educationstate

Tuition and Fees Waived for the Child of a Prisoner of War or a Person Missing in Action

Every community college, Washburn University, every technical college and every other post-high school institution supported by state money must enrol a dependent of a prisoner of war or a person missing in action without charge of tuition or fees, up to ten semesters for anyone who started on or after 1 July 2005. Once a person qualifies, nothing that happens afterwards — including the parent’s return or reported death — takes the entitlement away.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Tuition and fees waived, up to ten semesters

No figure is claimed because the waiver follows whatever the institution charges, and the institution then files a reimbursement claim rather than the student paying and recovering.
The cap is by semesters, not by dollars: ten semesters of instruction or the equivalent across all such institutions for a person who started on or after 1 July 2005, and twelve for anyone who started before that date.
The waiver covers tuition OR fees as the section words it, and the institutions named are the ones supported by state money — so a private college outside that description is not inside the section.

Who is entitled to it

The waiver runs to a dependent of the prisoner of war or the person missing in action.
You are in this state.

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 the director; the section imposes none

1The gate is decided in one place. K.S.A. 73-1217 makes the director of the Kansas Office of Veterans Services the administrator of the act and provides that the qualification of persons as dependents shall be determined by that director — so settle status there before enrolling.
2Two residency-and-status facts matter, both fixed at a moment long past: the service member must have been a resident of this state when they entered service, and must have been declared a prisoner of war or a person missing in action by the federal secretary of defense after 1 January 1960.
3The definition of dependent is precise. It covers a child born before or during the period the parent was a prisoner of war or was declared missing in action, or a child legally adopted or in legal custody prior to and during that time.
4The protection that matters most is in the middle of the section: once a person qualifies as a dependent, NO occurrence — including the return of the parent or the parent’s reported death — disqualifies them from the benefits of the act.
5You do not pay and reclaim. The institution grants the enrolment without charge and then files its own claim with the director for reimbursement of the tuition or fees.
6Count your semesters across institutions, not per institution: the cap is on instruction at ALL such institutions taken together.
7A separate and similar waiver sits beside this one at K.S.A. 73-1218 for a dependent of a person who died as a result of a service-connected disability suffered during the Vietnam conflict — twelve semesters, and administered by the same director. Ask about both in one conversation if either might fit.
8The director may adopt rules and regulations making the definitions more specific, so the operative test can be narrower than the statute reads. Ask for the current rules rather than working from the section alone.

Form: Application for determination as a dependent, to the director of the Kansas Office of Veterans Services
File with: The Kansas Office of Veterans Services, then the institution
Each term: Claimed per academic term.

CorrectionThe waiver is regularly described as a state scholarship that a student applies for at the college. It is not a scholarship and the college does not decide it: the institution has a statutory DUTY to enrol the dependent without charge, and the director of the Kansas Office of Veterans Services decides who qualifies. A student turned away at an admissions desk is being told the wrong thing by the wrong office.

CorrectionFamilies sometimes assume the entitlement dies when the parent comes home or is finally declared dead. The section says the opposite in terms: once a person qualifies as a dependent, no occurrence such as the return of the parent or the parent’s reported death disqualifies them.

Worth knowingThe semester cap moved and the older figure is still quoted. Twelve semesters applies to a person who started instruction before 1 July 2005; ten applies to anyone who started on or after that date. The Revisor also prints Attorney General Opinion 87-106 beside the section, summarised there as holding that an eligible dependent applying for retroactive benefits must be reimbursed subject to legislative appropriation, with no time limitation.

Known gapThe director’s rules and regulations under this act, and any application form, were not read this session — kovs.ks.gov returned HTTP 403 to every path tried. The statutory duty on the institutions is therefore published here; the paperwork route is not.

Sources

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