Iowa War Orphans Educational Assistance and the Branstad-Reynolds Scholarship

The statute is one subsection with two paragraphs that do very different things depending on the date of death. The Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs markets the newer tier as the Children of the Fallen, or Branstad-Reynolds, Scholarship Fund. The statutory name is the war orphans educational assistance account. The account. Section 35A.13, subsection 9, paragraph "a" creates it "as a separate account in the veterans trust fund and moneys in the account shall not be commingled with any other moneys within the fund." Interest on the account stays in the account. Expenses of administering it are charged to the trust fund. Tier one: death before September 11, 2001. Paragraph "b" lets the commission provide assistance to any child who has lived in Iowa for the two years preceding application and who is the child of a person who died "during active federal military service while serving in the armed forces or during active federal military service in the Iowa national guard or other military component of the United States". The money may go to tuition, matriculation, laboratory and similar fees, books and supplies, board, lodging, "and any other reasonably necessary expense" for attendance in Iowa at an institution of college grade or a business or vocational school with department-approved standards. Then the figures: "The commission shall not expend more than six hundred dollars per year for educational assistance for any one child under this paragraph 'b'", and "A child eligible to receive funds under this subsection shall not receive more than three thousand dollars under this paragraph 'b' during the child's lifetime." $600 a year, $3,000 over a lifetime. Those figures are not indexed and the statute provides no mechanism to move them. Against current Iowa tuition they are a gesture. Say so plainly: a surviving child of a pre-September 11 death is entitled to something real but small, and should treat it as one small source among several rather than as a scholarship. Tier two: death on or after September 11, 2001. Paragraph "c" is a different benefit. On application by a child who is under thirty-one years of age, whose parent died during active federal military service in the armed forces or the Iowa national guard or another component, and who at the time of entering active service had maintained Iowa residence "for a period of at least six months immediately before entering into active military service", the commission "shall provide state educational assistance". The amount: "no more than the highest resident undergraduate tuition rate established per year for an institution of higher learning under the control of the state board of regents less the amount of any state and federal education benefits, grants, or scholarships received by the child, or the amount of the child's established financial need, whichever is less", to defray tuition at any postsecondary educational institution in this state. Read the arithmetic. It is a last-dollar benefit twice over. First subtract every other state and federal education benefit, grant or scholarship the child receives. Then compare that to the child's established financial need and take whichever is lower. A child with a full Chapter 35 Dependents' Educational Assistance entitlement or a Fry Scholarship may compute to nothing here. Two age limits and they are not the same. The child "shall begin postsecondary education prior to reaching age twenty-six", and the application in paragraph "c" is available "upon application by a child who is less than thirty-one years of age". So enrolment must start before 26 and the claim must be made before 31. Lifetime cap: "not more than an amount equal to five times the highest resident undergraduate tuition rate established per year". Continued eligibility requires meeting the institution's academic progress standards. Payments go to the institution, not the student. The college student aid commission may assist in administering it if asked. One requirement that applies to both tiers. Paragraph "d": "A person is not eligible for the benefits of this subsection until the person has graduated from a high school or educational institution offering a course of training equivalent to high school training." And one that matters if you are refused. Paragraph "d" again: "Eligibility for assistance pursuant to this subsection shall be determined upon application to the commission, whose decision is final." There is no statutory appeal from a denial. The rules are gone. On April 2, 2026 the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs filed ARC 0248D rescinding 801 Iowa Administrative Code chapter 9, "War Orphans Educational Assistance Fund", effective June 3, 2026. The filing's own summary reads: "The purpose of this rulemaking is to rescind Chapter 9 with no replacement." No comments were received at either of the two public hearings. The action was published in the Iowa Administrative Bulletin of April 29, 2026 as "Rescind and reserve 801-Chapter 9." Section 35A.13, subsection 9 was not repealed. The account still exists, the two tiers still exist, the department still advertises the Branstad-Reynolds Scholarship, and there is no longer a published rule describing how to apply, what documents to file, how financial need is established, or what "reasonably necessary expense" covers. Combined with paragraph "d" making the commission's decision final, that leaves the whole programme running on unpublished practice. Apply anyway, through the county veterans service office, and ask the department in writing what standard it is applying. A detail for the record: the rescission filing cites its legal authority as "Iowa Code section 35A.14 and Executive Order 10". Section 35A.14 is the injured veterans grant programme. The war orphans account is created by section 35A.13, subsection 9. Funding intent, which the statute states and does not guarantee. Subsection 13 records the general assembly's intent that, from the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2013, "appropriations be made as necessary to the war orphans educational assistance account of the veterans trust fund to pay all claims made pursuant to subsection 9", with the department first providing information on needs and a plan. An intent clause is not an appropriation.