Military Tuition Assistance
Service members of the U.S. Armed Forces are eligible for the Tuition Assistance (TA) program.
As a signatory on the Department of Defense MOU, the University of West Florida is both committed and obligated to provide the following:
- Clearly outline all costs and fees associated with programs and what is or is not covered by VA assistance or federal money.
- Provide a clear understanding of financial options including federal aid to Veterans.
- Obtain accreditation agency approval before adding new programs.
- Allow Service members to re-enter an educational program if they must leave temporarily due to service requirements.
- Ensure that the institutional refund policy is aligned with the refund of unearned student aid rules.
- Provide comprehensive education plans for students using Federal Veteran’s education benefits.
- Review all submitted traditional, military, CLEP, and DANTES transcripts for transfer of credit.
- Designate a point of contact for financial and academic advising
UWF TA Policy
Students using military TA for undergraduate courses:
The tuition only portion of the course cost is currently $143.95 per semester hour for most undergraduate courses not including fees. The University has authorization to waive the fees for military students using federal military TA. As a consequence, the only course cost to the service member taking undergraduate courses would be course specific fees such as a lab fee, if any.
NOTE: The Air Force recently classified the Florida tuition differential as a fee. For Air Force students, the tuition only amount for undergraduate courses will be $105.07 per semester hour, and there will be an out of pocket cost of $38.88 per semester hour for the tuition differential.
Students using military TA for graduate courses:
The tuition only portion of the course cost is currently $295.34 for most graduate courses not including fees.
Market Rate Tuition:
Per Florida statute, the University charges a market rate/self-supporting tuition rate for some courses and programs. These courses or programs can be identified by referring to the 2nd page of the UWF catalog Tuition and Fee Schedule. Unlike traditional courses, the funding for market rate/self-supporting courses is from the course tuition that does not include non-tuition fees. As a consequence, there are no non-tuition fees within the course tuition.
The MVRC will screen all military TA Vouchers received by the University, and will alert students to amend their vouchers if necessary.
UWF TA, MyCAA and EDD Processing Policies
All military TA vouchers received by the University are reviewed for accuracy by the MVRC. Once approved, they are saved to the student record and processed to the Cashier to be applied to the student Transact. Vouchers should be emailed to mvrcta@uwf.edu.
The MVRC monitors the Army and Air Force education portals, and will extract from those portals approved TA (military and civilian)/EDD/MyCAA vouchers, which will then be reviewed and processed. This is a courtesy service, and students should monitor their Transact to ensure the voucher amount is applied. If your Transact is not updated within 5 working days of your voucher being approved, please contact the MVRC.
Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard using military TA, and personnel using SF-182 (military and civilian) vouchers will have their vouchers reviewed by the MVRC for accuracy, saved to the student record, and then processed to the Cashier. Vouchers should be emailed to mvrcta@uwf.edu or cashier@uwf.edu.
The number 1 reason for funding documents to be returned to the student for correction is the term dates. This is especially true for TA. The military TA portals do not allow a student to request TA for courses in different terms on the same voucher. For this reason, the student must request more than one TA voucher if enrolling in multiple terms within a semester.
Per UWF policy, grades will be posted at the end of the semester by the MVRC.
The Air Force provides an interface to the education portal to institutions called the AI portal. This allows the University to load degree programs, courses, and tuition information. Air Force students access this information through the Air Force Virtual Education Center. The UWF MVRC maintains the information that is placed in the portal. If you do not see your course in the portal, please notify the MVRC at mvrcta@uwf.edu or 850.474.2550.
The Air Force has streamlined the process for requesting TA. To begin, access the Virtual Education Center (AFVEC). If not already registered to use the site, you can do so from this page. To apply for TA, you will need to complete the following in the portal:
- Provide the reason you are requesting TA
- Select the school you will be attending
- Enter Term Dates
- Enter course information (UWF course information is pre-loaded)
- Select the appropriate tuition (UWF tuition information is pre-loaded)
- Verify all information and submit
The AFVEC system should provide you an automated email once your TA request has been approved.
Per UWF policy, grades will be posted at the end of the semester by the MVRC.
ARMY MILITARY TUITION ASSISTANCE:
During the Spring 2021 semester, the Army sunset the GoArmyEd platform in favor of the new IgnitED 1.0 platform. During the Fall 2022 semester, the IgnitED 1.0 platform went through a migration phase to the new IgnitED 2.0 platform. The following information applies to the Army’s migration from IgnitED 1.0 to 2.0.
- Soldiers with TA requests that have not been approved for spring, summer or fall of 2021, or spring, summer and fall of 2022 semesters must visit their Army Education Center to request that a new TA request is created for those past (historical) courses.
- Soldiers enrolled in courses after September 30, 2022 must request TA in the new IgnitED 2.0 platform.
- All soldiers must create a new account in IgnitED 2.0. Accounts created in IgnitED 1.0 did not migrate to 2.0.
