If your parent or spouse died in the line of duty while serving, VA may pay for your education through two different programs: the Fry Scholarship and Chapter 35, Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA). They pay in very different ways. The Fry Scholarship works like the Post-9/11 GI Bill®, paying your tuition to the school and adding a housing allowance; Chapter 35 pays you one flat amount each month. This guide covers who qualifies for the Fry Scholarship after the 2025 changes, how the two compare at the 2026–27 rates, VA's rules for using both, which one tends to fit which family, and how to apply at a school that accepts it.
In this guide
The Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship is named for a Marine from Texas who died in Iraq in 2006 while disarming an explosive, leaving three young children. It pays through the Post-9/11 GI Bill at the 100% benefit level, for up to 36 months of tuition and fees, housing, and books and supplies.
Eligibility starts with the service member, who must have died on or after September 11, 2001. According to VA, one of these must be true:
The 120-day rule is new. It came from the Elizabeth Dole Act, signed January 2, 2025, and VA says it is temporary: it covers school terms that start on or after August 1, 2025, and before October 1, 2027. If that is your family's situation, apply early and ask VA how it will pay you; the law did not spell out every detail, such as Yellow Ribbon access. VA's Selected Reserve rules do not cover Army or Air National Guard members who died while on State orders.
Children
Surviving spouses
Sources: VA.gov, Fry Scholarship (last updated September 22, 2026); VA, Elizabeth Dole Act education provisions (last updated August 11, 2025); Congressional Research Service, R48588 (June 27, 2025), for the 100% benefit level and the 120-day group; VA news release (April 30, 2010) for the scholarship's namesake.
Both programs are for survivors, but Chapter 35 also covers the families of living veterans, and the money reaches you by a different route. Here they are side by side, at the rates VA publishes for 2026–27:
Fry Scholarship
Chapter 35 (DEA)
Sources: VA.gov, Post-9/11 GI Bill rates (last updated July 31, 2026; August 1, 2026 – July 31, 2027); Chapter 35 rates (last updated October 1, 2026; October 1, 2026 – September 30, 2027); Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance and Yellow Ribbon Program.
The practical difference is who carries the tuition bill. With the Fry Scholarship, VA pays the school. With Chapter 35, nine months at full time comes to $14,589 (9 × $1,621), and tuition, rent and books all come out of that. Our Chapter 35 benefits guide covers the full DEA rate table and its own age rules, and our guide to what the GI Bill covers shows how the Post-9/11 payments that Fry uses add up.
Weighing Fry against Chapter 35 for a specific school?
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You can be eligible for both programs, but VA pays you through only one at a time, and how much you can use in total depends on who you are and when your family member died:
Child · death before Aug 1, 2011
You may use both, one after the other. VA caps the two together at 81 months of full-time training.
Child · death on or after Aug 1, 2011
You may use both only if you qualify for Chapter 35 through a different event, such as your other parent's disability rating. Combined cap: 48 months. Otherwise, you choose one.
Surviving spouse
You pick one program. VA says that once you make this choice, you cannot switch to the other.
Parent is a living veteran
If VA rated your parent permanently and totally disabled, Chapter 35 is open to you; the Fry Scholarship is not, because it requires a death in service, or within 120 days of discharge.
Sources: VA.gov, Fry Scholarship and Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (both last updated September 22, 2026).
One point is easy to miss: a veteran who died of a service-connected condition years after leaving active duty usually opens Chapter 35 for the family, not the Fry Scholarship, which covers those deaths only for Selected Reserve members or within 120 days of discharge.
If you can use both, which first? Look at the clocks. A child whose Chapter 35 eligibility began before August 1, 2023, generally has to use it before turning 26, while the Fry Scholarship runs to age 33 or has no limit at all. In that case it often makes sense to use first the benefit whose window closes first, so neither set of months goes unused.
If you qualify for both, the choice turns on three things: what your school costs, how many classes you take, and whether any of them meet in person.
Private or higher-cost school
The Fry Scholarship is usually stronger. VA pays tuition up to $30,908.34 a year directly to a private school for 2026–27, and the Yellow Ribbon Program can cover more at a participating school. Chapter 35 cannot.
More than half time, at least one class in person
The Fry Scholarship usually goes further, because it adds a housing allowance. A hybrid program may qualify you for the resident rate for the school's ZIP code rather than the online rate; your school certifying official decides how your classes are reported.
Half time or less
Chapter 35 can come out ahead, especially at a lower-cost school. It still pays $939 a month at half time, while the Fry housing allowance stops at half time or below, leaving Fry to cover mainly tuition and books.
Fully online, low tuition
Run the numbers both ways. Fry pays the tuition plus up to $1,261 a month for housing and up to $1,000 a year for books; Chapter 35 pays $1,621 a month and you pay the tuition yourself.
Our guide to the GI Bill one-class rule explains how one in-person class per term can move a student from the online rate to the resident rate, and our MHA calculator gives a rough figure for a school's ZIP code; treat it as an estimate, not a promise. For an exact school, check VA's own GI Bill Comparison Tool.
If your parent is a living veteran, Chapter 35 is not your only route: a parent who served at least six years may have transferred Post-9/11 benefits to you while still in uniform. Our guide to transferring the GI Bill to a spouse or child explains how a transfer compares with Chapter 35.
