Helping Heroes Grant Program
Author: Lance Iverson
The Comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability (OREA) is required by state law to study and evaluate the effectiveness of the Helping Heroes Grant program every four years. This is the Comptroller’s third review of the Helping Heroes Grant program, following prior reviews performed in 2014 and 2018, and it focuses on the last four years of the program’s operation from 2017 to 2021.
The Helping Heroes Grant program is funded through the state’s lottery scholarship program and provides financial aid to veterans of the armed services to attend institutions of higher education in Tennessee.
The number of participating students, the number of awards, and the amount of grant expenditures have all declined since 2018-19. These declines align with a decrease in the number of service members engaged in qualifying military activities.
The report includes policy options for the General Assembly, including amending state law concerning the value of the grants and the possible use of Helping Heroes Grants at Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology.
In 2008, the General Assembly passed Public Chapter 1142, creating the Helping Heroes Grant program to provide financial assistance to Tennessee citizens who are decorated, post-9/11 veterans. The grant, established in Tennessee Code as part of the state’s system of lottery-funded scholarships, is intended to offset the costs of postsecondary education for qualifying veterans.
PC 1142 requires the Comptroller’s Office to review the program to determine its effectiveness in educating veterans, beginning in the fifth year of the program’s operation (2012-13) and every four years thereafter. This brief represents the Comptroller’s second review of the Helping Heroes Grant program.
In 2008, the General Assembly passed Public Chapter 1142 (PC 1142), creating the Helping Heroes grant program to provide postsecondary education financial assistance to Tennessee citizens who are decorated, post-9/11 veterans. The grant, established in Tennessee state law as part of the state’s system of lottery-funded scholarships, is intended to offset the costs of postsecondary education for qualifying veterans. Helping Heroes grant awards total either $500 or $1,000 per student per semester (according to part-time or full-time status), dependent upon students’ passing their courses. PC 1142 requires the Comptroller’s Office to review the program to determine its effectiveness in educating veterans, beginning in the fifth year of the program’s operation (2012-13) and every four years thereafter.This brief represents the Comptroller’s first review of the Helping Heroes grant program.