The Report
Freedom's Future.
The first comprehensive effort by a veteran-support organization to quantify the long-term cost of educating the children of America's fallen and severely wounded Service members since 9/11 — and the case for funding it.
We put a number on the need.
The Freedom's Future Impact & Donor Report is a first-of-its-kind effort in the veteran-support community to quantify the long-term educational needs of the children of America's fallen and severely wounded Service members since 9/11. No Greater Sacrifice has been measuring this need since 2011, when it became the first veteran-support organization to systematically size the cost of educating these children — and this report is the most complete accounting yet.
We named it Freedom's Future because these children — the sons and daughters of America's bravest — carry forward the very freedom their parents served to protect. As our Board Chairman writes in the report, “the children of America's brave warriors are indeed the personification of American freedom.”
The report makes their future legible: how many there are, what their education will cost, where every figure comes from, and what it takes to meet the need — so a donor can see exactly what their gift is part of.
We put a number on the need
The scale of the sacrifice is knowable.
Since September 11, 2001, an estimated 130,000 children have lost a parent in service — or will by 2047. No Greater Sacrifice tracks the full arc of that obligation: what it will cost to put every eligible Scholar through college, what has already been spent, and what remains ahead.
- Total Military Children Impacted by New Casualties Per Year
- Adjusted total 18–22 year olds likely to attend College
The need is now.
Since major combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan wound down, public attention has drifted from military families to other causes — giving to military and veteran nonprofits has risen less than 4% while giving to other causes surged 40%. Yet Service members remain deployed across the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe, and the most dangerous years of those wars still ripple through military families.
Casualty rates — and with them the number of children impacted — peaked between 2004 and 2012; roughly 90% of the casualties in the 23 years since 9/11 fell in that eight-year window. The children whose parents were killed or severely wounded then were infants and toddlers. Today they are reaching college age — which is why the need is greatest now.
Eligibility nearly tripled.
The 2025 model widened the lens. Alongside combat deaths and severe wounds, it now counts the children of Service members lost to service-connected illness, deaths by suicide, and significant training accidents.
The evidence behind that expansion is substantial: Brown University's Costs of War project estimates more than 30,000 post-9/11 veteran suicides; the NIH reports over 400,000 veterans exposed to burn pits, now addressed by the 2022 PACT Act; and the Congressional Research Service counts more than 6,000 training fatalities from 2006 to 2021. Together, the broader criteria nearly tripled the eligible population — from about 51,000 to more than 130,000 children.
The cost only climbs.
A four-year public college costs roughly $101,700 today — about 40 times what it cost when the National Center for Education Statistics began tracking in 1963.
Grown forward at the 10-year Treasury rate, a single degree could approach $280,000 by 2047. Across 2001–2047, educating these children represents $2.31 billion in total cost — of which $946 million has already been met and $1.37 billion remains ahead.
From the problem to the future.
The report moves in five chapters — from the scope of the need, through the methodology behind the numbers and the No Greater Sacrifice solution, to fifteen years of audited impact, and finally to the Scholars still to come.
The Problem
How many children, and at what cost. The report opens by sizing the need — the families created by every fallen and severely wounded Service member since 9/11, and the price of putting their children through college.
The Methodology
Where the numbers come from. The Freedom's Future financial model draws on Defense Casualty Analysis Service (DCAS) data — the Pentagon's own casualty record — and projects future education costs using the 10-year Treasury rate, so every figure can be traced to a source.
The Solution
What No Greater Sacrifice does, and what makes it different. The only organization providing debt-free education exclusively to the children of the fallen and severely wounded — not loans, not partial aid — paired with a dedicated mentor and a personalized academic and financial Roadmap (the plan that maps every dollar and milestone from enrollment to graduation).
The Impact
Fifteen years, audited. The record since 2008 — 571 Scholars, $30M+ committed to their education, more than 95 cents of every dollar going directly to the mission — alongside the galas, awards, golf invitationals, BootCamps, and the 600+ volunteers and 8,300+ donors who made it possible.
The Future
Who comes next. The closing chapter belongs to the youngest “Future Use” Scholars — children whose parent has already made the ultimate sacrifice, but whose own college journeys are still years away. They are the future the report is named for.
Not a loan. Not partial aid. A debt-free degree.
The solution chapter answers the question the numbers raise: what actually works. No Greater Sacrifice is the only organization providing debt-free education exclusively to the children of the fallen and severely wounded — covering tuition, room and board, books, and the expenses other aid leaves behind, so a Scholar graduates from their chosen school without debt.
It is a relationship, not a check. Every Scholar is paired with a dedicated mentor and a personalized Roadmap — the academic and financial plan that maps each milestone and each dollar from enrollment to graduation. That one-on-one coaching is what turns a scholarship into a degree.
It works. Since 2008, No Greater Sacrifice has committed $30M+ to 571 Scholars, with more than 95 cents of every dollar going directly to the mission — a record the report sets out in fifteen years of audited financials, alongside the awards, galas, golf invitationals, and BootCamps, and the 600+ volunteers and 8,300+ donors who built it.
Lean by design.
No Greater Sacrifice provides debt-free undergraduate education to the children of the fallen and severely wounded — not loans, not partial aid. And the model is lean: more than 95 cents of every dollar goes directly to the mission.
In 2024, 96% of funds went to program, with just 3% to management and general and 1% to fundraising — a stewardship record recognized by Candid's Platinum Seal of Transparency.
NGS applies more than 95% of funds directly to our mission
- 96% Program
- 1% Fundraising
- 3% Management & General
Not a loan. A debt-free degree.
571 Scholars. One promise kept at a time.
No Greater Sacrifice provides debt-free undergraduate education benefits to children of Service members killed or severely wounded in the line of duty since September 11, 2001. More than 95 cents of every dollar goes directly to the mission — not overhead, not administration.
Where they are
Across the country — and beyond.
NGS has supported Scholars at 350+ colleges and trade schools. Our Recipients and their families reside and study throughout the United States, its territories and in Japan, the United Kingdom and Spain. Notably, states with larger military populations tend to have higher number of Scholars.
2025 Annual Impact Report
Get the full report.
The complete Freedom's Future 15-Year Impact & Donor Report — the data, the methodology, the fifteen-year record, and the Scholars at the center of it all. Add your email and the report is yours to download.
Free to download. We'll send the occasional Freedom's Future Campaign update.
Be part of the future you just read about.
Alongside the report, No Greater Sacrifice launched the Freedom's Future Campaign — its dedicated year-end initiative and part of year-round fundraising.
Monthly giving, at any level, directly fuels the scholarships, mentorship, and long-term support behind every Scholar in these pages. It is the most direct way to help close the $1.37 billion still ahead — one debt-free degree at a time.
Questions & answers
Frequently asked questions
Help us fund it.
You read the projection — 35,000 children, $1.37 billion still ahead. Your gift turns that number into a Scholar with a debt-free degree and a future they choose.