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Military Service Scholarship — the Hostile-Fire-Pay Test

Undergraduate tuition and required fees at a public postsecondary institution for a resident who served after 11 September 2001 in international waters or on foreign soil, in operations drawing hostile fire pay, for at least 90 days — or fewer than 90 because of injuries received during that service.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Undergraduate tuition and required fees at a public postsecondary institution for a resident who served after 11 September 2001 in international waters or on foreign soil, in operations drawing hostile fire pay, for at least 90 days — or fewer than 90 because of injuries received during that service.

What it's worth: Up to full tuition and required fees for the academic year, for four academic years of undergraduate study — five if the program requires it

  • Awards are made within appropriations, on a priority basis to applicants with the greatest financial need, counting federal military education assistance in the need calculation.
  • Part-time enrolment earns a proportionate share of the award.

Who is entitled to it

  • You meet the 90-day hostile-fire-pay deployment test — or served less than 90 days because of injuries.
  • You are a resident of 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: Priority date 1 May
  1. 1Provide the deployment paper the statute names: the DD Form 214 or active duty orders, whichever shows WHERE you were deployed and that the service after 11 September 2001 was in an operation drawing hostile fire pay.
  2. 2Discharge must be honorable or general under honorable conditions — or you may still be serving; file the FAFSA, because financial need drives the award order.
  3. 3The scholarship covers undergraduate study only — the Regents end eligibility at graduate status — and runs up to four academic years, or the length of a course of instruction that requires a fifth.
  4. 4Using Post-9/11 GI Bill (Ch. 33) or Veterans Readiness (Ch. 31) benefits alongside it needs care: the Regents flag this as restricted aid that the VA pays after, which can zero the VA tuition payment while housing and book stipends continue — ask the institution's military-affiliated staff before stacking.
Form
Online state scholarship application through the Board of Regents, with FAFSA on file
File with
Kansas Board of Regents student financial assistance office
Documents you will need
dd214
Annual
Claimed once a year.
CorrectionThis is not a blanket veteran scholarship: the statutory gate is geographic and fiscal — service in international waters or on foreign soil, in operations for which hostile fire pay was received, for 90 days after 11 September 2001 — and an injury that cut the deployment short satisfies the 90-day test rather than defeating it.
Worth knowingThe statute counts "military service" as active service in any armed service and good-standing service in the Kansas army or air national guard, and keeps still-serving members eligible — the discharge requirement applies to those who have left.

Sources

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