Grants for Military

The Imagine America Military Award Program (MAP) is designed to help military service members receive career education and make the transition from military to civilian life. The Imagine America Foundation established this national aid program in 2004, which offers a $1,000 career education award to any qualified active-duty, reservist, honorably discharged or retired veteran of a United States military service branch for attendance at participating career colleges. If you're interested in receiving training through a participating career college, we encourage you to take advantage of this scholarship opportunity.

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What kinds of skills can career colleges help veterans develop?

The great thing about trade schools is their programs tend to be quicker than traditional college degree programs. If you want to work as a welder, mechanic, health care professional or information technology specialist, then why not explore your options?

Military veteran students seeking scholarships to career and technical colleges should become Imagine America members today and consider these career paths. Keep in mind that these are just a handful of the careers you can seek as a result of your technical education. Let's take a look at some of the statistics about these fields:

Welding careers
As a welder, you can work in several industries and environments, including manufacturing, repair, wholesale and durable goods, and specialty trade contracting. Welders earn an average annual salary around $38,000, but those in the highest-paying states, such as Alaska and Hawaii, earn anywhere from $58,00 to $70,000 per year. The vast majority of welders (60 percent) work in manufacturing.

Automotive
If you have experience working with your hands in the military, you might consider a career in auto mechanics. With your existing skills, you should be able to efficiently complete a program. The average starting salary for auto mechanics is $37,850 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job growth for these occupations is also rising at the same rate as the national average.

Medical
Working in the medical field takes the kind of compassion, intellect and courage military veterans naturally possess. If you are thinking about a career in the growing field of health care, we definitely recommend looking into it. First of all, health care jobs are growing at an average rate of 19 percent — about three times the national average. You can find several types of programs in this field, including (but not limited to):

• Medical assisting
• Medical billing and coding
• Nursing
• Dental assistant

Information technology
We all know what a hot topic cybersecurity is in the mainstream media. Hackers and terrorists constantly seek ways to penetrate our nation's most valuable data. All kinds of companies need the help of skilled IT professionals to build and maintain secure networks to protect their data. Health care organizations, government agencies, big and small businesses — all need IT workers in our digital world.

When you consider applying for an Imagine America scholarship, think about the types of jobs that would be a good fit for you. Chances are, we can help you take the next step and compare programs.

If you have any questions about our scholarships to trade schools, let us know. Otherwise, go ahead and become an Imagine America member, so you can compare career and technical colleges and apply for your scholarship today!