Veterans Resources - Tuition Top-Up Program

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Tuition Top-Up Program

This program allows the VA to pay Montgomery GI Bill participant's tuition and fees not covered by tuition assistance. The amount of the benefit can be equal to the difference between the total cost of a college course and the amount of Tuition Assistance that is paid by the military for the course.

The following requirements apply:

This benefit is available only to Chapter 30 participants, i.e. students who entered active duty for the first time on or after July 1, 1985 and accepted the GI Bill.
The benefit is retroactive for courses starting on or after November 1, 2000.
The VA is prohibited from paying "Top-Up" for any course starting before November 1, 2000.
Students may receive 36 months of "Top-Up" payments. For example, payment for one or more eight-week courses in the same time frame will cost two months of "Top-Up," while a 16-week course will cost four months of "Top-Up."
Future monthly GI Bill benefits are reduced by the amount of "Top-Up" dollars claimed divided by 36.

Are You Eligible?

To be eligible for the Top-Up benefit, you must be approved for federal Tuition Assistance by a military department and be eligible for Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty benefits. To be eligible for Montgomery GI Bill benefits, the person must be an Montgomery GI Bill - Active Duty participant and must have served at least 2 full years on Active Duty.

The amount of the benefit is limited to the amount that the person would receive for the same course if regular Montgomery GI Bill benefits were being paid. In no case can the amount paid by the military combined with the amount paid by VA be more than the total cost of the course.

If you receive the Top-Up benefit, your regular Montgomery GI Bill benefits will be reduced. The amount of entitlement charged for Top-Up payments is determined by dividing the amount of the payment by the claimant's full-time monthly rate.

The benefit is available for all courses that began on or after October 30, 2000. A copy of the Tuition Assistance Authorization form for the course that has been signed by an authorized military official will be required. People who have not requested Montgomery GI Bill benefits before should submit a VA Form 22-1990 to establish eligibility.

The application and other evidence should be sent to one of VA's four education processing offices in Atlanta, Buffalo, Muskogee (OK), or St. Louis. The application form and the addresses of the offices are available on the Internet at http://www.gibill.va.gov/. Claims should specify that Tuition Assistance Top-Up is being claimed.

The Top-Up program is not available at this time to persons who are eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve program.