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OIF, OEF vets can apply for $5K scholarship

Applications are being accepted through Sept. 1 for the Horatio Alger Military Veterans Scholarship program, open to veterans who have served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom in at any time since Sept. 11, 2001.

Applications for the $5,000 scholarships, and more information about requirements, are available online.

The program, to help fund veterans’ undergraduate education, is offered by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.

Scholarship recipients must attend school full time in order to qualify for the scholarship.

Since the inception of the scholarship in June 2005, the association has given 1,880 scholarships, with a value of up to $5,000 each. The money is paid to the veteran’s college over the course of his or her education. If a student is in college for four years, the school will get up to $1,250 per year to defray the cost of the veteran’s education.

To date, 831 Army veterans, 586 Marine Corps veterans, 85 Air Force veterans, 131 Navy veterans, and 247 members of the National Guard have received scholarships, according to association officials.

The program was created after former U.S. Ambassador to Spain George Argyros and his wife, Julia, visited wounded U.S. troops in a temporary hospital at Rota, Spain. Through their family foundation, the Argyroses donated $5 million as seed money to launch the scholarship program, open to any soldier, sailor, airman or Marine who served in the Afghanistan or Iraq theater. More than $10 million has been added to the fund by other donors.