Gov. Martin O’Malley wants to increase by $150,000 a state scholarship fund for veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to help eliminate a waiting list.

The Maryland Higher Education Commission launched the $500,000 fund last February to assist veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq enroll in undergraduate programs at state colleges and universities.

Uniformed service members who served in Afghanistan on or after Oct. 24, 2001, or in Iraq on or after March 19, 2003, may apply for the scholarship program if they are:

* A veteran or active-duty member of the U.S. military forces who served at least 60 days Afghanistan or Iraq;
* A member of a reserve component of the U.S. military forces or the Maryland National Guard who was activated and served at least 60 days; or
* A son, daughter, or spouse of a veteran.

Award amounts will be equivalent to 50 percent of annual tuition and mandatory fees as well as room and board and may not exceed $9,026 per academic year. Eligible applicants who are veterans will be given preference over dependent children or spouses, state officials have said.

At the time of the scholarship’s launch, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown said, “We are proud of the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces and these scholarships provide assistance for the higher education that they and their families strive to achieve.”

Brown is a former U.S. Army officer who was deployed to Iraq in 2005 as a reservist as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
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This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 11:41 pm and is filed under Education News, Scholarship. Tags: College, Education News, Scholarship, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.