Postsecondary Educational Gratuity Program
This program honors individuals who lost their lives protecting the citizens of this Commonwealth by providing their children with a waiver of tuition, fees, and room and board charges. An act was signed into law that provides financial assistance to children of Pennsylvania police officers, firefighters, rescue or ambulance squad members, corrections facility employees or National Guard members who died in the line of duty after January 1, 1976.
On November 30, 2004, the Governor signed into law an amendment to this Act, to also include sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, National Guard members and certain other individuals who are on federal or state active military duty, are Pennsylvania residents, and who died in the line of duty since September 11, 2001.
This program provides a waiver of tuition, fees, and room and board costs charged by public postsecondary institutions. This waiver is only applied to charges that remain after all other grants (federal, state and outside scholarships) have been applied to your student account.
Eligibility requirements
To qualify you must:
- Be a resident of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
- Be a child by birth or adoption of a deceased police officer, firefighter, rescue or ambulance squad member, corrections facility employee or active National Guard member who died after January 1, 1976, as a direct result of performing his or her official duties.
- Be a child by birth or adoption of a deceased sheriff, deputy sheriff, National Guard member or certain other individual who was on federal or state active military duty who died since September 11, 2001, as a direct result of performing his or her official duties.
- Be 25 years of age or younger at the time of application for the program.
- Have already applied for available scholarships, as well as state and federal grants, and have provided a record of application for financial aid to the postsecondary institution to which application is made.
- Be enrolled at a Pennsylvania community college, state-owned institution, or state-related institution as a full-time student pursuing undergraduate studies that will lead to an associate or baccalaureate degree.
To apply
- Download the Postsecondary Education Gratuity Application (82 KB PDF) or the Postsecondary Education Gratuity Renewal Information Request (67 KB PDF), as appropriate (Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or higher required). Please Note: A certified copy of the student’s birth certificate must accompany the PEGP Application for first-time applicants. For more information on how to obtain this certificate, please visit www.health.state.pa.us/vitalrecords.
- Call toll-free: 1-800-692-7392.
- Mail a written request to:
POSTSECONDARY EDUCATIONAL GRATUITY PROGRAM
PHEAA State Grant and Special Programs
PO Box 8157
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8157