America’s Heroes Scholarship Fund
The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties has established a scholarship program to assist the children or spouses of law enforcement personnel who have fallen in the line of duty.
America's Heroes Scholarship Fund
The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties has established a scholarship program to assist the children or spouses of law enforcement personnel who have fallen in the line of duty who plan to continue their education in two-year or four-year colleges, vocational-technical programs, or graduate school.
The program is administered by Scholarship America®, the nation’s largest designer and manager of scholarships and other education support programs for corporations, foundations, associations, and individuals. Eligibility for individual programs is determined at the sole discretion of the sponsor and eligible applications are reviewed by Scholarship America’s evaluation team.
Eligibility
Applicants to the America’s Heroes Scholarship Fund must:
- Be a dependent child or spouse of a fallen law enforcement officer*
*Applicants must provide a letter from the Law Enforcement Agency the officer worked for which verifies a Line of Duty Death - Be high school seniors or graduates, GED holder, current college undergraduates, or graduate students
- Be enrolled or plan to enroll in a part-time or full-time undergraduate course of study at an accredited two- or four-year college/university, or vocational technical school
- Certification programs must be through an accredited institution and must run on a standard academic semester calendar. Certification programs must be a minimum of one semester/term in length and applicants must be enrolled at the time awards are disbursed
- Have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (or its equivalent)
- Children of Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties employees are not eligible for these awards
Awards
If selected as a recipient, the student will receive a $10,000 award, renewable for up to 3 years, or until a degree is earned, whichever occurs first. Renewal is contingent upon satisfactory academic performance in a full-time course of study and continuation of the program by the Sponsor. Awards may transfer from an undergraduate to graduate degree if the student enrolls the semester after graduation.
Awards are for undergraduate and graduate study.
Notification
All applicants will be notified in June.
Notifications are sent via email. When setting up your account, avoid using a school or work email. Instead, use an active, personal email address that you will continue to have access to.
Please make sure to add studentsupport@scholarshipamerica.org as well as the program email address as safe senders in your email contact list.
Payment of Scholarships
Scholarship America processes scholarship payments on behalf of the Sponsor. Payment is made in July.
Selection of Recipients
Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of:
- Academic performance
- A statement of educational and career goals and objectives
- Unusual personal or family circumstances
- Two (2) letters of recommendation
- Financial need
Financial need, as calculated by Scholarship America, must be demonstrated for the student to receive an award.
Selection of recipients is made by Scholarship America. In no instance does any officer or employee of the Sponsor play a part in the selection. Not all applicants to the program will be selected as recipients. Students may reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements. All applicants agree to accept the decision as final.
Requirements
As part of your application, you must upload the following:
- A current, complete transcript of grades. Grade reports are not accepted. Transcripts must display:
- Student name
- School name
- Grades
- Credit hours for each course and term in which each course was taken.
- One letter from a law enforcement agency verifying that parent or spouse worked there at the time of death in the line of duty.
NOTE: If you are providing SAT or ACT test scores, and those scores are not listed on your high school transcript, you will need to upload a copy of your test score report(s) separately. If you are uploading a college transcript, those scores are not required.
Two letters of recommendation must be submitted on your behalf no later than February 5, 2026, at 3:00 pm Central Time.
Your application is not complete unless all required materials are submitted electronically.
