It can be rather costly to attend Georgia Military College Preparatory School.

After paying tuition and fees for a one-year term families still need roughly $600 to cover the cost of a cadet’s uniform. For years now parents have been willing to cover that extra burden so that their children could “Develop the intellect” and “Elevate the character” as the school’s slogan states. Now, after the creation of the Usery Legacy Fund following the passing of former U.S. Secretary of Labor and GMC Prep alum W.J. “Bill” Usery, families with incoming sixth-graders to GMC Prep have one less significant cost over which to worry.

Usery, who came from humble beginnings, often stated how wearing his GMC uniform helped put him on a level playing field while traveling throughout Milledgeville. With the creation and now implementation of the Usery Legacy Fund the man who worked under five different U.S. presidents got his wish to help ease the cost of attending GMC Prep.

As the first day of school edges ever closer the uniform fitting process has begun for students and families. Mary Ricard was with her children, one of them a soon-to-be sixth-grader, selecting uniforms at the GMC bookstore’s new location on the ground floor of the Old Capitol Building’s south side Monday morning.

“To have this voucher has been a big blessing to us and our family,” the mother of two told The Union-Recorder. “It allows us to get the uniforms provided for our rising sixth-grader, something we actually weren’t counting on. We were notified by newsletter with our information packet. … For us it was just a great blessing and a great opportunity for him to get started at GMC.”

Ricard added that the savings gathered through the voucher would help pay for her kids’ school supplies and “anything else that they need to help them succeed at this school.”

The fund’s intent was to cover the cost of all new incoming students, not just for the sixth grade. But having just been announced in late March the funds were not available for every new incoming GMC Prep student for the upcoming term. The hope is that the fund will grow to benefit every new child in the coming years. As for now there is enough money to pay for all the essentials an incoming sixth-grader needs with parents only needing to cover any extras they may want.

Karen Seagraves, GMC bookstore coordinator, has been helping with uniform fittings and has heard parents’ surprise over the phone when they learn their child’s uniform costs are covered for this year.

“The Usery Legacy scholarship is going to benefit these new parents tremendously — these new sixth-graders coming in — because uniforms are not cheap,” Seagraves said. “Uniforms are very expensive, so it’s going to help them defray the cost of these new uniforms, which in addition to tuition, ends up being a large expense. So any help you can get with uniforms, I believe, is a great help.”

Seagraves is very familiar with the hefty price tag that comes with school uniforms, and she added she wished there was something like this in place when her sons attended GMC Prep.

“We had three boys to come through GMC Prep School ourselves, and I can speak from experience of how much money you can spend on the uniforms,” she said. “This scholarship from the legacy fund is just wonderful for these new parents.”