Maryland law adds Delmar graduates and survivors to scholarship programs

The law makes qualifying Delmar, Maryland residents eligible to apply for the Community College Promise Scholarship. Applicants must live in Delmar, Maryland and have graduated from Delmar High School in Delmar, Delaware. Applicants must enroll in a vocational certificate, certificate, or associate degree program, or take part in a registered apprenticeship. The law takes effect July 1, 2026.

The law renames the Fallen Transportation Workers Scholarship Program and allows eligible survivors and certain relatives to apply for scholarships. Eligible recipients include surviving transportation workers and certain relatives of surviving or fallen transportation workers. The law also includes a child or stepchild of an unmarried partner. Applicants must be at least 16 and accepted to or enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate, or professional program. A surviving worker must have survived, on or after January 1, 2022, a work-related accident that caused at least $100 million in total damage to a Maryland transportation facility or project. A fallen worker must have died on or after January 1, 2022, from a work-related accident in Maryland. Eligible relatives include children, stepchildren, spouses, and unmarried partners; siblings qualify only if the worker has none of those relatives. An unmarried partner must have been in a committed relationship, shared a primary home, and received and relied on the worker for some basic needs at the time of the death or accident. The worker’s accident or death must have occurred on or after January 1, 2022. The law takes effect July 1, 2026.

The law allows scholarships under the renamed program to be used for a student’s total cost of attendance at any postsecondary school. This applies to scholarships under the Fallen and Surviving Transportation Workers Scholarship Program at any postsecondary institution. Awards remain subject to the law’s annual limits: they may not exceed the highest annual tuition and mandatory fees for a full-time undergraduate at a specified University System of Maryland four-year school, and may not be less than the lesser of $3,000 or the recipient’s tuition and mandatory fees. Awards depend on available funds and the state budget. If funds cannot be allocated in the award year, those awards receive priority in the next fiscal year. The law takes effect July 1, 2026.