VFW, Sport Clips Help 136 Student Veterans Pay Fall Tuition

More than $630,000 in college scholarships awarded

Aug 05, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is pleased to announce that 136 service members and veterans have been selected as 2016 fall semester recipients of the VFW’s “Sport Clips Help A Hero Scholarship.” Together, these student veterans will receive a combined $631,892 in aid, setting a new program record for assistance provided.  

Through the VFW’s long-standing relationship with Sport Clips Haircuts, the Help A Hero Scholarship program was enacted nearly four years ago to provide service members and veterans with the financial assistance needed to complete their educational goals without incurring excessive student loan debt.

With the continued rising costs of education, military education benefits often run out or fall short of covering the full costs of a college education which leaves many student veterans without a degree. The Help A Hero Scholarship provides student veterans with the chance to achieve their education goals by filling those gaps.

To date, the Help A Hero program has awarded more than $2.4 million in financial aid and has provided scholarships to 580 service members and veterans.

Scholarship recipient Timothy Gamber explains, “Being a full time student and parent along with my physical limitations has brought a financial burden to myself. The VA only covers so much of the costs of college and I have a family to consider in all of my expenses. Student loans are … a hole that I am trying to avoid digging deeper into. This scholarship will allow me to pay for a semester’s worth of quality education and get me closer to my goal of a degree. It will allow me to put more financially toward the betterment of my family.”

Help A Hero scholarships are awarded exclusively to service members and veterans twice a year and help cover the cost of tuition and fees. Scholarship applications are currently being accepted for the 2017 spring semester.

View the complete list of the 2016 fall recipients here.