Benefits for Veterans and Active Duty

Pay Tuition With Veteran Education Benefits

If you are ready to enroll, or have already enrolled as a student, we want to help you maximize your VA educational benefits as a veteran, reservist or dependent of a veteran. Use the following general checklist to find and use the benefits you deserve!

Request and complete forms (depends on your status and determines eligibility).
Request transcripts from previous institutions and/or the military.
Apply for benefits (verifies eligibility) and request payment of benefits every semester.
Verify residency and voter status for in-county tuition rate.

Before exploring your benefits, view our Net Price Calculator to help estimate tuition costs.

Benefits for Veterans

Chapter	Who Qualifies	Period of Eligibility and Months of Entitlement	Payments	For More Information
33 Post-9/11 GI Bill®	Veterans and service members with at least 90 days on active duty service after 09/10/01, or 30 days if discharged with a service-connected disability.	The Forever GI Bill removes the 15-year time limit for the use of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for those whose last discharge or release from active duty is on or after January 1, 2013, children of deceased service members who became entitled to Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits on or after January 1, 2013.	Effective August 2011, tuition and fees are paid at the in-state rate only. Distance learning students and students who do not meet in-state residency requirements will be responsible for the remainder of their fees.	DVA website
30 Montgomery GI Bill® Active Duty (MGIB-AD)	Veterans and service members with at least 2 years of active duty after 06/30/1985. Members enroll and pay $100 per month for 12 months and then are entitled to receive educational benefits once they complete a minimum service obligation.	10 years (from last discharge or separation). 36 months of entitlement.	Flat monthly amount—see payment rates.	DVA website
CH31 Veteran Readiness and Employment	Assists those veterans with service-connected disabilities to prepare for, find, and keep suitable jobs. This program is an employment program and requires a formal application process. The veteran meets with a Veteran Readiness and EmploymentCounselor (VR&E) to develop a rehabilitation plan, which can include employment and living goals.	12 years from the latter of the following: 1) Date of separation from active military service; 2) Date the veteran was first notified by VA of a service-connected disability rating	Flat monthly amount—see payment rates.	DVA website

Benefits for Active Duty Members

Chapter	Who Qualifies	Period of Eligibility and Months of Entitlement	Payments	For More Information
30 Montgomery GI Bill® Active Duty (MGIB-AD)	Veterans and service members with at least 2 years of active duty after 06/30/1985. Members enroll and pay $100 per month for 12 months and then are entitled to receive educational benefits once they complete a minimum service obligation.	10 years (from last discharge or separation). 36 months of entitlement.	Flat monthly amount—see payment rates.	DVA website
1606 Montgomery GI Bill® Selected Reserve (MGIB-SR)	Active member of the Selected Reserves with a 6 year obligation.	14 years (from beginning date of eligibility, or until member leaves the Selected Reserve). 36 months of entitlement.	Flat monthly amount—see payment rates.	DVA website
33 Post-9/11 GI Bill®	Veterans and service members with at least 90 days on active duty service after 09/10/01, or 30 days if discharged with a service-connected disability.	The Forever GI Bill removes the 15-year time limit for the use of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for those whose last discharge or release from active duty is on or after January 1, 2013, children of deceased service members who became entitled to Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits on or after January 1, 2013.	Effective August 2011, tuition and fees are paid at the in-state rate only. Distance learning students and students who do not meet in-state residency requirements will be responsible for the remainder of their fees.	DVA website

Benefits for Dependents

Chapter	Who Qualifies	Period of Eligibility and Months of Entitlement	Payments	For More Information
33 Post-9/11 GI Bill®	Dependents of veterans and service members with at least 90 days on active duty service after 09/10/01, or 30 days if discharged with a service-connected disability.	The Forever GI Bill removes the 15-year time limit for the use of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for those whose last discharge or release from active duty is on or after January 1, 2013, children of deceased service members who became entitled to Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits on or after January 1, 2013.	Effective August 2011, tuition and fees are paid at the in-state rate only. Distance learning students and students who do not meet in-state residency requirements will be responsible for the remainder of their fees.	DVA website
35 Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance Program (DEA)	Dependents of a veteran who died in service or is totally and permanently disabled as a result of service.	8 years for a child or 10 years for a spouse (20 if veteran is rated permanent and totally disabled within 3 years of discharge). 45 months of entitlement.	Flat monthly amount—see payment rates.	DVA website

View More Detailed Information About Your Potential Benefits

Payment of Benefits

VA educational benefits are paid in arrears, meaning you will be paid the month after you earn the benefit. For example, you will not receive payment for the month of August until the beginning of September.

