Mississippi National Guard State Educational Assistance Program

The Adjutant General of Mississippi is authorized to pay tuition for members of the active Mississippi National Guard enrolled in state at an accredited institution of higher learning, vocational education school, or junior college, under Miss. Code Ann. Sections 33-7-405 and 33-7-407. The program is run as the State Educational Assistance Program. The amounts are set by fiscal year. At a Mississippi college or university, up to $10,000 a state fiscal year: $5,000 a semester full time, $2,500 a semester part time. At a Mississippi junior or community college, up to $5,000 a state fiscal year: $2,500 a semester full time, $1,250 a semester part time. A vocational program is covered up to the total cost of the program, not exceeding $10,000. One eligibility condition has no analogue anywhere else in this catalog: the member must be a registered voter in the State of Mississippi. It is not a residency proxy that the state infers from something else, it is voter registration, and a Guard member who has never registered will be turned down until they do. Register first. The rest of the conditions are ordinary military-education conditions, and each one has cost somebody an award. The member must be a graduate of basic training or ROTC Basic Camp. The member must be actively serving in good standing, not flagged, at the time of application and throughout the entire semester or quarter for which benefits are paid, which means a flag landing mid-semester can pull the money back. Courses must be undergraduate level at a Mississippi institution. A 2.0 semester grade point average must be maintained. Eligibility runs ten years from the first payment. Enlisted members, warrant officers W-1 through CW-4, and commissioned officers O-1 through O-4 are covered. This stacks. The program may be combined with the GI Bill, federal tuition assistance, grants, and scholarships, which is how a Guard member in Mississippi gets to a fully funded degree. Apply through the Mississippi National Guard education office: [email protected], (601) 313-6300. Separately, and for a different population, military personnel stationed in Mississippi are classified as state residents for the purposes of tuition at state colleges and universities under Miss. Code Ann. Section 37-103-17, and Mississippi National Guard members receive resident rates. That is covered in the in-state tuition entry.