This Program is Giving Out $2,000 College Scholarships to 700 Military Kids

The members of our armed forces make great sacrifices — and so do their families.

They deserve all the support they can get.

The Scholarships for Military Children program gives money to the children of military service personnel to use toward college tuition, fees, books and other expenses.

The program has given more than $16 million to military kids in the its 17-year history.

The scholarship program is currently accepting applications for this year’s batch of eligible students. Each military commissary that receives a completed application will be awarding at least one scholarship.

Apply for the Scholarships for Military Children

Scholarship Amount: $2,000

Number of Scholarships Awarded: 700

To qualify for the scholarship, applicants must:

• Be a child of an active duty military personnel member, a reserve/guard or retired military member, a service member who died while on active duty or an individual who died while receiving retired pay from the military

• Be enrolled in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) database and have a current dependent military ID card

• Be under 23 and unmarried

• Be enrolled or planning to enroll full time at an accredited U.S. college or university in the fall of 2018, specifically in an undergraduate program that will lead to a bachelor’s degree (community college students must have intent to transfer to a four-year school)

• Have a 3.0 GPA if currently in high school or a 2.5 GPA if currently in college

To apply, applicants must:

• Fill out the application, which can be downloaded here or picked up at the nearest military commissary

• Write an essay — 500 words or less — responding to the following: “With the development of high speed internet you are now living in a world that is completely different than 20 years ago. What are the pluses and minuses for society and the family? How would you address the minuses?”

• Submit the application package (in person or by mail) to the nearest military commissary. Emailed or faxed submissions will not be accepted.

Scholarship Deadline: February 16, 2018

Scholarship recipients will be notified by letter, which should be mailed out around May 15.

See here for more information and for an application to the Scholarships for Military Children.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.