Alabama National Guard Education Assistance Program
ANGEAP is a program established by the legislature of the State of Alabama and is designed to provide financial assistance to active Alabama National Guard members who are enrolled in degree programs at accredited postsecondary institutions of higher learning located within the State of Alabama. Limited funding is provided by the Alabama Legislature and priority is given to those who apply early. Students applying for ANGEAP must have a completed FAFSA on file at Snead State Community College and must maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher. For more information about the ANGEAP, members should contact the unit administrator at their prospective unit.
Army Tuition Assistance (TA)
Tuition assistance (TA) is a Department of Defense (DOD) program. ArmyIgnitedED is the virtual gateway for all eligible Active Duty, National Guard, and Army Reserve soldiers to request tuition assistance (TA) online, anytime, anywhere, for classroom and distance learning. It allows soldiers to manage their education records, including college classes, testing, on-duty classes, and Army education counselor support. Soldiers may request TA through www.armyignited.army.mil/student prior to the course start date. Army Ignited will notify the soldier whether the TA is approved or not. If the TA request is not approved, ArmyIgnitedEd will advise the soldier of the reason and next steps. All drops/withdrawals must be handled through ArmyIgnitedED. Soldiers who do not successfully complete a class due to military reasons must request a Withdrawal for Military Reasons through Army Ignited and complete all required steps to ensure that they will not be charged. Students until 7 days from the start of the semester to input information into the ArmyIgnitedED system for TA approval. All TA must be approved prior to the start date of the course(s).
Alabama GI Dependents Scholarship Program
This nationally renowned program was created by Act 633 and approved October 1947 by the Alabama Legislature. It is administered by the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs and is governed by the Code of Alabama 1975, Section 31-6-1. A dependent is defined as a child, stepchild, spouse, or the unmarried widow(er) of the veteran. For more information on this scholarship, please contact your local Alabama Department of Veteran Affairs Representative located at the county courthouse where you reside for more information on this scholarship.
Chapter 31 Vocational Rehabilitation (Disabled Veterans)
A veteran may be eligible for Vocational Rehabilitation (Chapter 31) benefits if he or she:
- Received, or will receive, a discharge other than dishonorable conditions;
- Incurred or aggravated a service-connected disability which entitles him or her to VA disability compensation; and
- Is in need of vocational rehabilitation because his or her disability creates an employment handicap.
Vocational rehabilitation may be provided for up to 48 months. An eligible veteran generally has 15 years from the date he or she is notified of entitlement to VA compensation to use their Chapter 31 benefits. VA may approve an extension of time and/or length of training in certain cases.
Entitlement for vocational rehabilitation on services is determined on an individual basis following an evaluation of the veteran’s interests, aptitudes, education, work experience, and vocational abilities. Each school is assigned a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist to assist Chapter 31 students and school officials responsible for certifying Chapter 31 students. Full tuition, fees, and books are paid to the school by the VA. In addition, the student gets a subsistence allowance depending on the training status.
Chapter 30 Montgomery GI Bill® (MGIB) and Active Duty
The Montgomery GI Bill® (Active Duty), also known as Chapter 30, is a program of education benefits generally for individuals who enter active duty for the first time after June 30, 1985, and have contributed to the College fund. Active Duty for benefits purposes includes full-time National Guard duty after November 29, 1989. The participant generally must serve continuously on active duty for three-year or greater initial enlistment, or, for a lesser benefit, two years of an initial active duty obligation of less than three years. An individual also may qualify for the full benefits by initially serving two continuous years on active duty, followed by four years of Selected Reserve service. In the latter case, the participant must enter the Selected Reserve within one year of the release from active duty. The participant must meet the requirements for a high school diploma or an equivalency certificate before the first period of active duty ends. Completing 12 credit hours toward a college degree meets this requirement. Individuals, who initially serve a continuous period of at least three years of active duty, even though they were initially obligated to serve less, will be paid at the higher basic rate. Snead State Community College does not participate in advance pay.