- Soldiers must upload a Degree Plan to their account in the portal. Degree plans previously loaded to 1.0 did not migrate to 2.0. Log in to your MyUWF account and search for the Degree Audit. Save the Degree Audit as a pdf and upload the pdf to the portal. Currently, soldiers can take 2 TA funded courses without a degree plan uploaded.
- Soldiers must request TA no earlier than 60 days prior to a course start date and no later than 7 days prior to the course date.
- Once the TA request is approved, it should be saved as a pdf file and emailed to mvrcta@uwf.edu
Institutions do not have direct access to pull the approved TA Voucher from the Navy Education portal. As a consequence, approved vouchers need to be saved in a pdf format and emailed to the mvrcta@uwf.edu. UWF has uploaded courses and tuition to the Academic Institution Module of the portal, which should allow you to expedite your TA request and approval. The UWF MVRC has responsibility for maintaining the AIM information, so please notify us if you encounter a problem. mvrcta@uwf.edu or 850.474.2550.
Per UWF policy, grades will be posted at the end of the semester by the MVRC.
The Navy is the Program Manager for the education portal that is shared by the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. Institutions do not have direct access to pull the approved TA Voucher from the Navy Education portal. As a consequence, approved vouchers need to be saved in a pdf format and emailed to the mvrcta@uwf.edu.
Per UWF policy, grades will be posted at the end of the semester by the MVRC.
The Navy is the Program Manager for the education portal that is shared by the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. Institutions do not have direct access to pull the approved TA Voucher from the Navy Education portal. As a consequence, approved vouchers need to be saved in a pdf format and emailed to the mvrcta@uwf.edu.
Once the TA application is completed online, the voucher is routed to your ESO who then reviews and approves it. It is then sent to the CG Institute for processing. Once approved the voucher is sent to the service member by email.
Coast Guardsmen also have the option of downloading and completing TA Form CG-4147 manually. Once completed, email the form to your ESO.
Per UWF policy, grades will be posted at the end of the semester by the MVRC.
Combining Military TA with VA Education Benefits
The Top Up program refers to legislation passed by Congress that allows military TA to be used with Chapter 30 MGIB benefits to supplement the funding of a course. Years later, when the Chapter 33 Post 911 was passed, it included a measure that allowed for military TA to be combined with the benefit. Over the years, Top Up is now generally referred to in the general population to mean combining military TA and VA benefits. How this is accomplished still depends upon the VA benefit being used and the laws that apply to that use. Chapter 30 and Chapter 33 are the only programs that are Top Up eligible.
Chapter 30 MGIB Top Up
If the cost of a course exceeds the value of a TA voucher, an eligible student can use their CH-30 benefit to pay for the difference. The charge against entitlement is favorable to the Veteran because VA bases the calculation upon the amount VA pays as a percentage of a full monthly entitlement, times 30 days. As an example, a student uses Top Up to pay a difference of $400. If the regular Chapter 30 benefit is $1,800, then the percentage times 30 days is approximately 7 days, which would be the charge against entitlement. For an accurate determination of what your charge against entitlement will be, contact the VA.
Using full Chapter 30 benefits while also using TA is not Top UP, and is not authorized except in the case of M-Day or Mil-Tech Reservist or National Guardsmen with Chapter 30 entitlement.
Chapter 33 Post 911 Top Up
When using Chapter 33 benefits to combine with TA in paying for a course, or using the full Chapter 33 benefit while also using military TA to pay for courses, the outcome is the same. The Certifying officials at UWF will only certify the net difference between the course cost and the applied TA voucher (and any other tuition specific scholarships or benefits received). VA policy is that VA pays last after all other tuition specific benefits and scholarships have been applied. Regardless of the VA cost share, the charge against your VA education entitlement will be the same as if VA was the only payer. In the case of the example above, a Veteran using TA, with 100% percentage of entitlement taking one 3 semester hour 4 month course would have their entitlement reduced by approximately 1 month. For an accurate determination of what your charge against entitlement will be, contact the VA.
Chapter 1606
For students who are enrolled ½ time or greater, dual payment of Chapter 1606 and military TA for a course IS authorized. For students who are enrolled less than ½ time, combining military TA with Chapter 1606 for the same course IS NOT authorized.
Army Credentialing assistance (Army CA) provides up to $4,000 per fiscal year for soldiers to pursue a certification or license through preparatory courses approved in Army COOL. In addition to the numerous online license/certification preparatory courses approved in the Army CA portal, UWF offers the for credit BCBA and BCaBA course sequence programs approved for Army CA funding. If also using military TA, the combined amounts of Army CA and TA cannot exceed $4,000 per year.
For a quote or more information, email mvrcta@uwf.edu.
Air Force COOL is a pathway for enlisted DAF members to earn industry recognized professional certifications, licenses to enhance their active-duty work, and to prepare them as they transition to the civilian job market. Requests can be made within the AFVEC. If you do not see your preferred certification preparatory course in the AFVEC, please email the MVRC at mvrcta@uwf.edu.
