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NGAUS and the National Guard Educational Foundation offer four special scholarship programs to help Guardsmen and their families start or continue their educations.
Each program has its own eligibility criteria and application process, the latest of which is now underway.
The association recently teamed up with Columbia Southern University in Orange Beach, Alabama, to provide the NGAUS-CSU Scholarship.
This scholarship will be awarded every year to a current NGAUS active annual or active life member. The recipient may also transfer the scholarship to their spouse or another family member.
Based on current tuition rates, this scholarship's value is $32,700.
The application process for this scholarship began Feb. 1 and runs through July 1.
"The NGAUS partnership with Columbia Southern University gives great flexibility to NGAUS active members who want to advance their education," said retired Brig. Gen. Maria Kelly, the association’s director of membership and marketing.
More scholarship application details are available here.
NGAUS also offers the AFBA NGAUS Active Life Member Scholarship through its partnership with the Armed Forces Benefit Association.
This scholarship is available exclusively to NGAUS active life or digital life members and their family members.
Two $5,000 NGAUS Active Life Member Scholarships are awarded every July. The recipients must be full-time students, but the scholarships can be used for undergraduate, graduate or post-graduate degree programs.
More than 200 active life members or their family members applied for the scholarship last year. The application period is open from March 1 to May 31. A link to the scholarship application form will be available here starting March 1.
The two NGEF scholarships benefit Guardsmen and their families affected by the global war on terrorism.
The USAA Guardian Scholarship Fund, which is administered by the NGEF, is available for the children of Guardsmen killed in the conflict.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 800 Guardsmen have lost their lives, leaving behind more than 1,000 children.
These scholarships are worth up to $6,250 a year for as many as four years. More than 100 have been awarded during the 12 years of the program. There were nine recipients last year.
One scholarship went to an applicant who was just three years old when she lost her father in 2008.
July 30, 2024, is the deadline to apply for the 2024-2025 academic year.
More information on the USAA Guardian Scholarship can be found here.
The Van Hipp Heroes Scholarship Fund, also administered by the NGEF, helps Guard soldiers and airmen who were wounded in an operational or training mission during the global war on terrorism. Applicants are eligible for a $1,000 college scholarship.
Van Hipp, the chairman of American Defense International Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, donates 100% of the proceeds from his book, The New Terrorism: How to Fight It and Defeat It, to the fund, which was established in 2015.
There was one recipient for the scholarship last year. More information about the program is available here. July 1, 2024, is the deadline to apply.
"We are truly honored and humbled to have the opportunity to provide direct support to the families and Guardsmen who have given so much in defense of our nation, for their educational pursuits," Luke Guthrie, the director of NGEF, said. "This is truly a legacy of service and sacrifice."
— By Donald Lambert