Want a second set of eyes before you choose?
Especially for surviving spouses, the choice between Fry and Chapter 35 is final. A Navigator can walk through both against your school's cost and your schedule. Free, 30 minutes, no obligation to enroll anywhere.
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Any program you use either benefit at must be approved by VA, and the school's certifying official has to certify your enrollment each term. Before you apply, run the program through our six-step VA-approval check, and ask the certifying official whether the school takes Fry Scholarship and Chapter 35 students in your program and, if tuition will run above the cap, whether it participates in Yellow Ribbon. Our Yellow Ribbon schools guide explains how the school's contribution and VA's match work for Fry Scholars.
All three VeteranDegrees partner schools accept Chapter 35 and the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which the Fry Scholarship pays through, and all three take part in Yellow Ribbon. Formats differ by program:
Monroe University
Bronx and New Rochelle, NY. Lists Chapter 33 and Chapter 35 among the benefits it accepts, and offers hybrid courses in majors including the MBA, MPA, MS in Computer Science and BS in Professional Studies for the Winter 2027 semester, which begins January 8, 2027.
Westcliff University
Irvine, Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA; Miami and Orlando, FL; Dallas, TX. Approved by the California State Approving Agency for veterans, service members and dependents; live online and on-campus classes, including the Professional Weekend format.
CIAM
Alhambra, CA. A hybrid MBA in Executive Management, plus an MS in Data Analytics and an MA in Organizational Leadership that are online.
Partner facts from each school's own materials (Monroe veterans page and hybrid-course list, September 2026; Westcliff military flyer, February 2026; CIAM, August 2026). Accepting Chapter 35 is not the same as covering full tuition: at these schools the monthly DEA payment may not cover all of it.
The Fry Scholarship and Chapter 35 share one application, VA Form 22-5490, and you file it yourself as the student:
A Navigator can walk you through each step, but you file the application yourself; VeteranDegrees never asks for your login. Some states add their own tuition benefits for survivors at public colleges, too: see the CalVet fee waiver in California and the Hazlewood Act in Texas, and try our Scholarship Finder for awards that stack with VA benefits. Our guide to scholarships for veterans and military families compares eight national programs, including Folds of Honor, whose categories include families of service members killed in action or in the line of duty.
A VA education benefit for the children and surviving spouses of service members who died in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001, including some Selected Reserve members. It pays through the Post-9/11 GI Bill at the 100% level for up to 36 months: tuition and fees to the school, plus a housing allowance and money for books.
The service member must have died on or after September 11, 2001: in the line of duty on active duty; from a service-connected disability within 120 days of leaving active duty (a temporary rule for school terms starting August 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027); or, as a Selected Reserve member, in the line of duty while not on active duty or from a service-connected disability. Children are eligible at 18 or after high school or a GED, married or not, and so are surviving spouses. You apply with VA Form 22-5490 for a VA-approved program.
Yes. The Fry Scholarship is a Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) benefit: the federal law that sets up Post-9/11 eligibility names it (38 U.S.C. § 3311). It pays at the 100% level, and it is your own entitlement, not months transferred from a parent or spouse. Fry Scholars can use the Yellow Ribbon Program at participating schools; if you qualify through the temporary 120-day rule, ask VA first, because the law did not spell that out. You apply with VA Form 22-5490, the dependents' form.
It depends on your school and your schedule. The Fry Scholarship is usually stronger at a private or higher-cost school, or if you study more than half time, because VA pays your tuition directly and adds a housing allowance. Chapter 35 can come out ahead at half time or less at a lower-cost school, because it still pays $939 a month at half time. If your parent is a living veteran rated permanently and totally disabled, only Chapter 35 is open to you.
No. VA pays through only one program at a time. A child whose parent died in the line of duty before August 1, 2011, may use both, one after the other, up to 81 months combined; after that date, only if Chapter 35 comes from a different event, up to 48 months. A surviving spouse must pick one and cannot switch later.
Children can start at 18 or after high school. If your parent died on or after January 1, 2013, there is no time limit. If your parent died earlier, the limit is age 33, unless you turned 18 or finished high school after January 1, 2013. Surviving spouses have no time limit.
No. Under the Elizabeth Dole Act, remarriage no longer ends a surviving spouse's eligibility, and the time limit for spouses is gone. VA says expired, unused benefits may be restored for use any time after January 2, 2025, if you apply again with VA Form 22-5490.
Yes, if you study more than half time. VA bases it on the housing allowance for an E-5 with dependents at your school's ZIP code; VA pays fully online students up to $1,261 a month from August 1, 2026, to July 31, 2027. One in-person class may qualify you for the resident rate instead; your school certifying official reports which applies.
Want to talk it through? A VeteranDegrees Navigator can help you compare the Fry Scholarship, Chapter 35 and any transferred benefits in your family, and shortlist programs that fit your schedule. Book a free Navigator call. No cost, no obligation to enroll anywhere. For the full picture of VA education benefits, start with our GI Bill® benefits guide, and before you commit to any school, run the program through our six-step check with VA's official GI Bill Comparison Tool and WEAMS.