Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty

Highlights & Drawbacks

Veterans and active duty servicemembers can:
- Receive more than $37,000 tax free.
- Receive benefits for up to 36 months.
- Have benefits paid directly to them.
- Use benefits for tuition, books, living expenses and fees.
Benefits can be used for:
- College
- Technical or vocational courses
- Correspondence courses
- Apprenticeship or on-the-job training
- Flight training
- High-tech training
- Licensing and certification tests
- Entrepreneurship training
- Certain entrance examinations

You must contribute $100 a month into the plan for your first 12 months of active duty.
If You Are a Veteran
Full-time students receive a $1,101 a month benefit, even if their tuition is less than $1,101 a month. This is a good thing.

But ...
If You Are Active Duty
Regardless of how many hours you are enrolled in college, your benefit cannot be more than your monthly tuition. So if you are a full-time student and eligible for $1,101 a month, but your tuition is $900 a month, you only get $900. Furthermore, each month you receive benefits counts against one of your 36 months of eligibility. So even if you only receive a $25 benefit one month, you still lose a month of eligibility.
The maximum benefit you can be eligible for is $1,101 a month, which is a good thing. But if your educational expenses are more than that, you’ll need to find other ways to cover them. Eligible active duty servicemembers may combine Tuition Assistance benefits with MGIB Top-Up for that purpose. If you are elgible, VAJoe.com can help you find schools where you can use your MGIB-AD benefits.