Michigan Children of Veterans Tuition Grant

The children of veterans tuition grant act, 2005 PA 248, replaced an older tuition waiver and pays a grant to the institution rather than waiving a charge. The amount, and the problem with it. A full-time student receives $2,800 for an academic year or the student's eligible tuition, whichever is less. A part-time student receives half. The figure was set in the 2005-2006 academic year and has never been increased, so its real value has fallen by more than a third, and against Michigan public university tuition of roughly $16,000 a year it now covers about a sixth of the bill. The authority may also reduce grants pro rata in any year to reflect the money available, after notifying the legislature. Whose child qualifies. The student must be the natural or adopted child of a Michigan veteran, and that veteran must meet one of four descriptions: killed in action or died from another cause while serving in a war or war condition in which the United States was or is a participant; determined by VA to have died or to be totally and permanently disabled as a result of a service-connected illness or injury; determined by VA to have been permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected illness or injury before death and to have died from any cause; or officially listed by the United States government as missing in action in a foreign country. The third limb is the one to read twice. A veteran who held a permanent and total service-connected rating and then died of something unrelated, a heart attack or a car accident, leaves a child who qualifies. Many states cut that case out. What a Michigan veteran is, for this act only. An individual whose legal residence immediately before entering military service was in Michigan and who does not later reside outside Michigan for more than two years, or an individual who establishes legal residency in Michigan after entering military service. That is a fourth Michigan definition of the word and it is about the parent's residence, not the child's. The student's own conditions. More than 16 and less than 26 years of age; a United States citizen or permanent resident; enrolled full-time or at least half-time in undergraduate classes at a degree or certificate granting public or independent nonprofit college, university, junior college or community college in Michigan; resident of Michigan continuously for the 12 months immediately preceding the application and not a resident of any other state; a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.25 in any undergraduate classes previously completed; and not convicted of a felony involving an assault, physical injury or death. Four years is the ceiling, counting any tuition waiver received under the repealed 1935 act. Undergraduate only. "Undergraduate class" means a class providing academic credit applicable toward a bachelor or associate degree, so a graduate program is outside the act. The program has moved twice administratively: from the Michigan Higher Education Assistance Authority to the Department of Treasury in 2010, and then in 2023 to the director of the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential. A search for the administering agency by name will turn up all three.