Education & Student Aid · Surprise rank #266
Family of an American Airlines Flight 587 Victim? New York Still Pays for College
New York's Flight 587 Memorial Scholarship covers the full cost of college for the children, spouses and financial dependents of people killed when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in Belle Harbor, Queens on November 12, 2001. It is still funded and administered, even though it no longer appears on HESC's main scholarship list.
Who
Children, spouses and financial dependents of people who died as a direct result of the November 12, 2001 crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in the Rockaway/Belle Harbor section of Queens.
Where: For study at colleges in New York State. The crash occurred in Queens, NYC.
What to do
Start here: Call the HESC Scholarship Unit at 1-888-697-4372 or email scholarships@hesc.ny.gov to confirm the current application route, complete the Flight 587 Memorial Scholarship web supplement, then file the FAFSA and TAP application by June 30 each year to request payment.
Eligibility: Qualifying relationship to a Flight 587 victim; full-time enrollment in an approved undergraduate program at a New York State college; good academic standing; not in default on a student loan or NYS award.
What you get
The scholarship is written into New York Education Law §668-f. It pays an amount equal to your actual tuition and mandatory fees or the SUNY average, whichever is less, plus HESC's set allowances for room and board, books and supplies, and transportation. It covers up to four years of full-time undergraduate study, or five in an approved five-year program, at a college in New York State.
Benefit: Tuition and mandatory fees up to the SUNY average, plus allowances for room and board, books and supplies, and transportation.
Possible value: Under HESC's published 2025-26 allowance chart, a residential or off-campus student at an independent college is budgeted at about $28,120 for the full year and a commuter at about $17,250. Other grants and scholarships reduce the award, and total aid cannot exceed the federal cost of attendance.
Good to know
Important: This program is no longer listed on HESC's public 'New York State Grants & Scholarships' page, though it remains in statute and still appears in HESC's own 2025-26 scholarship award-calculation instructions to colleges. Because of that, calling HESC directly is more reliable than searching the website. Since the crash was in 2001, most eligible children are now well past traditional college age — but the scholarship has no age limit, so returning adult students in the family may still be able to use it.
Availability: Active in statute and still included in HESC's 2025-26 scholarship award calculations, but not currently displayed on HESC's public scholarship index — contact HESC directly to confirm.
Why people miss it: The crash happened two months after 9/11 and was overshadowed by it; the scholarship has also quietly dropped off HESC's public program list, so even people who go looking may conclude it no longer exists.
Sources reviewed: Aug 10, 2026