Alaska National Guard Tuition Assistance

AS 26.05.296 authorises tuition assistance for members of the Alaska National Guard, and the practical shape of the program is set by where the member studies. At the University of Alaska system, state tuition assistance combined with federal tuition assistance covers the full cost of tuition and required fees. That is the case the program is designed around, and a Guard member studying at Anchorage, Fairbanks or Southeast should expect no tuition bill. At other Alaska post-secondary institutions the assistance is capped in dollars: $2,500 a year for credit courses, and $1,500 a year for certificate or licensure programs. A member at a private Alaska institution or a vocational program is looking at a contribution rather than full coverage. Eligibility is membership. The member must be a serving member of the Alaska National Guard in good standing. There is no rating, no deployment history and no minimum length of prior service written into the program. The credential limits are the constraint most likely to bite a member planning a long education. The program funds one credential each at the certificate, associate and bachelor's levels. A member who has already used the bachelor's slot cannot use it again for a second bachelor's degree. Federal tuition assistance is expected to be applied first where the member is eligible for it, which is why the University of Alaska outcome is described as a combined result rather than as state funding alone. Administration runs through Alaska Army National Guard Education Services rather than through a scholarship board, so the point of contact is the unit education office. Two things this program is not. It is not the federal GI Bill, which follows the member out of service and is administered by VA; a member can hold both and they are separate applications. And it is not available to a separated veteran, because eligibility turns on current membership in good standing. A member approaching separation who has unused credential slots should understand that they end with the service. Alaska has no broad state tuition waiver for veterans or for the dependents of disabled veterans of the kind several states in this catalog carry. The Guard program above and the federal benefits are the substance of what the state offers, alongside the World War II diploma program for an older cohort.