JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- The Arctic Warrior Airman’s Advisory Council is hosting an essay contest in which the three best essays will each be given a $100 scholarship.
“This is a great opportunity for all Airmen to gain scholarship essay writing experience for future scholarship applications,” said Senior Airman Jetro Davies, AWAAC president. “Applicants must send their essays to the AWAAC treasurer, Senior Airman Joshua Moody.”
The deadline for the competition is Oct. 5, Davies said.
Additionally, the education office has a plethora of services available to Airmen looking to put such experience to use.
“There’s probably tens of thousands of scholarships available to active duty [personnel] their spouses and children,” said Darrin Kerschner, education specialist for the Elmendorf Education Center.
All those scholarships can be found in two particular books distributed by the Department of Defense and found in the base library: Financial aid for veterans, Military Personnel and Their Family and Scholarships, Grants and Prizes, Kerschner said.
Kerschner keeps copies of the books at the education office and can explain how they work to interested persons, in case they want a crash-course on the books before setting out on their own.
“When we lost the spouses tuition assistance [program], one spouse used these books right here and got 68 grand,” Kerschner said. “She said that was the best $340 of stamps she ever spent.”
Air Force spouses used to have tuition assistance similar to their active duty counterparts, but it’s since been replaced by a better alternative, Kerschner said.
That alternative is the Air Force Association’s Mike and Gail Donley Spouse Scholarship and the General Henry H. Arnold Education Grant Program, valued at $2,500 and $2,000 respectively.
The programs are annual and competitive, Kerschner said. However, JBER applicants have the advantage of being stationed at a location that is considered overseas and are more likely to be accepted into the program.
There’s also a one-time, non-renewable $4,000 grant offered by My Career Advancement Account and is open to spouses who are married to an O-2 or below and E-5 or below, Kerschner said.
Dependents can get a piece of the pie too, Kerschner said.
“If anyone has graduating seniors, the freshman year is when to start planning for that stuff,” Kerschner said. “Most of the time when [dependents] come in to ask, it’s halfway through their senior year in high school. They need to prepare for this as early as their freshman year.”
After sitting on several scholarship boards, Kerschner said the biggest barrier between an applicant and the money is an incomplete application.
“Most of the time when a package is declined, it is incomplete,” Kerschner said. “Provide every piece of documentation. If it’s missing something, it’s not even seen. Millions go unclaimed every year because people don’t put in for it or do so incompletely.”
For more information on federal and local scholarships, visit or call the Education Office at 552-3164.