In November 1994, the USS CHIEF (MCM14) was commissioned in honor of the dedicated service of the Chief Petty Officer of the United States Navy, as well as for the honored wartime service of her namesake, USS CHIEF (AM315), and she sails today as a testament to that tradition.
The planning and all subsequent activities leading up to the commissioning was all Chief Petty Officer evolution. One of the significant results of the event was the creation of the Chief Petty Officer Scholarship Fund (CPOSF). The fund came to fruition with the signing of the Charter of the Chief Petty Officer Scholarship Fund in January 1998 at the U.S. Navy's Senior Enlisted Academy (SEA) in Newport, Rhode Island.
The cost of higher education today has skyrocketed. The average tuition has risen 15-20% since just last year. The average cost for residing on campus has increased an average cost of $1,500.00 per student per semester, and cost of books and materials continues on an ever-steady rise. Many states are not willing to waive out-of-state tuition for military or their family members. Therefore, every dollar counts, and every dollar that can be awarded as a scholarship is that much more that will not become a debt burden when Stafford loans become due and payable with interest.
Our mission is to be a viable non-profit organization established solely for the purpose of generating and distributing funds to provide educational opportunities for qualified family members of Chief Petty Officers. Candidates eligible for scholarship awards are spouses and children (natural born, adopted or stepchildren) of all Chief Petty Officers.
Candidates submitting scholarship applications must, in the year of submission of their scholarship application, be about to graduate or have graduated from an accredited high school , or equivalent educational institution or have successfully earned a General Equivalency Diploma (GED), and must intend to enter, or be currently enrolled in a community college, vocational college, college or university to complete the curriculum prescribed in or to be graduated with an AA, AS, BA or BS degree.
The number of scholarship awards and the amounts to be disbursed yearly are determined solely by the financial status of the fund. The Chief Petty Officer Scholarship Fund is non-profit and dependent upon Tax-deductible donations to support its educational "Gift of Knowledge."