pay from the military may apply.
The Survivors’ and Dependents Educational Assistance Program (DEA), through the Department of Veterans Affairs, is available to dependents of veterans who died or were permanently and totally disabled as the result of a service-connected disability; service members missing, captured, detained or interned in the line of duty; or service members receiving medical treatment for a service-connected disability and likely to be discharged for that disability.
The American Military Retirees Association (AMRA) awards The Sergeant Major Douglas R. Drum (SGM) Memorial Scholarship. Someone in the student’s family must be a member of AMRA. Other criteria include educational achievements, leadership abilities, character, citizenship and community service. For information and application, visit amra1973.org/scholarship.asp.
Army Emergency Relief (AER) is a private nonprofit organization with the primary mission of providing financial assistance to soldiers and their dependents in time of valid emergency need. They offer the M.G. James Ursano Scholarship for dependent children of active, retired and deceased soldiers.
Many states offer scholarships to military dependents. For more information, talk to your financial aid adviser.
Some universities offer private scholarships for dependents of retired military personnel. For more information, check with the financial aid office of the university you plan to attend.
A number of scholarships for dependents of retired military personnel can be found through the Military Community Scholarship and Financial Aid Explorer. Other online scholarship search engines include scholarships.com, fastweb.com, military.com and the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) websites.