Federal education benefits and tuition assistance programs for active military members, veterans, and their families.
The Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offer education benefits and tuition assistance to active military members, veterans, and their families. NACUBO has monitored and worked on changes to these programs that affect college and university business offices. To learn more about federal education assistance programs for military members, read below.
Federal financial assistance programs for veteran and active service members that affect college and university business officers
Through the DoD Tuition Assistance (DoD TA) program, the Department of Defense (DoD) offers financial aid to active duty service members and their families participating in voluntary education (VolEd) programs. To learn more, visit NACUBO's DoD Tuition Assistance web-page.
Only schools that have submitted a Voluntary Education Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) can participate in the DoD Tuition Assistance program. Educational institutions must resubmit a signed MOU each time the DoD changes its policies governing TA.
The DoD offers tuition assistance to active duty service members and their families participating in voluntary education (VolEd) programs.
The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 modified the educational benefits available to active duty military members and their families under the previous version of the GI Bill. To learn more, visit NACUBO's GI Bill web-page.
Veterans received their benefits directly under the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB). The level of federal financial aid depended on which branch of the military a veteran served under, the individual's financial contribution to the benefits program, and their length of service, among other criteria. Typically, service members had 10 years after discharge to claim their education benefits.
Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) makes payments for tuition and fees directly to institutions of higher education on behalf of eligible veterans, necessitating new systems to exchange information with, and make payments to, institutions.
This legislation updated the previous version of the Post-9/11 GI Bill by lifting the 15-year time limit for veterans to use their benefits. It also offers an additional year of benefit eligibility to students pursuing STEM degrees, expands benefit eligibility to members of the National Guard, and grants full eligibility to Purple Heart recipients.
In 2012, President Obama issued an Executive Order directing that his administration design a set of principles to protect veterans and service members who receive federal education benefits. This resulted in the creation of various initiatives affecting institutions participating in federal military aid programs. To learn more, visit NACUBO's Principles of Excellence web-page.
In 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released a new version of the GI Bill Comparison Tool, an information vehicle for Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients who are navigating their college options.
An online infrastructure from the DoD and VA that collects feedback from service members, veterans, and their family members who are using federal benefits to finance their educations and are dissatisfied with some aspect of their experience.
A brief overview of how the secretaries of Education (ED), Defense (DOD), and Veterans Affairs (VA) implemented President Obama's 2012 Executive Order, which aimed to reduce aggressive and deceptive recruiting practices targeting veterans and service members.
Find advisory reports, infographics, news archives and other resources related to Veteran and Service Member Affairs.
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To read older articles related to NACUBO's work on Department of Education regulations, see NACUBO's ED regulations archives
To access more detailed, rules-specific information, visit the Department of Education regulations main page.
To access information related to Student Financial Services (SFS) regulations, visit the SFS regulations page.
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