Eligibility

The Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund^® benefits dependent children and spouses of 9/11 victims, including airplane crew and passengers, World Trade Center and Pentagon workers and visitors, and relief workers, including firefighters, emergency medical personnel and law enforcement personnel. If you think you or someone you know may be eligible to receive a Families of Freedom Scholarship, please call toll-free 1-877-862-0136 or email familiesoffreedom@scholarshipamerica.org.

Eligibility Guidelines
Under the scope of this scholarship program, students have the opportunity to attend any accredited post-secondary school (four-year college, two-year college, vocational-technical school, trade school) they choose, including those outside the United States. Education assistance is paid in two installments each year.

• Families of Freedom Scholarships are available for post-secondary study or the equivalent. Families of Freedom does not provide scholarships for elementary or secondary school.
• Families of Freedom recipients can receive scholarship awards for up to four years, or the equivalent if attendance is part time, depending on total funding available.
• Students’ grades are not criteria in determining their eligibility or value of scholarship award.
• Limited funds are available for graduate study. Dependent children generally use their four years of eligibility for undergraduate study.
• Spouses must apply for funds for undergraduate or graduate study by the year 2012. The spouse will have a total of up to four years to receive assistance.
• Students must apply each year they are eligible to receive funding. Award amounts may change yearly, based on changes in family finances, changes in tuition rates, and current projections.
• Parents and siblings of victims are not eligible for the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund unless they can provide documentation of financial dependency on the victim.
• Students who show no financial need are eligible for the current minimum of $1,000 in Families of Freedom Scholarship awards per academic year, which can be used for education-related expenses.
• Families of Freedom Scholarships are not provided to repay past student loans.
• Although conditions may change over time, including the percentage of financial need covered, Scholarship America^® cannot make retroactive payments to past recipients.

The fund is available for victims’ dependents including children born after September 11, 2001, and who enroll in college by age 24. Those who begin their program by age 24 and subsequently turn 25 must continue their program of study uninterrupted.