Minnesota Educational Assistance for Survivors and POW/MIA Families

Section 197.75 is the survivor education benefit, and Laws 2026, chapter 49 rebuilt it. What follows is the section as it now stands, with the changes flagged, because almost every published description of this programme predates the rewrite. An eligible child or eligible spouse must be admitted to any eligible Minnesota public postsecondary educational institution free of tuition and fees until the person has attained a bachelor's or equivalent degree, and receives an educational assistance stipend of $750 each year. The stipend is not available to anyone who already holds a bachelor's or equivalent degree. Three things in that sentence changed in 2026. The waiver now covers tuition and fees, where before it covered tuition alone. "Eligible institution" now includes a Tribally controlled college alongside state institutions, the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota, and institutions licensed or registered with the Office of Higher Education. And the stipend is now awarded "on a funds-available basis" after the commissioner approves eligibility, which it was not before. Who counts has widened in two directions and narrowed in none. A "deceased veteran" is a veteran who died as a result of military service as determined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. The old requirement that the veteran have been a Minnesota resident within six months of entering service, or for the six months before death, is gone. And Laws 2026, chapter 49 repealed section 197.752 and folded prisoner of war and missing in action families into this section: an eligible child now includes the child of a person who served as a prisoner of war or was declared missing in action, and an eligible spouse includes the spouse or surviving spouse of such a person. That repeal is a substantial upgrade for POW and MIA families. Section 197.752 gave free tuition at Minnesota public institutions and, at a private institution, payment of tuition and fees "at a rate not to exceed $250 per year", a figure that had not moved since the 1970s and was worth nothing. Those families now take the same package as a war-dead family: free tuition and fees at a public institution plus the $750 stipend. The old rule that POW and MIA status, once qualifying, cannot be undone survived the move. New subdivision 2, paragraphs (d) and (e) say that once a person qualifies as an eligible child or eligible spouse, the person remains one regardless of any change in circumstance, including the return of the parent or spouse and including the reported death of the parent or spouse. Remarriage does not end a surviving spouse's eligibility. Laws 2025, chapter 30 wrote that into the definition and the 2026 rewrite kept it. The 2026 act also defines "surviving spouse" as a person who was legally married, as recognised by the state of Minnesota, to a veteran at the time of the veteran's death. The eligible child and eligible spouse must each be a student making satisfactory academic progress, a resident student under section 136A.101, subdivision 8, and must apply before the end of the academic term for which assistance is sought. What the 2026 act took away is the benefit for veterans themselves. The old "eligible veteran" definition and the single $750 payment to a veteran who had exhausted federal educational benefits were both struck. Guides describing a Minnesota one-time $750 grant to veterans who used up the GI Bill are describing something the legislature deleted. Every Minnesota public postsecondary institution must continue to participate during both peacetime and times of war. Any other participating institution may suspend or terminate participation at the end of any semester or term. Institutions must report annually by September 30 on programme activity, enrolment and graduation data, and the aggregate cost of tuition and awarded waivers, and must maintain a veterans education benefits page on their website. Funding now comes out of the Minnesota GI Bill appropriation in section 197.791, subdivision 8, which the same act extended to cover this section without raising its $6,000,000 annual ceiling.