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Montgomery GI Bill: Active Duty for Active Support
If you're eligible, the Montgomery GI Bill/ Active Duty, called "MGIB," provides up to 36 months of education benefits for college, technical or vocational courses, online education, flight training..
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If you're eligible, the Montgomery GI Bill/ Active Duty, called "MGIB," provides up to 36 months of education benefits for:
College, Business
Technical or Vocational Courses
Correspondence Courses
Apprenticeship/Job Training
Flight Training
Under this Bill, you may receive benefits for a wide variety of training, including an undergraduate or graduate degree at a college or university, or a cooperative training program. You may also take an accredited independent study program leading to a degree.
TIME IS MONEY
Your MGIB benefits are good up to 10 years from the date of your last discharge or release from active duty. Your 10-year period can be extended by the amount of time you were prevented from training during that period because of a disability or because you were held by a foreign government or power.
Your 10-year period can also be extended if you reenter active duty for 90 days or more after becoming eligible. The extension ends 10 years from the date of separation from the later period. Periods of active duty of less than 90 days can qualify you for extensions only if you were separated for one of the following:
A service-connected disability
A medical condition existing before active duty
Hardship, or
A reduction in force.
If you're eligible based on two years of active duty and four years in the Selected Reserve, you have 10 years from your release from active duty, or 10 years from the completion of the four-year Selected Reserve obligation to use your benefits.
HERE'S THE KICKER
How much does the VA pay? The monthly benefit paid to you is based on the type of training you take, length of your service, your category, and if DOD put extra money in your MGIB Fund (called "kickers"). You usually have 10 years to use your MGIB benefits, but the time limit can be less, in some cases, and longer under certain circumstances.
TOP-UP YOUR TUITION
Used to be, if you chose to pursue higher education after military service, the military could pay up to 75% of tuition or expenses of the school. Not a bad deal, but eligible service members then had to find additional financing to pay remaining expenses. Look no further; the VA has found that support for you. On October 30, 2000, the President signed into law an amendment to the Montgomery GI Bill - Active Duty program called the Tuition Assistance Top-up benefit.
With Top-up, the VA can now pay up to 100% of your tuition and expenses, up to DOD limits. If you're eligible for MGIB and your service branch does not pay 100% tuition and fees, Top-up can step up to pay the balance. That's a top-level plan.
GET ON TOP OF YOUR EDUCATION WHILE YOU'RE ACTIVE
Using Top-up is also a good deal if you use Tuition Assistance to complete a degree program while on active duty and don't plan to continue your education after service; you can choose to use your benefits right now. Top-up can also be helpful for taking just a few courses while on active duty; you can choose to save most of your MGIB to use after your service to complete a full education.
THE BOTTOM LINE FOR TOPPING UP
To be eligible for the Top-up benefit, you must be approved for Tuition Assistance by a military department and be eligible for MGIB-Active Duty benefits. You must be an MGIB - Active Duty participant and must have served at least 2 full years on Active Duty. The Top-up benefit is available for all courses that began on or after October 30, 2000. The Top-up program is not available at this time to persons who are eligible for the MGIB Selected Reserve program.
START NOW
Top-up is limited to 36 months of payments which can be applied in a variety of ways towards a variety of educational opportunities, from full tuition or certain eligible courses. For example, if you enrolled in a 3-month course, Top-up could pay for that program, and you would be using only 3 of the 36 months in your total benefit.
The Top-up can even apply retroactively if you're eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill, back one year from the date your claim was/is received for training that began on or after October 30, 2000. Top-up can take up the slack in your tuition, or support a short-term education program while you're on active duty, or both.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Get a move on. Your future is waiting.
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