FORT LEE, Va. – Applications have opened in the Scholarships for Military Children program for the 2023-2024 academic year.
The program, entering its 23rd year, recognizes military family contributions to fighting-force readiness and celebrates the commissary’s role in enhancing quality of life. Fisher House Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping service members, veterans and their families, administers the program.
It has awarded more than $22 million to 12,812 students, selected from a pool of nearly 113,000 applicants.
“The Defense Commissary Agency is again honored, for the 23rd year in a row now, to team with Fisher House Foundation and industry to promote this extraordinary opportunity for the children of military families to pursue their dreams in higher education,” said Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Michael Saucedo, senior enlisted adviser to the DECA director.
For academic year 2023-2024, Fisher House Foundation will award 500 scholarship grants of $2,000 each. The selection process will begin immediately following the application deadline of 2:59 a.m. Feb. 16.
Funding for the program comes from commissary business partners and other Fisher House Foundation contributions designated specifically for the scholarship programs.
“We thank the Defense Commissary Agency for partnering with us to provide scholarships to our youngest members of the military community,” said Ken Fisher, chairman and CEO of Fisher House Foundation. “We also appreciate the donors and supporters who value how important our military families are and support them through our scholarship program.”
Selection qualifications are straightforward. Requirements include completing the application; submission of the student’s official transcript indicating a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale for high school applicants, or college transcript showing a cumulative minimum GPA of 2.5 or above on a 4.0 scale for students already enrolled in college; and a 500-word essay.
The subject of this year’s essay is listed at militaryscholar.org under “Scholarships for Military Children.”
Program eligibility is determined using the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System database. Applicants should ensure they, as well as their sponsor, are enrolled in DEERS and have a current military dependent ID card. The applicant must also be planning to attend or already attending an accredited college or university full time in the fall of 2023 or be enrolled in a study program designed to transfer directly into a four-year program.
Applicants who are awarded a full scholarship to attend a college or university or receive an appointment to one of the service academies or affiliated preparatory schools are not eligible to receive funds from this program. A full scholarship is usually defined as one that provides for payment of tuition, books, lab fees and other expenses.
All Scholarships for Military Children program rules and requirements, as well as FAQ links, are available at militaryscholar.org.
Fisher House Foundation also has a free, easy-to-use custom scholarship search engine tailored to military families called “Scholarships for Service.” It’s available for both mobile devices and desktop computers at militaryscholar.org.