Tuition assistance process gets easier

  • Published
  • By Capt. Denise Burnham
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (USAFENS) --  In today’s Air Force culture it is common for many Airmen, both officer and enlisted, to hold undergraduate or advanced degrees.

More than 20 percent of all enlisted members have some college under their belts and approximately 50 percent of officers hold advanced or professional degrees, according to Air Force statistics.

There are several ways to finance a college education for military members. Students may use tuition assistance, the Montgomery G.I. Bill, Top Up and scholarships to finance their education.

“We have all these (financial) programs so active-duty military can have the government pay for their school,” said Elizabeth Ober, 39th Mission Support Squadron assistant education technician.

And applying for help just got a little easier.

Students do not need to leave the comforts of home or work to fill out TA paperwork. Beginning Jan. 1, students must process TA forms online via the Air Force Portal on the virtual education link.

They will need the name of the school, name of class, how many credit hours, how much the class cost and how much it costs per semester hour, said Ms. Ober.

With the new online TA procedures, students read information and check the boxes indicating they understand rules about using TA, she added.

“It replaces the briefing we used to give them.”

However, they must be registered for the class.

Once a school receives the TA form, it then bills the Air Force.

TA pays 100 percent of tuition up to $250 per semester hour. Most college-level classes are three semester hours. That means TA pays up to $750 per class.

Top Up covers students if the class they are taking costs more than $250 per semester hour. It covers the rest of the cost by taking the funds from the GI Bill, said Ms. Ober. For example, if a student signs up with a Penn State University on-line class and it costs $1,950, TA will cover $750 and the Top Up program will cover the balance of $1,200 by using a small amount of funds from the member’s GI Bill.

TA pays for most, if not all, of tuition costs and Top Up takes care of the rest. The only thing the student has to do is pay for is books.

An important attribute of Combat Education is that TA covers any class a student is taking to earn a Community College of the Air Force degree. Combat Education focuses on making advanced education as user-friendly as possible. It also makes it easier for the E-4-and-below population to enroll in college classes.