How much do you know about TA?

  • Published
  • By Leonard Dezaiffe
  • Education and Training Flight
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  What is Tuition Assistance? TA are privileged funds provided to eligible active-duty Air Force personnel attending post-secondary institutions accredited by a national, regional or specialized body recognized by the Department of Education. Each military member has a fiscal cap of $4,500, which may be used for academic education. Tuition is paid up to $250 per semester hour or $166 per quarter hour. Military members are also allowed one lifetime professional certification of up to $9,000. Unfortunately, tuition assistance will not cover books. 

TA is not authorized for courses leading to a lateral or lower-level degree than you already possess (i.e. second associate's or bachelor's degree). However, there are exceptions for CCAF degrees. TA may be provided for enlisted military members seeking a CCAF degree regardless of their current education level. Likewise, it may also be provided for another associate's degree even if they have a CCAF degree, provided they do not already possess another associate's degree (or higher). TA will pay for 12 semester hours of undergraduate course work towards a master's degree. These credits must be approved by the education office before TA can be submitted. Students must apply for TA online using the Air Force Virtual Education Center. This must be done through the Air Force Portal at https://www.my.af.mil/. They will not be able to apply for TA if the classes have already begun. However, if a student has never used TA before, they are required to attend the College 101 briefing held every Tuesday and Thursday at 1 p.m. in the Education Center. This briefing will cover attending college, using TA and how to apply for it online. 

AFVEC has recently improved. Students are able to view education center events (CCAF graduations, on-site school representatives, etc). Explore a CCAF degree progress report, order CCAF transcripts and look at the CCAF course conversion table. Students can observe their scheduled CLEP, DANTES or PME tests. They can also view their enrollments and grades. And, of course, apply for TA through AFVEC. Everything but the CCAF actions can be accomplished at home as long as a person knows their Air Force Portal ID (first name.middle intial.last name) and password. Students must be on a government computer to access the CCAF actions. 

TA is a great program to help military members with the expense of college education. Military members must remember that tuition assistance is not a right; it is a benefit that depends upon congressional funds available. For anyone having trouble applying for TA, the education office staff has made slide show note pages available to demonstrate the process. 

For more information, call 731-3531 Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.