Scholarships for Military Children program open Published Jan. 16, 2014 By Cherie Huntington DeCA public affairs specialist FORT LEE, Va. -- Applications for the 2014 Scholarships for Military Children Program are available at commissaries worldwide or on the Internet at http://www.militaryscholar.org. Applications must be turned in to a commissary by close of business Feb. 28, 2014. Packages must be hand-delivered or shipped via U.S. Postal Service or other delivery methods, not emailed or faxed. This year's award amount has risen to $2,000, and the program awards at least one scholarship at each commissary with qualified applicants. An applicant must be a dependent, unmarried child, younger than 21 - or 23, if enrolled as a full-time student at a college or university - of a service member on active duty, Reserve or Guard member, retiree or survivor of a military member who died while on active duty, or survivor of a retiree. Applicants should ensure that they and their sponsor are enrolled in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System database and have a military ID card. The applicant must attend or plan to attend an accredited college or university, full time, in the fall of 2014 or be enrolled in studies designed to transfer to a four-year program. Fisher House Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps service members and their families, administers the program. Scholarship Managers, a national, nonprofit, scholarship management services organization, manages and awards the scholarships. Commissary partners and the general public donate money to the program; every dollar donated goes directly to funding the scholarships. Since inception of the program in 2001, more than $11.3 million in scholarships have been awarded to 7,412 military dependents from more than 71,000 applicants. For more information, students or sponsors should call Scholarship Managers at 856-616-9311 or email them at militaryscholar@scholarshipmanagers.com.