To meet the needs of its ever-growing military student body, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs has begun raising funds for a new scholarship program for its active-duty military members.

The Hometown Education Resources & Opportunities Empowering Servicemembers (HEROES) Scholarship looks to fill the gap between what’s covered by military benefits and the college costs for active-duty service members attending UCCS.

The scholarship will act as the successor to the Active-Duty Tuition Assistance Grant. Approved for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, the grant provides active service members pursuing undergraduate degrees with funds to cover tuition costs, fees and required course materials not covered by military tuition assistance.

Crista Hill, UCCS director of Veteran and Military Affairs, said 1 of 4 students at the school have ties to the military. Hill said the average need for active-duty students is $3,000 each year.

“Active-duty students don’t have necessarily the VA benefits that, you know, our veterans are going to have,” she said. “So, they’re limited to military assistance tuition for the most part.”

Over the past 20 years, the military tuition assistance program has provided active-duty students a flat rate of $250 per credit hour or $4,000 annually. A lack of adjustments for rising tuition costs in the years since has increasingly put more of a financial strain on these students.

“That’s not enough to cover UCCS tuition. That’s not enough to cover most four-year universities’ tuition,” Hill said. “And so, we know that need, that gap, prevents active-duty members from going to school because it’s just too much.

Determining these needs many years ago, those involved with UCCS and the university system’s Board of Regents began the process to meet them. Sue Sharkey, emerita with CU’s Board of Regents, had met with military leadership over recent years in search of solutions for the tuition gap.

She said it was shortly after UCCS Chancellor Jennifer Sobanet met with her last summer that the school was in a position to move forward with new financial aid for service members.

“Not only does it benefit our students, but I think it reflects well on this campus that we really are a military-friendly campus and want to do all that we can to serve this community,” she said.

With the grant’s finite funding set to expire after the upcoming school year, UCCS administration has been preparing how it might continue the services.

The long-term goal set for the new scholarship is to build an endowment that will support more than 200 service members each year. While the goal is estimated between $5 million and $6 million, a short-term goal to raise 100 $3,000 scholarships by fall 2025 are in the works.

Since announcing this goal in May, UCCS has received 15% of the funds for next year.

“Just from the interactions that I’m having, people are really pleased to hear about it,” Sharkey said of the scholarship.

“This campus means a lot to this community and obviously our military means a lot to our community, too.”

The kickoff event for the scholarship’s fundraising campaign will be held at Red Leg Brewing on Aug. 1. Plans for additional fundraising events are in the works.

Those interested in learning more, donating or contributing to scholarship efforts are encouraged to visit https://give.uccs.edu/heroes-scholarship.