Army Tuition Assistance: Everything you need to know

The Army Tuition Assistance Program can help you achieve your long term goals as a service member and beyond, but all too often members of the military wait until they’re out to start their educational journeys. 

While every service member has a long list of reasons of why they chose to sign up, education benefits are often near the top of the list. The Post 9/11 GI Bill is an incredible resource for helping transitioning veterans pay for college or vocational training programs, but you don’t have to wait until you’re out of the military to get started. In fact you can start school right away thanks to the Military Tuition Assistance Program. Each branch offers $4,500 per year to put toward your continued education. It will not, however, cover the cost of books, flight training fees, or retaking a course.

The Tuition Assistance Program may fund up to 100% of your college tuition and other fees within these limits:

• Not to exceed $250 per semester credit hour or $166 per quarter credit hour
• Not to exceed $4,500 per fiscal year, Oct. 1 through Sept. 30

Who is eligible to use Military Tuition Assistance?

The policies pertaining to the use to Military Tuition Assistance vary a bit from branch to branch, but all active duty, National Guard, and reserve service members are eligible to utilize the program. More often than not, however, guard and reserve component members will need to be on active duty operational support orders in order to utilize the program.

In some branches, you can utilize Military Tuition Assistance as soon as you have the time to enroll in courses. Service members with a bachelor’s degree can even use Military Tuition Assistance to pursue graduate degrees, provided they meet their branch’s criteria for eligibility.

Each branch has its own rules about eligibility and usage, and we’ll explore each in this piece.

Related: 3 TIPS TO HELP VETS GET THE MOST OUT OF THE GI BILL

Army Tuition Assistance 

Soldiers can use their tuition assistance for any courses offered by schools that are registered in GoArmyEd, are accredited by  accrediting agencies that are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and are signatories to the current Department of Defense Memorandum of Understanding (DOD MOU).

Classes taken can fall under the pursuit of certificate’s, Associate’s, Bachelor’s, or Master’s degrees — but must be used in the pursuit of a higher degree. In other words, if you have a bachelor’s degree already, you can’t use TA to see another bachelor’s degree or lower. 

Army Tuition Assistance Procedures

1. Soldiers’ TA enrollment requests must be submitted and approved through www.GoArmyEd.comprior to the course start date; any enrollments requested on or after the class start date will be approved as Soldier funded.
2. TA is requested on a course-by-course basis, and each course must be part of an approved degree program.
3. GoArmyEd will notify the Soldier, whether the TA is approved or not. If the TA request is not approved, GoArmyEd will advise the Soldier of the reason and next steps.
4. All drops/withdrawals must take place through GoArmyEd. Soldiers who do not successfully complete a class will be required to repay the TA. Soldiers who are unable to successfully complete a class due to military reasons must request a Withdrawal for Military Reasons through GoArmyEd and complete all required steps to ensure that they will not be charged.
5. If the Soldier wishes to take a class with a school that does not participate in the electronic GoArmyEd class schedule, a TA Request Authorization form must be completed in GoArmyEd. The TA Request Authorization will be routed to an Army Education Counselor to be reviewed and approved. Soldiers should allow extra time for this.  If the TA Request Authorization is approved, the Soldier will be notified by email. Soldiers must print the approved TA Request Authorization form in GoArmyEd, provide it to the school and enroll directly with the school. 
6. Soldiers must acknowledge and electronically sign the TA Statement of Understanding (TA SOU) each quarter they wish to use TA.