WASHINGTON (AFNS) –
The Air Force and Army have officially restarted military tuition assistance, effective April 10.
The services restarted the program as a result of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013, where Congress called for the military tuition assistance program to continue in the current fiscal year.
As a result of the restart, the programs will resume the same benefits as before.
Airmen and Soldiers are eligible for up to $4,500 per fiscal year and a maximum of $250 per semester hour or quarter hour equivalent to cover tuition and allowable fees, which is unchanged from before.
Military tuition assistance is not available retroactively to cover courses taken and paid for using any other funding source during the suspension of military tuition assistance.
"Military tuition assistance will be the same program service members are used to," said Russell Frasz, Director of Force Development, Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Services, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. "The same policies and procedures will be in place."
With this change, current and future Airmen and Soldiers will be given another tool to develop professionally through advanced education.
"Voluntary education and military tuition assistance programs continue to be integral to the recruiting, retention and readiness of Airmen and contribute to institutional competencies," said Kim Yates, the Air Force Voluntary Education chief.
"Fiscal constraints create a challenge that Air Force leadership continues to work through," Frasz said. "We strive to meet the needs of Airmen and the Air Force."
According to the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, Soldiers can request tuition assistance for the remainder of fiscal year 2013 by accessing the GoArmyEd portal at
https://www.goarmyed.com/Login.
For more information, call 221-1738 (Air Force) or 221- 0853 (Army).
(Information for this article came from the offices of the Secretary of the Air Force for Public Affairs and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army.)