HERO scholarships available for Guard, Reserve members
You don’t have to have been a hero in the Global War on Terrorism to be eligible for Georgia’s HERO scholarship program.
But you do have to be a state resident who has served in either the Georgia National Guard or the Reserves and spent at least 181 consecutive days in a designated combat zone.
There’s another catch: that 181-day period must have begun on or after May 3, 2005.
Wagers Chenault of the Georgia Student Finance Commission, which earlier this month awarded $162,000 to help 81 HERO (Helping Educate Reservists and their Offspring) recipients attend college this academic year, said that particular date was specified in the law passed during the 2006 legislative session.
Though he wasn’t sure why that date was legislated, it’s probably because that is the time the 4,500-soldier 48th Infantry Brigade of the Georgia National Guard was deployed to Iraq.
It is the Guard’s largest combat unit to deploy overseas since World War II.
“The people of Georgia are saying a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to the men and women who have served so faithfully and selflessly in harm’s way,” said Lt. Gen. David Poythress, the state’s adjutant general.
The HERO program provides up to $2,000 per year to help qualifying members of the Guard and the Reserves — and their children — attend college. Chenault said that this year’s recipients included 62 soldiers and 19 of their children.
The maximum total award to each is $8,000 for four years of full-time enrollment.
Complete information on the program is available on-line at GAcollege411.org.
