[Carrie]

The reason the media is pumping her up is because the audience is demanding it.
And they're not demanding it because they want to know every sordid little detail of her multiple rapes and beatings... it's because at this point, Jessica stands for HOPE.

Yes, she's a hero. Yes, she should've taken the money. After everything she's been through, it's a pittance that will not ever pay back the torture her mind is going to put her through until the day she dies.
They say she's blocked out the rapes and has no memory of them. That's some dangerous shit that *will* come rearing its ugly head one day - probably when she least expects it, while being touched lovingly by a husband or even when tending to her little girl (should she be able to have one). When it's repressed it tends to come back and destroy a life a second time.

Her state and local community also got together and gave her presents and scholarships, btw.

Sure, she might be dumb. Lord knows that watching her father speaking to the press was painful and I was relieved when her brother stepped up to the mikes. But she was trying to change that. She went into the service so that she could have the money to go to college.
And unlike so many women out there who get the call to go to war and "suddenly" find themselves pregnant, she went.
And while she was there, she was attacked, she fought back and defended her life, she lost close friends, she was brutally raped and beaten, and she was held captive... all because this young woman did her duty and answered the call to pay her debt for the college tuition she needed.

So YES, she is a hero, and YES, she should take that money and make the most of it. It will never change the horrible things that happened to her and the mindfuck she'll have for the rest of her life, but at least it will make her and her family more comfortable.