South Dakota Free Tuition for a Child of a Veteran Who Died in Service

Section 13-55-6 is drafted more broadly than its usual description. A person under the age of twenty-five, a resident of South Dakota, whose parent was a veteran as defined in 33A-2-1, who was a bona fide resident of South Dakota for at least six months immediately before entering active service, and who "suffered death from any cause while in the service of the armed forces of the United States", is entitled to free tuition and to attend and pursue any course of study at a Board of Regents institution or a technical college without paying any charges or costs. Three things follow from the drafting that a summary saying "children of veterans who died in service" tends to lose. The cause of death is irrelevant. "From any cause while in the service" covers an illness, a traffic accident on leave, or a death by suicide, as much as a combat death. There is no service-connection requirement and no requirement that VA have made any determination at all. The residency test looks in two directions at once. The child must be a resident of South Dakota now. The parent must have been a bona fide resident of the state for at least six months immediately before entering active service. A family that moved to South Dakota after the death does not meet the second test, however long they have been here. The waiver is of "any charges or costs therefor", which is broader language than the tuition-only waiver a wartime veteran gets under 13-55-2. Section 13-55-7 defines armed forces for this purpose as all components of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force and Coast Guard, the Space Force having been added in 2023. The age ceiling is a hard twenty-five and it is the thing most likely to end the benefit before it is used. The Board of Regents' own military tuition page describes this program as honouring "deceased veterans" and lists the child's age and residency, the parent's service and the parent's six months of prior residency, without the condition that the parent died while in the service. A child of a veteran who died years after discharge meets every condition that page lists and none of the statute's words about how the parent died. The section, not the page, decides the application. Applications go to the Board of Regents under 13-55-8, which determines eligibility and may make rules. If it finds the applicant entitled, 13-55-9 requires it to issue a certificate in duplicate, one copy to the institution and one to the student. The action of the board is final, which means there is no statutory appeal from a refusal.