Veterans Alliance is privately owned and operated to serve veterans. We are not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Veterans Alliance — Veterans Alliance
← All Illinois benefits
educationstate

MIA/POW Scholarship — Four Years of Tuition and Fees for a Dependent

Full tuition and mandatory fees at Illinois state-supported colleges and universities for the dependent of a veteran who is missing in action, a prisoner of war, rated 100% permanently and totally disabled from service-connected causes — including through unemployability — or whose death the VA rated service-connected. Capped at 120 points, roughly four academic years including summers, and it expires twelve years from first enrolment.

Verified August 27, 2026

What this benefit is

Full tuition and mandatory fees at Illinois state-supported colleges and universities for the dependent of a veteran who is missing in action, a prisoner of war, rated 100% permanently and totally disabled from service-connected causes — including through unemployability — or whose death the VA rated service-connected. Capped at 120 points, roughly four academic years including summers, and it expires twelve years from first enrolment.

What it's worth: Full tuition and mandatory fees, about four academic years

  • It covers FULL tuition and mandatory fees at Illinois state-supported colleges and universities.
  • The cap is 120 points, which is approximately four academic years INCLUDING summers.
  • It expires TWELVE YEARS from initial enrolment. Starting and stopping can run that clock out.
  • The 100% permanent and total route includes a rating reached through individual unemployability, which is often assumed not to count.
  • A service-connected death rated by the VA qualifies the dependent regardless of any lifetime rating.
  • Applications go through the Illinois Student Assistance Commission portal, though the programme is the veterans department's.

Who is entitled to it

  • You are the veteran's dependent or spouse.
  • The veteran is MIA, a prisoner of war, 100% permanent and total, or died of a service-connected cause.
  • You are in Illinois.

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

Deadline: Set by ISAC — apply each year
  1. 1Apply through the Illinois Student Assistance Commission portal. The programme belongs to the veterans department but the application does not go there.
  2. 2If the veteran's 100% rating is through individual unemployability, say so — it counts, and people assume it does not.
  3. 3Watch the twelve-year clock from first enrolment. Breaks in study run it down.
  4. 4Budget the 120 points across four years including summers, rather than assuming eight semesters.
  5. 5If the veteran died of a service-connected cause, no lifetime rating is needed — the VA's rating of the death is what qualifies you.
Form
Application through the ISAC student portal
File with
Illinois Student Assistance Commission portal, for the Department of Veterans' Affairs
Documents you will need
dd214
Annual
Claimed once a year.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.