1. Upon the receipt of proper proofs of the death of a member who retired while in service, including retirement for service, ordinary disability or accidental disability, prior to September 28, 1983, and provided no other benefits are payable, there shall be paid the following benefits:

(1) A retirement allowance to all widows during their widowhood of fifty percent of the deceased member’s average final compensation or two hundred dollars per month, whichever is greater, plus ten percent of such compensation to or for the benefit of each unmarried dependent child of the deceased member who is either under age eighteen or who is totally and permanently mentally or physically incapacitated regardless of age, but not in excess of three children, including both classes, and paid as the board of trustees in its discretion shall direct;

(2) If no widow benefits are payable pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection, such total allowance as would have been paid, had there been a widow, shall be divided among the unmarried dependent children under age eighteen and such unmarried children, regardless of age, who are totally and permanently mentally or physically incapacitated, and paid, to or for the benefit of such children, as the board of trustees in its discretion shall direct;

(3) Any benefit payable to, or for the benefit of, a child or children under the age of eighteen years pursuant to subdivisions (1) and (2) of this section shall be paid beyond the age of eighteen years through the age of twenty-five years in such cases where the child is a full-time student at a regularly accredited college, business school, nursing school, school for technical or vocational training or university, but such benefit shall cease whenever the child ceases to be a student. A college or university shall be deemed to be regularly accredited which maintains membership in good standing in a national or regional accrediting agency recognized by any state college or university.

2. Upon the receipt of proper proofs of the death of a member in service or who retired while in service, including retirement for service, ordinary disability or accidental disability, after September 28, 1983, and provided no other benefits are payable, there shall be paid the following benefits:

(1) A retirement allowance to all widows during their widowhood of twenty-five percent of the deceased member’s average final compensation or two hundred dollars per month, whichever is greater, plus ten percent of such compensation to or for the benefit of each unmarried dependent child of the deceased member who is either under age eighteen or who is totally and permanently mentally or physically incapacitated regardless of age, but not in excess of three children, including both classes, and paid as the board of trustees in its discretion shall direct;

(2) If no widow’s benefits are payable pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection, such total allowance as would have been paid, had there been a widow, shall be divided among the unmarried dependent children under age eighteen and such unmarried children, regardless of age, who are totally and permanently mentally or physically incapacitated, and paid to or for the benefit of such children, as the board of trustees in its discretion shall direct;

(3) Any benefit payable to, or for the benefit of, a child or children under the age of eighteen years pursuant to subdivisions (1) and (2) of this section shall be paid beyond the age of eighteen years through the age of twenty-five years in such cases where the child is a full-time student at a regularly accredited college, business school, nursing school, school for technical or vocational training or university, but such benefit shall cease whenever the child ceases to be a student. A college or university shall be deemed to be regularly accredited which maintains membership in good standing in a national or regional accrediting agency recognized by any state college or university.