Active Duty for Active Support

If you're eligible, the Montgomery GI Bill/ Active Duty, called "MGIB," provides up to 36 months of education benefits for:

• College, Business
• Technical or Vocational Courses
• Correspondence Courses
• Apprenticeship/Job Training
• Flight Training

Under this Bill, you may receive benefits for a wide variety of training, including an undergraduate or graduate degree at a college or university, or a cooperative training program. You may also take an accredited independent study program leading to a degree. Review the GI Bill eligibility categories

Time Is Money

Your MGIB benefits are good up to 10 years from the date of your last discharge or release from active duty. Your 10-year period can be extended by the amount of time you were prevented from training during that period because of a disability or because you were held by a foreign government or power.

Your 10-year period can also be extended if you reenter active duty for 90 days or more after becoming eligible. The extension ends 10 years from the date of separation from the later period. Periods of active duty of less than 90 days can qualify you for extensions only if you were separated for one of the following:

• A service-connected disability
• A medical condition existing before active duty
• Hardship, or
• A reduction in force.

If you're eligible based on two years of active duty and four years in the Selected Reserve, you have 10 years from your release from active duty, or 10 years from the completion of the four-year Selected Reserve obligation to use your benefits.

Here's the Kicker

How much does the VA pay? The monthly benefit paid to you is based on the type of training you take, length of your service, your category, and if DOD put extra money in your MGIB Fund (called "kickers"). You usually have 10 years to use your MGIB benefits, but the time limit can be less, in some cases, and longer under certain circumstances.

The bottom line: get a move on. Your future is waiting.