Can you please explain the difference between TA, GI bill and Post 9/11?

Tuition Assistance (TA) is used primarily to pay for tuition but some sources intended for this purpose allow you to flex what you can use it for (Federal Grants for example). It can come from various sources (VA, Your State or local government, Military, Federal Grants, Etc.) and each one may be different in how much of your tuition they will cover each Fiscal Year. to qualify for Military TA you must, at a minimum, be an active serving member. other restrictions may apply based on your branch of service and/or component.

Montgomery GI Bill is Education Assistance. This is primarily indented to help you with living expenses during school but can be utilized to pay for tuition in the absence of additional sources. in order to receive this you must have have served during the time frame this was offered to service members and also have paid the $1200 fee (taken out at $100 a month for the first 12 months of active service) and have served honorably for 24 months. you cannot utilize this benefit while serving on active duty. additionally, you have 10 years from the date of your most recent release from active duty to use this entitlement. 36 Months of benefits at the full time rate is the limit to this benefit.

Post 911 GI Bill is a combination of Tuition AND educational assistance in one package. It pays for all tuition and fees plus up to $1000 for books and materials. additionally it pays a stipend equal to approximately the BAH rate for an E-5. you must have served 3 years of active service to earn this benefit, no monetary payment is required. You also cannot use this while serving on active duty. you have 15 years from your most recent release from active service (after qualifying for the benefit) to use this benefit. 36 months at the full time rate is also the limit to this benefit.

NOTE: If you are one of the rare cases that have earned both the Montgomery GI BILL AND the post 911 GI BILL both then you have the opportunity to receive up to 48 months of benefits if you utilize your ENTIRE (all 36 months) under the Montgomery GI BILL and after exhausting the entire Montgomery GI BILL have it converted to the Post 911 GI BILL you will be given 12 months of eligibility under the Post 911 GI BILL. be advised that if the entire Montgomery GI BILL is not exhausted prior to converting it to Post 911 GI BILL then your combined benefit will only be 36 months.

EXAMPLE: if you use 34 months on the MGIBILL and convert it to post911GIBILL than you Total benefit would be 34 Months of the MGIBILL and 2 Months of the Post911GIBILL.

If you use 36 FULL MONTHS of the MGIBILL and fterwards convert it to the Post911GIBILL than your total benefit would be 36 Months of the MGIBILL and 12 Months of the Post911GIBILL.

I encourage you to visit the Department of Veterans Affairs website to get a full overview of the more intimate details of these benefits. Hope this helps.

Post 9/11 GI Bill is for service members who have served on active duty for a total of 3 years since 9/11/2001. 

TA: Tuition Assistance- primarily used while on active duty. allows for so many credit hours a year, and pays something like 250 dollars a credit hour. but I believe using it now incurs additional service time, but that may only be for officers.

GI Bill- (Old GI Bill)- generally used after separation or by troop who can not get approved by their command to use TA, or when TA funds are not available (either you used all of yours for this year, or the Dept. of the Army freezes them) GI bill will pay so much per credit hour depending on a few variables (less than 3 years in service, any "top-up" funds you have, etc.) Note that if you are still on active duty they will only pay for the cost of the course, so if your GI Bill rate is 1400 a month and you have 36 months of benefits remaining; if you take a course load that costs 800 a month for 4 months, you still loose 4 months of benefits even though they only paid for 800 a month.

Post 9-11(New GI Bill)- This one I do not know so much about. I know that if you use it after separation it will not only pay for courses it will also pay a certain level of BAH. And under certain conditions you can transfer it to your kids or spouse (with additional service requirements)

While on active service, I would try to utilize T.A. and save my GI Bill for after the service or to transfer to my kids. But to each their own. Below is a series of websites that may help.

https://www.goarmyed.com/public/public_tuition_assistance_policies.aspx


http://www.military.com/education/gi-bill/active-duty-gi-bill-users-guide.html?comp= [login to see] 70&rank=9


http://newgibill.org/post_911_gi_bill