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Your User’s Guide to Military Education Benefits for the Active Duty Servicemember

As a military servicemember, you haveaccess to several programs to support your educational goals. However, it canbe challenging to decipher your earned rewards and to use them in the mosteffective manner. We hope this guide will make everything clear and simple.

You may be ableto use more than one of your education military benefits at once, but you’llhave to determine whether this is the right choice for you. You can save moneyand stress by using your benefits at the right time—either all at once orspread out to cover all your time spent meeting your education goals. Visit our Education Benefits Overview page tounderstand the basics.

Depending onyour branch of service, eligibility, application procedures, and programguidelines for Tuition Assistance will be slightly different. Select theappropriate link below to get specific information about your branch’sprocedures.

You may be eligible for more than just Tuition Assistance. Thereare thousands of service specific scholarships, college funds, and othereducation programs designed to help military personnel to reach their educationalgoals. Check out the following branch-specific links to learn more about theseextra benefit options.

Here is abreakdown of the most commonly used education benefits for active dutypersonnel:
Tuition Assistance
Definition: Military benefit that pays for tuition costs aswell as some extra fees.
Eligible Recipients: Most servicemembers; however, eachbranch has slightly different eligibility criteria.
Benefit: Up to 100% of tuition is covered; fees are not toexceed $250 per semester credit hour or $166 per quarter credit hour. Yearlycap is $4,500. (The Navy has a 16 credit hour annual limit.)

Tuition Assistance “Top-Up” Program
Definition: A supplemental benefit to the Tuition Assistanceprogram.
Eligible Recipients: Members who qualify for both the TuitionAssistance program and MGIB-Active Duty benefits.
Benefit: Added benefits up to the amount that a member wouldget if working through the MGIB-Active Duty program.

Montgomery G.I. Bill—Active Duty andVeteran
Definition: A tuition payment program that pays for up to 36months, which is four regular school years, of education for the following:college, technical or vocational courses, correspondence courses,apprenticeship or job training, or flight training.
Eligible Recipients: All active duty members with at least twoyears of active duty completed and most veterans. Veterans fall into fourcategories of eligibility depending on length of duty and dates ofenlistment. Note: Benefits are onlyvalid for up to ten years from the date of your last discharge or release fromactive duty.
Benefit: Up to $1,075 per month for full-time education.

Veterans Educational Assistance Program(VEAP)
Definition: Monetary support available to those who chose tomake contributions from their military pay.
Eligible Recipients: Participants must meet all of thefollowing:

Enteredmilitary service for the first time between the dates of January 1, 1977 and June 30, 1985
Created a contribution account before April 1, 1987
Contributed between $25-$2,700
Finished first period of service
Release or discharge was not classified as dishonorable

Benefit: For every $1 contributed to account, the governmentmatches on a $2 for $1 basis.

Federal Student Aid
Definition: Low-interest federal loans and grants designed tohelp students finance educational costs.
Eligible Recipients: Basically everycitizen who falls within certain income levels is eligible for this benefit.
Benefit: Loans are issued for different amounts depending onlevels of financial need. Each year the government determines an annual cap.

Scholarships
Definition: Money, vouchers or waivers issued to supporteducational goals—does not need to be repaid.
Eligible Recipients: Each scholarship is different.
Benefit: Can range from less than $100 in vouchersor waivers to full payment of tuition, room and board.