Public Safety Officers' Educational Assistance (PSOEA) Program

• NCJ Number: 252761
• Date Published: September 2018
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: BJA
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This report provides basic information on the features of and how to access the benefits of the Public Safety Officers' Educational Assistance (PSOEA) Program, which provides educational assistance to spouses and children of federal, state, local, and tribal police, fire, and emergency public safety officers killed in the line of duty or who are permanently and totally disabled by catastrophic injuries sustained in the line of duty.

Abstract

This program recognizes that the families of such deceased or permanently disabled public servants struggle to meet basic survival needs, preventing them from affording the costs of higher education; however, access to higher education is critical to giving these family members the ability to move forward in the aftermath of a line-of-duty tragedy. PSOEA benefits may be used to defray education expenses, including tuition, room and board, books, supplies, and education-related fees. The amount of assistance is determined by the length of the term and whether the student attends school as a full-time, three-quarter-time, half-time, or less-than-half-time student. The families of specified line-of-duty decedents became eligible for PSOEA benefits for deaths that occurred on or after January 1, 1978; and families with permanently and totally disabled qualifying professionals became eligible as of October 3, 1996. Access is provided to online information on the documents required to receive PSOEA benefits.