For children of NC veterans, the state tries to deliver on its broken educational promises
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- Spring 2026 awards were prorated at 25% for more than 1,400 students.
- Legislators added $1 million nonrecurring and $10 million recurring for the program.
- The bill specifies future scholarships are contingent on availability of funds.
North Carolina promised Fort Bragg native Sadie Cain that she wouldn’t have to worry about the cost of her education if she pursued a degree in the state. Why? Her father is a veteran, deployed to the Middle East five times and disabled there. That makes her eligible for the North Carolina Scholarship for Children of Wartime Veterans.
But now a junior, Cain worries about how she will make rent, afford her bills, and pay tuition — anxieties she and her family thought she wouldn’t have to endure.
The scholarship was a major reason Cain decided to stay in North Carolina for college. But she hasn’t received the full amount awarded to her since last year. She’s been without the thousands of dollars she had come to rely on, leaving her feeling powerless, frustrated, and strapped for cash. Her father, even more so. That’s a worry he has to deal with on top of his chronic migraines and hearing issues, results of his time overseas.
That’s because the scholarship program is in dire financial straits, primarily as a result of the lack of a state budget. For more than 1,400 students, spring 2026 awards were prorated at 25% of each student’s promised amount, according to Stephanie High with the N.C. Department of Military and Veteran Affairs. Plus, the program never opened its 2026 application portal.
But on their second day back in session on Wednesday, legislators proposed additional money for the scholarship as part of their Medicaid deal.
There’s $1 million in one-time money to help students like Cain who only received a percentage of their award this semester, and $10 million in ongoing funds to allow the scholarship to reopen applications. That will help the scholarship operate in the next fiscal year, at least for certain types of scholarship recipients. Final votes on the bill are scheduled for Tuesday, and Gov. Josh Stein would then decide whether to sign it.
But beyond this fiscal year, the money in the bill is not enough to keep the scholarship entirely afloat. Uncertainty remains, and the long-term viability of the program is in question.
‘The state made a promise’
The program, founded in 1934, provides a scholarship for children of North Carolina veterans who served during wartime and are either disabled or deceased as a result. The scholarship breaks students down into classes based on the circumstances and consequences of their parents’ service, and can be applied at both public and private universities.
Michael O’Rourke, a veteran from New Bern who enlisted in 2003 and served across the Middle East and Africa, promised his daughter that, should she keep her grades up, she wouldn’t have to worry about the cost of college. He was confident he could keep that promise, in no small part because of the scholarship program.
His daughter is heading to East Carolina University next year to study nursing. But, at least for now, she is without the scholarship money she’s eligible for, because the scholarship hasn’t been accepting new applicants.
O’Rourke plans to keep his promise, but he says it’s a much heavier lift than he was led to believe it would be.
“She meets the requirements. She’s done everything she needs to do to get in, and then we were just let down by the state,” O’Rourke said. “The state made a promise, and now they’re not even upholding it. I’m just frustrated.”
“Unfortunately, I missed the first eight or nine years of my daughter’s life [while deployed overseas],” O’Rourke said. “So when I got out, I was playing catch up on that. One of the biggest selling points was I don’t have to worry about money. I can focus on spending time with her and making sure she’s getting through school and making the right grades.”
“I made a promise to her that I may not be able to keep,” he said. “But I’m gonna keep it. I’ll find a way. She got into school. I’m gonna pay for school. I’m not gonna let her down.”
Republicans who control the House and Senate reached a deal on the Medicaid bill, but have not been able to agree on a full state budget, which was supposed to be finished 10 months ago. A dispute between the two chambers over income tax cuts is a major reason.
For Rep. Julie von Haefen, a Democrat representing Wake County who serves on the Veterans Affairs committee, the appropriation in the Medicaid bill is a disappointment. She said that even with this $11 million injection, the program will remain underfunded.
“This is still going to affect two classes of students who’ve already had to pay for a semester of education that state law says they’re entitled to,” von Haefen said. “It breaks my heart that we’re adding stress to these students whose families have been through so much. It’s just not fair to them.”
Another provision in the Medicaid bill addresses the funding uncertainty for the scholarship, specifying that future scholarships are contingent on the availability of funds.
“To me, this is like a warning that if this happens again, people shouldn’t be mad,” von Haefen said. “Before, it was a requirement that [the state] pay these, but now, they’re changing the language to give themselves an out. Now, people are not going to be able to rely on this money.”
For O’Rourke, the problems he and his daughter are facing are symptoms of what he sees as a wider dysfunction in the General Assembly.
Legislators “can tell me all day that they’re trying [to pass a budget], and they understand, and we have a plan to do this, but it’s to me, it’s the [lack of] checks in the mail,” O’Rourke said. “They don’t understand the impacts they’re having on everybody in the state, not just the veterans, the teachers and the police and firemen. They’re all waiting on this budget so they can get paid what they’re owed.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 12:52 PM with the headline "For children of NC veterans, the state tries to deliver on its broken educational promises."
