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:: Tuition Assistance Top-up
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.
Make this your top-notch solution to a complete education.
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GI Bill Education Programs
