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Air Force Tuition Assistance

The Air Force Tuition Assistance (TA) program is an important quality of life program that provides up to 75% of $250 per semester hour for college courses taken during off-duty hours. This equates to a maximum of $187.50 per semester hour ($166.50 per quarter hour) for tuition for active duty.

Military members are restricted to a maximum of $3500 of tuition assistance per fiscal year. The program is one of the most frequent reasons given for enlisting and re-enlisting in the Air Force.

Tuition Assistance is authorized for:

  • One hundred percent of the cost of approved high school completion programs for Service members who have not been awarded a high school or equivalency diploma and who are enrolled in such programs.
  • Not more than 75 percent of an institution's tuition and related instructional charges for each course in which a Service member enrolls, except that in the case of an enlisted member in the pay grade of E-5 or higher with less than 14 years' service, not more than 90 percent of the charges may be paid. The limitations in this paragraph do not apply to the Program for Afloat College Education.
  • Tuition assistance is available to a commissioned officer on active duty only if the officer agrees to remain on active duty for a period of at least 2 years after the completion of the education or training for which tuition assistance was paid.

Tuition Assistance is not authorized for:

  • Non-instructional purposes such as parking fees, student activity fees, medical services
  • Matriculation or graduation fees
  • Tuition covered by other federal benefits
  • Officers attending educational institutions under the Excess Leave Program
  • Tuition for military personnel on Bootstrap or permissive TDY
  • Tuition for degrees or courses lower or equal to a degree already attained
  • Tuition in excess of 75% of $250 per semester hour or $166 per quarter hour
  • Tuition in excess of 15 contact hours per week
  • Tuition for repeated courses or courses equivalent in content to a course already completed under TA
  • Courses for which veterans benefits are used

Eligibility Requirements

  • Enlisted members' retainability extends beyond the course end date or the individual intends and is eligible to reenlist
  • Officers incur an active duty service commitment (ADSC) of 2-years from the course completion date for the latest course taken with tuition assistance. This commitment runs concurrently with any present ADSC

Tuition assistance will not be paid for any course for which a Service member is getting reimbursement in whole or in part from any other federal source, ie, the Mongtomery GI Bill. This is considered a duplication of benefits. Institutions have a responsibility to ensure that students do not receive a duplication of benefits.

Pell Grants may be used in conjunction with tuition assistance, including their use to pay that portion of tuition costs not covered by tuition assistance.

Tuition Assistance shall be provided only for courses offered by postsecondary institutions accredited by a national or regional accrediting body recognized by the Department of Education.

Community College of the Air Force

The Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) is a worldwide multi-campus community college established to meet the educational needs of Air Force enlisted personnel. CCAF is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools/Commission on Colleges (SACSCC) as an occupational educational institution.

The College is operated by and for the benefit of all airmen. Base Education counselors serve as academic advisors for CCAF students and are the primary means of communication between CCAF and Air Force enlisted personnel. Academic credit for CCAF is earned at technical schools, duty stations, and college campuses throughout the world.

Specific degree programs--many which are available as an online degree--in each Air Force specialty area are designed to provide students with the theoretical background to perform as technical experts and competent supervisors in their fields. The primary goal of the CCAF is to allow airmen to progress toward and ultimately earn an Associate Degree in their Air Force specialty with minimum disruptions from Permanent Changes of Station (PCS), Temporary Duty (TDY), and shift work.