Paralyzed Veterans of America Scholarships

Paralyzed Veterans of America scholarships are provided by a nationally recognized non-profit organization of the same name. The organization works not only to provide disabled veterans scholarships but also with various other services to work towards making disabled veterans’ lives better in various ways. Whether working towards job opportunities, post injury activities, educating members or providing the Paralyzed Veterans of America scholarships, the group does what it can where it can.

Originally started in 1986, the scholarship program has served a large number of disabled veterans over time having given out at least $300,000 in award money since then. Every year the program runs making available financial aid to those who need the assistance and are member of the organization. That last part is really key here – in order to get access to a Paralyzed Veterans of America scholarship applicants must be members of the organization. While getting access to the scholarship is certainly a good reason to join the organization, PVA also provides services and assistance in other forms as well. If a student is disabled due to an injury sustained during active duty, this is a great group to not only get support from others in the same situation but also to get other forms of assistance as well.

The Paralyzed Veterans of America scholarship comes in a single form working to help not only members but also their families. In order to be eligible to receive funding from the PVA for financial assistance towards school, applicants will need to be a member of the PVA or an immediate family member of the organization. All applicants will need to be United States citizens and be enrolled full or part time at an accredited college in the US. Those who have previously won an award through the Paralyzed Veterans of America scholarship are encouraged to apply again.

Winners of the award will receive $500 if they attend school part time and full time students will receive the full amount of $1,000. Largely a merit based scholarship, Paralyzed Veterans of America scholarships are reviewed to ensure that applications are complete and then weighed on a number of various factors. Amongst these factors are the personal statement, previous academic history, letters of recommendation and activities outside of studies such as sports, club or community volunteer work. An entire section in the application applies specifically to experiential activities. This area should focus on what a student has done with their lives up to that point – what extracurricular activities have they been involved in, what work or volunteer experiences do they have? These two sections in particular can really be used to an applicant’s advantage to show not only dedication to continuing life as normal and getting over their disability but also that they have a clear drive to not only succeed but also to help others along the way. Being a non-profit volunteer assisted organization itself, this would also be a good place to add volunteer activities relating directly to the PVA. Since the Paralyzed Veterans of America scholarship is so strongly merit based, it could certainly never hurt an applicant to have been directly involved in the organization giving out awards.

It is important to remember that, as a merit based program, Paralyzed Veterans of America scholarships are going to have some pretty decent competition. Though the PVA does not list their numbers directly anywhere, on average somewhere around 16 different students receive awards every year. While certainly award amounts have changed over time and various other criteria along with it, it should be pretty clear that a large number of applicants apply for the program every year and of them the PVA, while being able to cover many students, will not be able to cover them all. It will be important to take the application process seriously and ensure that everything included in the application package displays the best of the best an applicant has to offer.