By the numbers: The American Legion Legacy Scholarship

In May, The American Legion awarded more than $667,000 to 35 recipients of The American Legion Legacy Scholarship. The Legacy Fund – which has become a focus of The American Legion Riders – provides financial assistance to college students whose parents are U.S. servicemembers who died while on active duty on or after Sept. 11, 2001, or whose parents are post-9/11 veterans with a combined Department of Veterans Affairs disability rating of 50 percent or greater.

But the full impact of the program is better told by the recently completed American Legion Legacy Scholarship Annual Report for 2019. The report is available to download here.

The report details the amount of scholarships awarded in 2019 (57) and the dollar total ($1,122,624). The report also notes the amount raised by the 2019 American Legion Legacy Run, which brought in $1,028,643. The American Legion Family, spearheaded by the Legion Riders, have helped the American Legion Legacy Run bring in more than $1 million in five of the previous six annual rides.

Since The American Legion Legacy Scholarship's first grant in 2004, 401 military children of the fallen and disabled have received over $3.6 million in aid. The scholarship is needs-based and is designed to fulfill a financial gap remaining after all federal and state educational grants/scholarships available to an eligible applicant have been utilized. Each scholarship provides up to $20,000 in aid for undergraduate or post-graduate college. Recipients may reapply for additional annual awards up to six times.

Read testimonials from American Legion Legacy Scholarship recipients and how thanks to the scholarship they are able to achieve their dreams of going to the college of their choice, pursue their studies without having to get a job or have the opportunity to study abroad.