New York MERIT Scholarship for Families of the Fallen and Severely Disabled

The Military Enhanced Recognition Incentive and Tribute scholarship, always called MERIT, is New York's benefit for the families of service members killed or catastrophically injured. It is the most generous state education award New York offers, and it is deliberately broader than a tuition waiver. Education Law section 668-e makes MERIT available to the child, spouse or financial dependent of a member of the armed forces of the United States or the state organized militia who, "at any time while in service", while a legal resident of New York, "died, became severely and permanently disabled or was classified as missing in action, or died as a result of injury or illness suffered or incurred during such military service", or died or became severely and permanently disabled from injury or illness in military training operations. A member who became severely and permanently disabled in service or training, and was a New York resident at the time, qualifies in his or her own right, as does a militia member disabled in active state service. HESC: "whether in combat or not". The statute has no start date; older summaries that say "on or after August 2, 1990" give the original 2003 rule. Where the Veterans Tuition Award pays tuition only, MERIT reaches further. Its amounts follow the World Trade Center memorial scholarship (section 668-d): at SUNY or CUNY, tuition, mandatory fees and the non-tuition cost of attendance (room and board and an allowance for books, supplies and transportation); at any other approved New York programme, those amounts at the SUNY four-year average or the actual cost, whichever is less, all net of other grants and scholarships. HESC: "Covers cost of attendance not to exceed the average cost of attendance charged to NYS resident undergraduate students at a state-operated SUNY, or actual cost of attendance, whichever is less." Support runs two years for a full-time associate degree, four for a bachelor's, and five for an approved five-year programme. The severely and permanently disabled test is a determination about the member's condition, not a VA combined rating percentage, so a reader should not assume a particular rating opens or closes this door. HESC and the Division of Veterans' Services make that determination from the documentation. Apply through HESC, which requires the FAFSA and the New York State TAP application first, then the MERIT application and its web supplement with the documentation, including HESC's Total and Permanent Disability Verification Form on the disability path, or the DD-1300 Report of Casualty.