Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance

If you became eligible before August 1, 2023, one of these must be true for you to use these benefits:

• You’re 18 years old, or
• You completed high school or have a GED

If you became eligible or turned 18 years old or completed high school on or after August 1, 2023, you can be any age to use these benefits.

It depends.  

There’s no time limit if one of these is true: 

• You became eligible for DEA benefits on or after August 1, 2023, or 
• You turned 18 years old on or after August 1, 2023, or 
• You completed high school or received your GED on or after August 1, 2023 

Generally, you have up to 8 years to use your benefits before you turn 26 years old, if all of these are true: 

• You became eligible for DEA before August 1, 2023, and
• You turned 18 before August 1, 2023, and
• You completed high school before August 1, 2023

In some cases, the 8-year time limit doesn’t end when you turn 26 years old. If any of these describe your situation, you may still be able to use DEA benefits after you turn 26 years old:

• You became eligible for DEA when you were between 18 and 26 years old, or
• Your parent died when you were between 18 and 26 years old, or
• You joined the military. In this case, you can use your DEA benefits up to 8 years from your discharge date as long as you’re under 31 years old.

• If your parent was a service member who died in the line of duty before August 1, 2011, you may qualify for both the DEA program and the Fry Scholarship. But you can use only one benefit at a time. In this case, we cap combined DEA and Fry Scholarship benefits at 81 months of full-time training.
  Learn about the Fry Scholarship
• If your parent was a service member who died in the line of duty on or after August 1, 2011, you may use both DEA and the Fry Scholarship only if you qualify for DEA under a different event. You can use only one program at a time. In this case, we limit combined DEA and Fry Scholarship benefits at 48 months of full-time training. 

Your benefits start on the date we determine that you’re eligible or on the date of the Veteran or service member’s death. 

It depends.  

If the event that qualified you for DEA happened before August 1, 2023, there’s a time limit to use your benefits:

• In most cases, your benefits end after 10 years. 
• If we rated the Veteran as permanently and totally disabled, and the Veteran later dies, you’ll get another 10 years of eligibility.  
• If the service member died on active duty, your benefits end after 20 years. 
• If we rated the Veteran as permanently and totally disabled, with an effective date that’s within 3 years after discharge from active duty, in most cases your benefits end 20 years from that effective date.  

If the event that qualified you for DEA happened on or after August 1, 2023, there’s no time limit to use your benefits. 

No. You’ll need to pick one or the other. Once you make this choice, you can’t switch to the other program.

Learn about the Fry Scholarship