Fry Scholarship

The Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship (Fry Scholarship) is a scholarship for children and dependents of Veterans. If your parent or spouse was an active-duty service member who died in the line of duty after September 10, 2001, you are eligible.

Although not actually a scholarship it pays basically the same benefit as the Post-9/11 GI Bill®. The Fry Scholarship features 100% payment of tuition and fees at the in-state rate (this money is paid directly to the school) for all public schools. Private school attendance is also possible, but the benefit has a ceiling limiting payment to a maximum per-academic year rate.

The Fry Scholarship has a time limit. Dependent children who qualify become eligible as of their 18th birthday, but this benefit expires when the dependent reaches her or his 33rd birthday. Surviving spouses generally have 15 years from the date of the death of the service member to use the Fry Scholarship, though benefits have been extended by federal law.

A new provision of the law signed on December 16, 2016, extends the benefit eligibility to January 1, 2021, for the spouses of Service members who died in the line of duty between September 11, 2001, and December 31, 2005.