In May, the Trask Land Company announced that it would establish a merit-based scholarship in cooperation with UNC Wilmington and Camp Lejeune to benefit active duty marines and their families.

The Trask Land Company Champions of Freedom Scholarship gives preference to Marines who are wounded in action or who serve in special operations, but can also be given to military dependents. While most active duty marines who are students at UNCW attend the Onslow Extension Site, the scholarship is available to students who attend the main campus as well.

This is good news for military dependents, who often have spouses stationed at Camp Lejeune but travel over fifty miles to attend classes in Wilmington, because their desired degree is not offered at the extension site.

One of those students is Dana Puckett, an exercise science major, who says that driving over an hour to class Monday through Friday can add up quickly. To cut down on the cost of gas, Puckett only signed up for classes two days a week her first semester. Unfortunately, it soon became impossible to fit the classes she needed into a two or three day a week schedule.

“Since then I have had class five days a week, sometimes with up to four hour break,” said Puckett. “While traditional students get to go home during break, I have to find things to do during that time on campus.”

In addition to being inconvenient, spending all day in Wilmington and commuting has made it impossible for Puckett to work while attending school.

“It’s hard to find places that will work with your schedule,” said Puckett. “If I get a job closer to Wilmington, I wouldn’t want to drive an hour there on the weekends just for work that would only cover the gas for that day.”

However, a job closer to home is out of the question because Puckett often doesn’t return home.

Puckett is able to pay for classes through financial aid, but it is mostly in the form of loans, which she will have to pay back later.

“These will not be paid on a military pay check alone, so me having a future career is important to cover those expenses,” said Puckett. In the meantime, she and her husband live off one paycheck, putting away money each month into a savings account for school.

The Trask Land Company Champions of Freedom Scholarship wouldn’t pay for all of expenses for students like Puckett. Military-affiliated students still have many challenges, financial and otherwise, that can make attending college difficult. But with the help of scholarships like these, which ease the extra financial burden placed on nontraditional students, they will have a better shot of getting the same quality of education as their traditional peers.