Georgia Public Service Memorial Grant

The Georgia Public Service Memorial Grant provides financial assistance toward the cost of attendance for eligible students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs at eligible colleges, universities, or technical colleges in Georgia. The program is administered through the Georgia Student Finance Authority. It is specifically intended to assist spouses and children of qualifying Georgia public servants who were killed or permanently disabled under qualifying circumstances connected with their employment. The source identifies eligible family members of Georgia Public Safety Officers, including law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, highway emergency response operators, and prison guards, as well as eligible family members of qualifying Public School Employees. For families of Georgia Public Safety Officers, the qualifying officer must have been permanently disabled or killed in the line of duty. For families of Public School Employees, the employee must have been killed or permanently disabled because of an act of violence while performing employment duties. The source separately states that a spouse of a qualifying Public School Employee must have been married to that employee at the time of the act of violence. The detailed eligibility list uses "and" between the Public Safety Officer and Public School Employee family-member conditions, while the introductory eligible-student language presents these as separate eligible groups. Because the supplied source contains this wording inconsistency, applicants should rely on the eligibility determination made by the Georgia Student Finance Authority rather than treating the two qualifying family circumstances as independently verified alternatives from this excerpt alone. Applicants must also satisfy citizenship, residency, enrollment, academic, and compliance requirements. A student must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. national or have evidence from the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service of eligible permanent resident alien status. The student must have been a legal resident of Georgia for 12 months before receiving aid and must be enrolled at a Georgia public or private college, university, or technical college as an undergraduate or graduate student seeking a college degree or technical certificate or diploma. The student must comply with Selective Service registration requirements, maintain satisfactory academic progress as defined by the college, comply with the Georgia Drug-Free Postsecondary Education Act of 1990, and not be in default or owe a refund on a student financial aid program. The annual grant may be applied toward any cost of attendance established by the eligible postsecondary institution. The amount is determined by subtracting other student financial aid from the institution's cost of attendance, and the resulting Public Service Memorial Grant award may not exceed $18,000 annually. The program also establishes a lifetime maximum award of $72,000. Awards are made on a first-come, first-served basis and depend on the availability of appropriated funds. The supplied information does not state a minimum award amount, total amount appropriated to the program, number of awards expected, or any required applicant cost share or matching contribution. To apply, the student completes Part A of the Public Service Memorial Grant application and forwards the application to the financial aid office at the student's college. The college financial aid office must certify the student's enrollment and eligibility and complete Part B. The completed application and required documentation are then uploaded to the Georgia Student Finance Authority through the GAfutures Document Upload process. Applicants must submit documentation concerning the accident, event, or act of violence that resulted in the qualifying death or disability. Supporting documents are required only the first time the student applies for the Public Service Memorial Grant. After the eligibility determination is completed, the applicant is notified of eligibility status by email. Students must reapply for the Public Service Memorial Grant each year, establishing an annual recurrence for participation in the program. The supplied information does not provide a specific annual application opening date, application deadline, pre-application deadline, award notification date, or fixed performance period. It also does not explicitly state that applications are accepted year-round, so the program cannot be classified as rolling solely from the information provided. Because awards are first-come, first-served and subject to the availability of appropriated funds, applicants should complete the required application, institutional certification, and documentation process as applicable without unnecessary delay. No individual program contact name, email address, telephone number, evaluation scoring criteria, or direct PDF URL is provided in the supplied source.

Apply promptly because awards are first-come, first-served and subject to available appropriated funds. Complete Part A, obtain college financial aid office certification and completion of Part B, and upload the completed application and required documentation to GSFA. Supporting documents are required only the first time the student applies.