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Tuition assistance: Air Force

The Air Force has made it easy for airmen to pursue a college degree.

Not only easy, but inexpensive.

The TA program provides up to 100 percent of the tuition costs for off-duty education programs for active-duty officers and enlisted airmen, so if you get into an accredited college or university program you won’t have to dig into your own pocket.

Also eligible are Active Guard and Reserve, Air National Guard and Air Reserve airmen who have been activated under Titles 10 or 32 of federal law.

Since 2002 tuition and mandatory fees are covered up to $250 per semester hour, or $750 per three-hour course, which is a typical undergraduate course. There is a maximum ceiling of $4,500 per year, but that could add up to six courses over two semesters, which may be all you’re ready to take on — given you still have a day job.

Applying for the tuition assistance is relatively painless, since it can be done electronically via the Air Force Virtual Education Center. Airmen can reach the site through the Air Force Portal.

Kendall, McAree, the Air Force’s education systems manager at the Pentagon, called the Virtual Education Center the service’s “one-stop shop” for airmen’s educational needs when the tuition assistance program went online in late 2005.

The center puts tuition assistance help at an airman’s fingertips worldwide, “whether they are at home or deployed somewhere,” McAree said. “With the online signature, all the paperwork can be routed through the appropriate channels faster and more efficiently.”

All bases have an education office where additional information is available, or you may “tour” the tuition assistance center online.

Enlisted airmen already are enrolled automatically in the Community College of the Air Force, where their Air Force training is applied toward an associate’s degree. The credits are automatically updated whenever relevant training is completed.

Airmen are required to establish specific education goals, but they no longer have to their commander sign their TA Statement of Understanding, although they should discuss their plans with their supervisor.

The courses must be offered by colleges that are accredited by agencies recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

TA is not authorized for programs beyond master’s degrees.

Useful links:

• Air Force Virtual Education Center (link from the Air Force Portal).

• Tuition Assistance program online tour.

• List of accrediting agencies approved by the U.S. Department of Education.