Ohio War Orphans and Severely Disabled Veterans' Children Scholarship

The Ohio Department of Higher Education runs the War Orphans and Severely Disabled Veterans' Children Scholarship. It helps a child of a veteran killed in combat, or of a severely disabled Ohio veteran, who served during a covered period of war or conflict. For the 2025-2026 school year the department says the award covered 77% of tuition and general fees at an Ohio public college and $6,330 at an eligible private college. The amount changes with the number of eligible applications. It can be renewed for up to 10 semesters, or 15 quarters. It can be used at an Ohio public college, a private nonprofit college, or a private for-profit college, for an associate or bachelor's degree. The student has to be at least 16 and under 25 when applying. The Department of Higher Education tells every applicant to have lived in Ohio for the year before applying and for at least 4 of the last 10 years. Revised Code section 5910.03 is looser: the child of a veteran who entered the service as an Ohio resident needs only the year before applying, and the four-of-ten rule applies only when the parent entered from another state. Section 5910.03(C) also requires financial need "as determined by the board", which the department's eligibility list does not mention. The parent has to have served during a period the department lists, including World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and any other conflict VA uses for pension purposes. Section 5910.01 also counts a parent who took part in an operation for which the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was awarded, and certain Merchant Mariners. The child can be biological or adopted. The department's page also says "step", but section 5910.01(A) admits a stepchild only when the veteran is or was married to the child's parent and the child lived with and was supported by the veteran for ten consecutive years before the application or the veteran's death. Section 5910.03 grants the scholarship to children of "deceased or disabled veterans". A deceased veteran is any veteran within the wartime definition who has died, and section 5910.01 counts service members who died in service during a covered period; neither requires death in combat. The program's own application, revised in August 2026, agrees: the veteran parent "must be deceased or disabled at the time application is made, or considered MIA or POW", and it sets out the one-year and four-of-ten residence split and the need test that the web page leaves out. A parent who served only in the Ohio National Guard or the reserves qualifies only if killed or permanently and totally disabled in scheduled training or active duty for training. Section 5910.01(E) defines "disabled" as a service-connected disability of 60% or more, or receipt of benefits for a permanent and total disability that is not service-connected, as VA determines it. Section 5910.032 adds the child of a service member declared a prisoner of war or missing in action in a conflict since January 1, 1960, on a separate age limit of 16 to 20. Apply online or by mail to the program. Only the living-veteran service-connected route turns on a rating, so the rating is recorded and does not hide this entry.