Your GI Bill isn’t only for you. Four programs let you share your benefit with family, give survivors their own education benefit, or extend your own benefit for a STEM degree. Each has its own eligibility and, crucially, its own deadlines.
This page explains who qualifies and the dates that matter. To estimate the actual amounts (tuition, housing, books), use the GI Bill Estimator.
Transfer of Entitlement (TEB)
Share your GI Bill with family — while you're still serving
Who it’s for: Service members who want to give unused Post-9/11 GI Bill months to a spouse or child.
You can transfer some or all of your unused Post-9/11 entitlement to your spouse or children — but only while you are still serving. The Department of Defense (not VA) approves the transfer, and you set or change how many months each family member gets through milConnect. Plan ahead: you cannot start a new transfer after you separate.
- Eligibility: generally at least 6 years of service AND agreeing to serve 4 more; family members must be enrolled in DEERS.
- Spouse: can start using it right away, and keeps eligibility for up to 15 years after your separation; gets the housing allowance and books stipend.
- Child: can use it only after you've completed 10 years of service, must have a high-school diploma (or be 18), and must use it before turning 26 (the 15-year rule does not apply to children).
- You can revoke or change the number of months any time while serving.
Fry Scholarship
Post-9/11 benefits for children & surviving spouses of a fallen service member
Who it’s for: Children and surviving spouses of a service member who died in the line of duty after September 10, 2001.
The Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship gives the full Post-9/11 GI Bill — at the 100% level — to the children and surviving spouses of a service member who died in the line of duty after 9/10/2001 (including a Selected Reserve member who died of a service-connected disability, or death within 120 days of discharge). It pays full in-state public tuition (capped at private/foreign schools), a monthly housing allowance, and a books stipend.
- Up to 36 months at the 100% benefit level.
- Children: must start before age 18. If the parent died BEFORE Jan 1, 2013, eligibility ends at the child's 33rd birthday; if on/after Jan 1, 2013, it NEVER expires.
- Surviving spouses: no time limit to use it.
- A child eligible for BOTH the Fry Scholarship and DEA (Chapter 35) must choose one — you can't use both.
- Note: a temporary eligibility expansion runs through Oct 1, 2027.
DEA — Survivors' & Dependents' Educational Assistance (Chapter 35)
Education for dependents of a P&T-disabled or deceased Veteran
Who it’s for: Spouses and children of a Veteran who is permanently & totally disabled from a service-connected condition, or who died from one (plus certain POW/MIA cases).
DEA (Chapter 35) provides education and training for dependents of a Veteran who is permanently and totally disabled due to a service-connected condition, or who died from a service-connected condition or while on active duty. It covers degree and certificate programs, apprenticeships, and on-the-job training.
- Up to 36 months of benefits.
- Children: generally usable between ages 18 and 26 (extensions possible).
- Spouse: 10 years from the date of eligibility or the Veteran's death — 20 years if the service member died on active duty.
- Big change: if the qualifying event (or the child turning 18 / finishing high school) is on/after Aug 1, 2023, there is NO age or time limit.
- A surviving spouse loses eligibility by remarrying before 57 (can regain it); children do NOT lose it if the surviving spouse remarries.
- Note: as of Aug 1, 2026, high-school programs are no longer DEA-eligible.
Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship
Extend your own Post-9/11 benefit for a STEM degree
Who it’s for: Veterans and Fry Scholars running out of Post-9/11 entitlement while pursuing a STEM degree.
The STEM Scholarship adds extra months of Post-9/11 GI Bill for Veterans and Fry Scholars who are pursuing (or have earned) a qualifying science, technology, engineering, or math degree and are about to run out of entitlement. It is an extension of your own benefit — not a family benefit — and is not transferable to dependents.
- Up to 9 additional months of Post-9/11 benefits, to a maximum of $30,000.
- You must have used, or be within 180 days of exhausting, your Post-9/11 entitlement.
- You need at least 60 semester (90 quarter) hours toward a qualifying STEM undergraduate degree — or already hold a STEM degree and be in a covered teaching-certification or clinical-training program.
- Cannot be combined with the Yellow Ribbon Program; not transferable to dependents.
Which One Fits?
Still serving and want your spouse or child to use your GI Bill? → Transfer of Entitlement — set it up through milConnect before you separate.
Your service member died in the line of duty after 9/10/2001? → Fry Scholarship — for the children or the surviving spouse.
You're the dependent of a Veteran who is P&T disabled or died from a service-connected condition? → DEA (Chapter 35).
You're a Veteran or Fry Scholar running low on GI Bill for a STEM degree? → Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship.
Not sure, or juggling more than one? A School Certifying Official or an accredited VSO can confirm eligibility and help you apply — at no cost.
Sources: VA education & career benefits (va.gov/education and family & survivor education), and the 2026 VA Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents, Survivors, and Caregivers. For the GI Bill itself, see the GI Bill Estimator; for terms, the VA-to-English Glossary.