VA Loan Updates

Your Tuition

You’re in the Army now.

Or the Marines, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard. You also see a college education in your future. For military enlistees and veterans, financial resources for college are plentiful - and complex.

There are federal education benefits for active enlistees and those honorably discharged. There are state scholarships for veterans, their spouses and children. If you are or want to be a college student in addition to being a soldier, sailor, airman, Marine or guardsman, it may be possible for up to 100% of your education to be financed; each service has its own programs and eligibility rules. Start by visiting the Veterans Administration Web site at www.gibill.va.gov.

The City University of New York, with one of the largest concentrations of armed forces students in the nation, has an Office of Veterans Affairs and is a great resource. For details of federal and state education benefits for enlisted men and women and veterans, click to www.cuny.edu/veterans or call (646) 344-7277.

The basics are:

Montgomery G.I. Bill. Provides up to 36 months of benefits to veterans for college, business, technical or vocational courses, correspondence courses, apprenticeship/job training and flight training. Funds range from $309 a month for part-time Reserve or National Guard service up to $1,075 a month for active duty during three years or more, and may be used on active duty or after honorable discharge. Bottom line: You can get up to $11,124 for serving part-time in the Reserve or National Guard and up to $38,700 for an active duty tour. The money is not free, however. To qualify, recruits agree to a $100-a-month deduction from their service pay.

Armed Forces Tuition Assistance Program. Pays up to 100% of tuition of eligible enlisted members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard. Funds are for college courses taken at accredited schools during off-duty hours, and generally pay up to $4,500 total annually. For an overview of different service branches’ tuition assistance programs and other aid for current or veteran Armed Forces, visit military.com.

Veterans’ Educational Assistance Program. In this plan, those receiving tuition assistance may be eligible to use the Montgomery G.I. Bill to supplement or top up their tuition aid. Benefits end 10 years from date of last discharge or release from active duty and may also be applied toward a spouse’s or dependents’ education.

Army/Navy/Air Force/Marine Corps College Funds. These merit-based funds bump up tuition aid above the Montgomery G.I. Bill’s payout. The Army fund increases the aid up to $70,000; the Navy, to $50,000; the Marine Corps, to $30,000. The recipient must agree to serve six years and score in the top half of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.

Student Loan Repayment Program. Under this plan, different branches repay varying amounts of qualified loans, including federal Perkins, Stafford, PLUS or Consolidation loans, but not private loans or defaulted loans.

You must request this program when enlisting or reenlisting, and score 50 or higher on the Armed Forces Qualifications Test. Payments are taxable.

For more information on military financial aid programs, branch-specific schools and scholarships, visit finaid.org or the Web site of a military branch.

New York State also offers benefits for enlisted, veterans and families, including:

Veterans Tuition Awards.

Provides up to $1,000 a semester for full-time study, or $500 a semester for part-time, to eligible state-resident veterans at in-state degree-granting institutions or approved vocational programs. EIigibility: Not dishonorably discharged; certain veterans serving during Vietnam, Persian Gulf and Afghanistan conflicts. You must apply to the state Higher Education Services Corp. by Sept. 1, 2008, and have applied for TAP and federal Pell Grants for full-time study, for a Pell Grant for part-time undergraduate study or for a vocational program. Find details at hesc.com.

Military Service Recognition Scholarship. Helps kids, spouses, dependents of members of U.S. Armed Forces or state militia who, while state residents, died or became severely and permanently disabled on or after Aug. 2, 1990, during hostilities or U.S. military training.

The scholarship covers up to four years’ full-time undergrad study and expenses at CUNY or SUNY, or at a private college in an amount equal to SUNY four-year college costs. For details about state-sponsored Armed Forces aid, see hesc.com.

Found here.

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