Federal Tuition Assistance (FTA)

1. 1. • What is it?
        1. FTA is financial assistance provided for voluntary off-duty education programs in support of a Soldier’s professional and personal self-development goals (Reference: AR 621-5).
   2. • How Do I Qualify?
        1. Currently serving in the Army National Guard, and
           1. Have completed at least one year of service from your AIT/BOLC graduation date
           2. Do not have an ETS or MRD prior to completion of course(s)
        2. Service Obligation
           1. Officers and Warrant Officers are subject to a four year Reserve Duty Service
           2. Obligation(RDSO) OR two year Active Duty Service Obligation (ADSO)
   3. • What Do I Get?
        1. FTA will pay up to $250 per semester hour up to 16 SHs per fiscal year
        2. Lifetime limit of 130 Undergraduate semester hours
        3. Lifetime limit of 39 Graduate semester hours
        4. FTA may pay towards the cost of tuition ONLY IF:
           1. The college/university is regionally or nationally accredited AND is a GoArmyEd participant
           2. The funded course(s) meets a requirement in your documented degree plan from the school(this can include prerequisite courses)
           3. Maintain an undergraduate GPA of 2.0 for FTA-funded courses
           4. Maintain a graduate GPA of 3.0 for FTA-funded courses
           5. Is NOT used in conjunction with Chapter 1606 MGIB-SR or Chapter 1607 REAP
        5. FTA may pay toward one credential at each of the following levels:
           1. Undergraduate level certificate/certification
           2. Associate Degree
           3. Bachelor Degree
           4. Graduate level certificate/certification
              • Must NOT have already earned a Master Degree to be eligible
           5. Exceptions: Initial state teacher certifications, Transitioning Soldiers, Chaplain Certification, or pre-requisites for the IPAP program may be eligible after receiving a Master’s Degree
           6. Master Degree
              • First Professional Degrees NOT eligible (i.e. doctorate degrees, juris doctorates, etc.)
              • If you have used any FTA for a Bachelor’s Degree (even 1 credit hour) you must complete ten years of service prior to using FTA for a Master’s Degree

Programs NOT Eligible for FTA

1. 1. 1. Courses leading to a credential that is lower or lateral to the highest credential you have already been awarded
         1. Example: if you have a Bachelor’s Degree (even if you came in the Guard with one), you cannot use TA to pursue a second Bachelor’s or an Associate’s Degree
      2. Any program that bundles tuition and fees together into a lump sum
      3. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or courses that do not meet degree requirement
      • How Do I Apply?
        1. Create a GoArmyEd Account
           1. Go to www.armyignited.army.mil and establish a GoArmyEd Tuition Assistance account, by clicking on “New User” button and entering in all required data
        2. Once you have a GAE account, you can begin requesting FTA, a few tips to remember:
           1. You can apply for FTA up to 60 days prior to the start of your courses and must be APPROVED prior to course start date. We recommend signing up as early as possible as funding is based upon availability
              • You will submit a TA request for each individual course for which you want FTA to pay
           2. If your school goes by quarter hour or clock hour, GoArmyEd will automatically convert them into semester hours on the application
           3. If your school has not been fully integrated into GoArmyEd (i.e. you have to physically enter your courses into each FTA request) then you will need to provide the following documentation, uploaded into your Education Record eFile:
              • Cost Verification Statement: document such as a billing statement/invoice specific to you that breaks out the cost of tuition separately
              • Class Schedule: document that shows all of the courses with their name, start date, end date, course number, and number of credit hours
           4. All of these documents MUST have your name on them and the name of the school on them and cannot be in an editable format
           5. After you complete six semester hours of FTA-funded coursework, you will need to provide a documented degree plan/student agreement to GoArmyEd
              • This document should list the courses required for completion of your degree, as well as the existing credits already applied toward your degree

To find out more information about this program, please contact
Mr. Darrel Ferdinand
Darrel.c.ferdinand.civ@army.mil
(504)278-8314