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Georgia HERO Scholarship — Guard and Reserve Combat Service
Up to $2,000 a year for Georgia Guard and Reserve members who served in a combat zone, and for their children and spouses. It expires eight years after they came home.
Verified August 18, 2026
What this benefit is
Up to $2,000 a year for Georgia Guard and Reserve members who served in a combat zone, and for their children and spouses. It expires eight years after they came home.
What it's worth: Up to $2,000 a year — $1,000 a semester full time
- The annual cap is $2,000 and it cannot exceed the institution’s cost of attendance after other scholarships and grants are applied.
- Full-time undergraduate rate is $1,000 per semester, or $700/$700/$600 per quarter.
Who is entitled to it
- The scholarship reaches the servicemember, their spouse and their children.
- The qualifying service is Georgia National Guard or US Military Reserve service in a combat zone.
- The member served at least 181 cumulative days in a combat zone.
- The member was killed, or died or became 100% disabled from injuries received in the combat zone.
- You are inside the eight-year window.
- Your home is in Georgia.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
- 1Work out the eight-year clock first. It runs from the date the member returned from the combat zone, not from their discharge or from the child reaching college age.
- 2Confirm the member was a Georgia resident when deployed — residency now is not the test.
- 3Apply to the Georgia Student Finance Commission for the award year.
- Form
- Georgia HERO Scholarship application
- File with
- The Georgia Student Finance Commission
- Documents you will need
- dd214 · deployment orders · proof of ga residency
- Annual
- Claimed once a year.
Worth knowingThe eight-year expiry is the fact that decides most families. A member who returned in 2015 has no HERO eligibility now, for themselves or their children, regardless of everything else.
Worth knowingIt reaches SPOUSES as well as children, which most state education benefits do not, and the member themselves can use it.
Known gapHERO is a Guard and Reserve programme. Georgia’s education provision for the children of disabled or deceased ACTIVE-DUTY veterans is a separate question we have not yet researched.
Sources
- authority · published policyGeorgia Student Finance Commission — Georgia HERO Scholarship Program Regulations, 2025–2026 award year
- operating · published policyGeorgia Student Finance Commission — Georgia HERO Scholarship Program
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.