By Justin Creech
Staff Writer
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Active-duty servicemembers, former active-duty servicemembers and their Families looking for education assistance have several options available to them.
Post 9/11 GI Bill
The Post 9/11 GI Bill is the best financial aid option available to active duty or former active-duty servicemembers because in some cases it will pay up to 100 percent of the servicemember’s education.
Soldiers enrolled in a state school who have completed at least 36 months of active duty service after Sept. 10, 2001 will receive 100 percent the cost of their tuition via the Post 9/11 GI Bill. If they enroll in a private school, the Department of Veterans Affairs will pay up to $17, 500 of their tuition and fees per school year.
“You can not beat that and all of this is free money,” said Joyce Peterson, Barden Education Center, Education Services Specialist. “Soldiers don’t have to pay any of that money back.”
Financial aid for housing my also be provided to a military E-5 with dependents in the same zip code as the service members school.
There are also financial aid options available to children and spouses of active-duty servicemembers at Fort Belvoir and former active-duty servicemembers.
For information on how to apply for your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits visit www.gibill.va.gov.
Belvoir OSC Scholarship
The Fort Belvoir Officer Spouses Club offers a scholarship to current high school seniors who are entering college and children and spouses of active duty or retired or deceased members of all armed services, including the Guard/Reserves who are currently enrolled in college.
“It would have to be a child or spouse of a military member,” said Sandy Goetz, Scholarship Chairman, BOSC. “They have to live in the Washington, DC area to apply for the one’s we offer.”
There is no grade point average requirement to be eligible to receive either of the scholarships. Extra curricular activities and how well each applicant answers the essay question that is required are taken into consideration.
Extra curricular activities can vary from sports and in school clubs to out of school clubs and volunteer work.
“It can be a person that volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club as long as they show they give back to the school or community and are a well rounded person,” said Goetz. “As for the essay question, we just want to see that they answer the question clearly and they know how to write.”
Applicants may continue to receive financial aid from the BOSC each year they are enrolled in school.
“As long as it’s needed they can continue to apply for it,” said Goetz.
The scholarship application deadline for the 2011-2012 is March 31, 2012.
To access the application, visit www.belvoirowc.org.
Belvoir Thrift Shop Scholarships
The Belvoir Thrift Shop has a scholarship program as well.
There are three categories of scholarships: The first is the Academic Achievement Award which is for high school seniors who will be full time students pursuing an undergraduate degree at an accredited college or university.
The second is the Undergraduate Achievement Award which is for full time, unmarried undergraduate students pursuing a first undergraduate degree at an accredited 2 or 4 year college or university.
The third is the Continuing Education Scholarship which is for a military spouse who will be attending an accredited institution of higher learning (i.e. junior college, college or university, trade or technical school) for the upcoming year/semester.
The Thrift shop gives out ten $1,000 scholarships every year to Fort Belvoir affiliated applicants. Belvoir affiliated applicants are individuals who live on, or work on post, are deployed from, or are stationed on post. Eligible applicants can also have a Family member that has completed 60 volunteer hours of service at one of our agencies on post during the previous year.
The Thrift shops scholarship program is unique in that the check is made out to only the student. Most scholarship programs make funds out to both the student and the university the recipient is attending.
