Higher education help available at education office

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Connor Burkhard
  • 931st ARG Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AFB, Kan. --  The cost of education can be overwhelming for many students. To help ease the financial obligations students can incur, Air Force Reservists may be eligible for a number of financial assistance programs.

The 931st Air Refueling Group's education and training office offers educational counseling and assistance in program eligibility and enrollment for the Montgomery G.I. Bill - Selected Reserve, Tuition Assistance and the Reserve Educational Assistance Program.

Tech. Sgt. Shannon Hughes, 931st education and training assistant chief, has been in her current role for about two years and has also worked with education and training on the active-duty side. She said she enjoys helping military members.

"I like being able to counsel people," she said. "I like to talk to them about their goals and help them to get there."

Eligibility requirements for the Reserve G.I. Bill are quite different from those required of active-duty members.

"The Reserve G.I. Bill is different from active duty in that you don't have to put any money down," she said. "To be eligible all you need is a six year Reserve commitment and be a member in good standing."

Other requirements include being enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate or certificate program offered by an accredited school.

For students going to school full time, the monthly G.I. Bill payment is $319 per month. This rate decreases as fewer credits are taken in a given semester.

Sergeant Hughes said it is important for members to know that they must verify enrollment each month in order to receive payment from the Veteran's Administration.

"Every month the member must verify enrollment by a simple phone call or by visiting the VA website," she said. "Payment is sent out one week to ten days later."

Along with a difference in eligibility requirements, the length of eligibility for the Reserve G.I Bill also differs from the active duty G.I Bill.

"When you're active duty you are eligible for 10 years after separation," Sergeant Hughes said. "In the Reserve, when you separate, you are no longer eligible."

TA is another program available to eligible Reservists to help cut down a member's out of pocket expense for school. It is a reimbursement plan to help cover the cost of tuition only.

Reservists are eligible for TA if they are a member in good standing and regularly attend drill. Further more, the school the member is attending must be nationally or regionally accredited and recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Members interested in taking advantage of TA must request it before classes begin. A document listing class costs must submitted to the education and training office along with a degree plan.

"Members using TA are eligible for $250 per credit hour for an associate's degree or a bachelor's degree, not to exceed $4,500 every fiscal year," Sergeant Hughes said. "For a master's degree, it is $187.50 per credit hour."

Payment can be expected about six weeks following submittal of a final course grade to the education and training office.

The REAP program was designed to provide increased educational assistance to reservists who are deployed in support of contingency operations for 90 days or more. Monthly payments are based on total time deployed and are a percentage of the active duty G.I. Bill payments.

"If a member is deployed for 90 days to one year, you get 40 percent; one to two years, you get 60 percent; and anything over two years, you get 80 percent," said Sergeant Hughes.

A benefit of this program is that now, unlike the Reserve G.I. Bill, Reservists are eligible to receive benefits up to ten years after their separation date.

Currently, approximately 50 group members are using TA. Sergeant Hughes said it is difficult to estimate the number of 931st members currently using the G.I. Bill because they don't have to see her in order to enroll in the program.

"We're getting more and more people. We usually see the most people in August, and it dwindles down from there," she said. "I would definitely like to see more people using it."
Sergeant Hughes said she thinks misconceptions regarding the enrollment process for these programs sometimes discourage Reservists from using them.

"What scares people the most is the actual process of enrolling in the programs," she said.