DEA and the Fry Scholarship: Two Survivor School Benefits

There are two VA education programs for the families of disabled and deceased veterans, and they are built on completely different math. Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance, known as DEA or Chapter 35, pays a flat monthly check regardless of what your school costs. The Fry Scholarship pays full Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, tuition plus a housing allowance plus a books stipend. Many families qualify for one, some qualify for both and must choose, and because DEA pays a flat monthly stipend while Fry covers full tuition plus a housing allowance, the choice decides how much of the degree comes out of your own pocket.

DEA (Chapter 35): who qualifies

DEA under 38 U.S.C. chapter 35 is for the spouse or child of a veteran or service member who fits one of these:

• Permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected condition (a schedular 100 percent that VA has found permanent, or a permanent TDIU award),
• Died from a service-connected condition, or
• Died in service on active duty.

It also covers dependents of a service member who is missing in action, captured, or forcibly detained by a foreign power for more than 90 days, or hospitalized for a service-connected permanent and total disability with a likely discharge. The permanent-and-total finding is the trigger most families overlook: if the veteran is alive and rated P&T, the spouse and children can start using DEA now, they do not have to wait.

What DEA pays (and what it does not)

This is the part that surprises people. DEA does not pay your tuition bill. It pays a flat monthly stipend directly to the student, and you use it however you want, tuition, rent, or ramen. As of October 1, 2025 (rates run October 1, 2025 – September 30, 2026), the full-time college rate is $1,574.00 per month, with $1,244.00 at three-quarter time and $912.00 at half time. Apprenticeship and on-the-job training pay on a declining scale that starts at $999.00 for the first six months. VA updates these figures every October 1, so always confirm the current number on the rate table before you plan around it.

The entitlement is 36 months of benefits for anyone who started on or after August 1, 2018. Families who began before that date keep the older 45-month entitlement. That 2018 cut is why timing and program choice matter so much.

The eligibility clocks: children and spouses

DEA runs on a delimiting date, not an open-ended right, and it works differently for children and spouses under 38 CFR 21.3041:

• Children generally use DEA between ages 18 and 26, with the 26th birthday as the standard delimiting date. Extensions exist, and if the child became eligible on or after August 1, 2023, VA removed the age limit entirely, so any age works.
• Spouses get a 10-year window, measured from the date VA rates the veteran permanently and totally disabled or the date of the veteran’s death. If the veteran died on active duty, the window is 20 years. For qualifying events on or after August 1, 2023, there is no time limit.

Apply for DEA with VA Form 22-5490, the Dependents’ Application for VA Education Benefits.

The Fry Scholarship: full Post-9/11 for line-of-duty deaths

The Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship is a different animal. It is for the child or surviving spouse of a service member (including a member of the Selected Reserve) who died in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001, or who died from a service-connected disability within 120 days of separation. Instead of a flat stipend, Fry pays the full Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) rate: tuition and fees sent directly to the school, a monthly housing allowance, and a books and supplies stipend, for up to 36 months. At an in-state public school that can mean full tuition covered plus more than a thousand dollars a month in housing, which is why Fry is almost always the richer benefit when a family qualifies for it. For the mechanics of how those Chapter 33 rates work, see the Post-9/11 GI Bill guide.

Fry vs. DEA: you often have to choose

A surviving spouse or child of a line-of-duty death can qualify for both Fry and DIC-based DEA, but VA lets you use only one program at a time, and the same period of schooling cannot draw on both. You elect one. Because Fry pays full tuition plus housing while Chapter 35 pays a flat stipend, Fry usually wins for a full-time student at a costlier school, though the flat DEA check can be simpler for part-time or lower-cost programs. One exception keys off when the service member died: if the death was before August 1, 2011, a dependent may qualify for both Fry and Chapter 35 DEA (still one program at a time, with a combined cap of 81 months of full-time training); if the death was on or after that date, you can use both only where DEA eligibility comes from a separate qualifying event, and the combined cap is 48 months. The DIC rule depends on who you are: a surviving spouse keeps DIC while using the Fry Scholarship, but a child has to give up DIC to use Fry, so run the numbers before you switch.

Where this connects

DEA and Fry sit inside the broader survivor picture. If a veteran died from a service-connected cause or was rated P&T, the family should also read the DIC survivors’ benefits guide for the monthly tax-free payment that runs alongside these education programs. If the veteran is alive and the P&T rating rests on unemployability, the TDIU guide explains how that award, once permanent, opens Chapter 35 for the spouse and kids.

A free VA-accredited representative or VSO can help a survivor sort Fry from DEA and file the election, at no cost. VeteranPlug is an independent reference, not affiliated with VA.