Chapter 33 Post 9/11
The Post 9/11 GI Bill® is a new education benefit program for individuals who served on active duty on or after September 11, 2001. The benefits are payable for training pursued on or after August 1, 2009. No payments can be made under this program for training pursued before that date. You may receive up to 36 months of entitlement under the Post 9/11 GI Bill®. Once you elect to receive benefits under the Post 9/11 GI Bill®, you will no longer be eligible to receive benefits under the program from which you elected before the Post 9/11 GI Bill®. A monthly housing allowance (MHA) based on the Basic Allowance for Housing for an E-5 with dependents at the location of the school (for BAH rates, please visit the VA Benefit Resources) is associated with this benefit. For those enrolled solely in distance learning, the housing allowance payable is equal to 1/2 the national average BAH for an E-5 with dependents for the 2011 academic year. (Active duty students and their spouses cannot receive the MHA.) An annual books stipend of $1,000 is paid proportionately based on enrollment.
Chapter 1606 Montgomery GI Bill® Selected Reserves (MGIB-SR)
This program provides benefits for members of the Selected Reserve and National Guard who enlisted, re-enlisted, or extended their enlistment for a period of six years after July 1, 1985. To find out more about eligibility requirements, please contact Veterans Affairs Regional Office (VARO) at 1-888-442-4551.
Chapter 1607 Reserve Educational Assistance Program (REAP)
REAP was established as a part of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005. It is a Department of Defense educational benefit program designed to provide educational assistance to members of the Reserve components called or ordered to active duty in response to a war or national emergency (contingency operation) as declared by the President or Congress. This program makes certain reservists who were activated for at least 90 days after September 11, 2001, either eligible for education benefits or eligible for increased benefits.
Chapter 35 Survivors and Dependents Educational Assistance Program
Dependents’ Educational Assistance provides education and training opportunities to eligible dependents of certain veterans. This program offers up to 45 months of education benefits. These benefits may be used for degree and certificate programs, apprenticeships, and on-the-job training. If you are a spouse, you may take a correspondence course. Remedial, deficiency, and refresher courses may be approved under certain circumstances.
MYCAA
The Military Spouses Center Advancement Account (MYCAA) programs sets out to prepare eligible military spouses for the work force by offering up to $4,000 of financial assistance (FA) from the Department of Defense (DOD). This is meant to encourage spouses of military personnel to pursue education, training, licenses, certificates, and degrees leading to employment in Portable Career fields. The MYCAA program uses this funding to pay schools directly for coursework and exams taken by the approved spouse account owner.
The Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship (Fry Scholarship)
The Fry Scholarship provides Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to the children and surviving spouses of Service members who died in the line of duty while on active duty after September 10, 2001. Eligible beneficiaries attending school may receive up to 36 months of benefits at the 100% level.
- Children are eligible as of their 18th birthday (unless they have already graduated high school). A child may be married or over 23 and still be eligible, although their eligibility ends on their 33rd birthday.
- A spouse will lose eligibility to this benefit upon remarriage. A spouse has 15 years from the date of death of the Service member to use the benefit.
Because certain provisions of the law that extended these benefits to spouses did not go in effect until January 1, 2015, some surviving spouses’ benefits will expire as early as 2016. A new provision of the law signed on December 16, 2016, extends the benefit eligibility to January 1, 2021, for the spouses of Service members who died in the line of duty between September 11, 2001, and December 31, 2005. This allows surviving spouses’ additional time to utilize the Fry Scholarship benefits.
- If you are eligible for both Fry Scholarship and DEA (Dependents Educational Assistance), you will be required to make an irrevocable election between the two programs when you apply.
- Dependents are not eligible to receive both DEA and the Fry Scholarship based on the same event (like a Service member dying in the line of duty) unless he or she is a child whose parent died prior to August 1, 2011.
A child of a parent who died prior to August 1, 2011, may still be eligible for both benefits, but he/she may only use one program at a time and combined benefits are capped at a total of 81 months of full-time training. In this situation, the two benefit programs cannot be used concurrently.
GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government website at https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill.