Honoring the families of the fallen, one diploma at a time

Folds of Honor Indiana is known for its commitment to providing life-changing educational scholarships to spouses and children of fallen or disabled military personnel and first responders. Since its inception in 2007, Folds of Honor has awarded nearly 73,000 scholarships totaling over $340 million across the United States.

Folds of Honor Indiana has opened its scholarship applications for 2026 through March 31.

The Reporter spoke with Folds of Honor Indiana President Mike Daggett about the program itself, and how readers can contribute to this worthy cause.

Daggett is a U.S. Air Force Veteran and retired in 2019 after 27 total years of service.

“The current conflict, for lack of a better term, brings awareness to the need,” Daggett said. “When military members or first responders are wounded in action or killed in action, they don’t come home, or they don’t come home the same way. We feel very strongly that that sacrifice deserves a little extra attention to the family unit. There’s plenty of nonprofits that take care of the veteran, rightfully so, and we don’t compete with them. We recognized a need where sometimes the family members, the spouse, and the children didn’t qualify for a lot of the benefits that we thought they needed, predominantly in the education space. We raise money and we give away scholarship dollars to the children and spouses of those military members who sacrificed so much for our freedom.”

Folds of Honor raises money all year long for the scholarship program. Ninety-one percent of every scholarship dollar goes directly to the school.

“We send it directly to the school,” Daggett said. “It’s based on unmet needs. So if there’s no bill due at the school, then we don’t send them any money, but if there’s a bill due at the school, then we pay up to $2,500 a semester, $5,000 a year, to help them further their education. Honoring the sacrifice and educating the legacy is really our tagline. Our scholarship window is open currently. It closes at the end of this month.”

The scholarships are not just for the children of fallen or disabled veterans and first responders, but also for spouses.

“A lot of times what happens is the couple had a plan for their future and for their kids, and when one income stream is lost, the other person suddenly has to shift and reprioritize and completely change their life,” Daggett said. “That’s where a lot of [the need] comes from. They say, ‘I need to go back to school because whatever I was doing isn’t going to suffice. I was counting on a larger pool of income.’ So it’s a significant part of our program. We see so many spouses that rebuild their lives and say, ‘I have to do this.’”

The scholarships are available to support private school tuition or tutoring in grades K-12, tuition for college, technical or trade school, and post-graduate work, including a master’s degree, doctorate, or professional program.

The reason the scholarships can be applied to private schools is because Folds of Honor wants the family to be able to continue building the life already planned for their children.

“We want to honor the wishes of whatever the parents feel the educational direction for their child is,” Daggett said. “We want to be able to assist in that opportunity. Public school is great, private school is great, trade school is great. There’s a lot of opportunities to just get educated in a meaningful way. To say, ‘I’m in charge of my own life now. I need to go make it happen.’ So whatever you feel is your path, we want to be able to support it.”

Scholarships are based on unmet need, and can cover tuition, fees, on-campus dormitory housing, meal plans, and required textbooks.

Scholarship recipients are required to maintain a 2.0 or higher grade-point average for the two most recent academic terms.

Applications are accepted through the Folds of Honor website at foldsofhonor.org/scholarships.

If you are not the family member of a disabled or fallen veteran or first responder, but you would like to help those you are, you can make a charitable donation to this 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Your donation will go to needs-based scholarships to the spouses and children of America’s fallen and disabled service members and first responders, including police, firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics right here in Indiana.

Learn more about Folds of Honor and how you can donate online at indiana.foldsofhonor.org.