Chapters 30 and 1606—veterans and reservists—certified for these chapters must verify their monthly enrollment in order to receive payment. This verification can be done via the automated phone number 1-877-823-2378 or on the Veterans Affairs Web Automated Verification of Employment (WAVE) website.

Chapter 33 (Post-9/11 GI Bill®)—Students certified for this benefit should be directly paid their Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) and VA book stipend.Tuition and fees are paid directly to the school. NOTE: Housing allowance is not payable to individuals on active duty. Housing allowance is not payable for those pursuing training at half-time or less. Chapter 33 (Post-9/11 GI Bill®) students must verify their enrollment monthly with the VA either by text, email, or by phone in order to continue receiving MHA. Detailed information on how to verify this can be found on the VA website.

Post-9/11 GI Bill® book stipend will be released by the VA approximately 10 days before the start of the class. MHA is paid in arrears and prorated by full-time status and by how many class days are in the month.

Direct deposit is available for all chapters of benefits. Call 1-877-838-2778 to set up direct deposit with VA.

Overpayment of Benefits

Veterans and campuses may receive an overpayment notification of education benefits, and as a result, owe funds back to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the following reasons:

Complete withdrawal from school
Withdrawal from one or more courses which changes enrollment status
A non-punitive grade is received
Change in dependency status
Taking courses that do not apply to the declared degree program

Note: This list is not all inclusive and other reasons may also cause an overpayment.

If any of the above circumstances should occur, promptly notify Veterans Services at your campus so that the proper steps can be taken. The VA may allow some of the money to be kept, depending on mitigating circumstances. Mitigating circumstances are circumstances beyond the student's control that prevent the student from remaining in class. If you feel your situation warrants mitigating circumstances, you must notify your campus Veterans' Services Office or the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

When an overpayment occurs, the Muskogee Regional Processing Center sends a letter to the student and/or campus explaining the debt, followed within a few days by a letter from VA Debt Management. This letter contains a payment remittance slip with a tracking number, which should be included if you send payment to the VA.

There is contact information for Debt Management in these letters. If the VA does not hear from the student, the overpayment will be recouped from future monthly benefits, possibly with interest charges added to the unpaid balance due.

If you have any questions concerning the amount of an overpayment, you should contact the Department of Veterans Affairs at 1-888-442-4551.

Return of Military Tuition Assistance

If you withdraw from a course for which you have received military tuition assistance funds, the Maricopa Community Colleges are required to return any unearned portion of tuition assistance back to your branch of the Department of Defense. You can read the policy at the 2.2.10 Refund Policy page. Be aware that withdrawing from a course for which you have received tuition assistance funds can result in a debt with the Department of Defense and/or with Maricopa. The potential percentage of what may be returned to the DOD and what you may owe to Maricopa can be found here and is based on the length of your class.

Return of Military Tuition Assistance (TA) Schedules

In determining the amount of unearned TA, the number of days in which the student participated/attended class will be divided by the total number of days for the class to determine the earned portion of TA. Then, the earned portion of TA will be subtracted from 1.00 to determine the unearned portion of TA which will be rounded up to the nearest 5%; the percent of unearned TA will then be multiplied by the total amount of TA allotted for the enrollment in order to determine the dollar amount of TA to be returned to the respective branch of service.

Percentage Returned	5-week Course (35 days)	8-week Course (56 days)	12-week Course (84 days)	14-week Course (98 days)	16-week Course (112 days)
100%	1-3	1-5	1-7	1-7	1-7
95%	-	-	-	-	-
90%	4	6-7	8-10	8-12	9-14
85%	5	8-9	11-14	13-17	15-19
80%	6-7	10-12	15-18	18-22	20-25
75%	8-9	13-15	19-23	23-26	26-30
70%	10-11	16-18	24-27	27-31	31-36
65%	12-13	19-21	28-31	32-36	37-42
60%	14	22-23	32-35	37-41	43-47
55%	15-16	24-26	36-39	42-46	48-53
50%	17-18	27-29	40-44	47-41	54-58
45%	19-20	30-32	45-48	52-56	59-64
40%	21	33	49-50	57-58	65-67
0%	22+	34+	51+	59+	68+