For my fellow military dependents, navigating your eligibility and usage of military educational benefits is often a second job in an of itself. To help some, I’ve compiled a list of resources for eligibility, usage, and helpful information with regards to military dependent educational benefits. Each of the benefits listed is specific to military children and spouses. While there are additional programs for military spouses, I’m focusing on the ones for children. Also, I’m focusing on college/university for these benefits. If you are looking for vocational or technical school programs, please see the links for the benefits directly.

The four programs eligible for children include the Post 9/11 GI Bill, the Fry Scholarship, the Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA or Chapter 35), and the individual state benefits.

Based on the attached spreadsheet, you can get a general idea of eligibility for each of these programs; however, always double-check with the links provided and the GI Bill’s “Ask a Question” section for the full scope of eligibility.

Every state also has independent military educational benefits for veterans with disability ratings higher than 90% total and permanent and their dependents. For the state of Virginia, there’s a service called VMSDEP, for which tuition and fees are covered for students and up to $950/semester, funding allotted, for a book stipend as well.

To have the benefits are amazing, but to utilize them to your benefit is the goal. Learn to maximize your military dependent educational benefits here.