The Lima Charlie Veterans Scholarship

Two $500 awards every year, for veterans and the families who served alongside them. Three hundred words, no fee, no essay-mill nonsense. We pay your school directly.

Who can apply

• Veterans of any branch.Any era, any component, discharged under honourable conditions.
• Spouses and dependents of veterans.Families carry the claim too. If your household is a veteran household, you qualify.
• Enrolled, or accepted, at an accredited school.Two-year, four-year, graduate or trade. A certificate programme counts.

Deadlines

• 1 November.The autumn award. Winner told by mid-December.
• 1 May.The spring award. Winner told by mid-June.

What to send

One statement of 300 words or fewer, answering this:

What is one thing you would change about how veterans get help, and what are you studying that puts you closer to changing it?

Write it yourself, in your own words. We are not counting adjectives and we do not care about your GPA. Tell us something true.

How it is judged

One person reads every application: the veteran who built this site. Awards go on the strength of the answer, nothing else. No interview, no video, no social media requirement.

About your documents

Do not send us a DD-214 with your application.We only ask for proof of service, or proof of your relationship to a veteran, from the finalist we intend to pay. Nobody else's military records ever sit on our servers, because asking a few hundred people for sensitive documents to pay one of them is not a thing we are willing to do.

Payment goes straight to your school's financial aid office, not to you, which is standard for scholarships and keeps it clean on your taxes.

Apply

Send your statement below. Put Scholarship at the top of your message so it reaches the right pile, and leave an email address we can reply to.

If you are in crisis, do not wait on us: the Veterans Crisis Line is free and confidential, 24/7 - dial 988, then press 1, or text 838255.

Questions

Anything unclear, ask us. If you run a veteran services office or a scholarship listing and want details to publish, take whatever you need from this page.