New Jersey National Guard Tuition Waiver

N.J.S.A. 18A:62-24 lets any member of the New Jersey National Guard attend regularly scheduled courses at a New Jersey public institution of higher education "and receive up to 16 credits per semester tuition-free". Conditions. The member must have completed Initial Active Duty Training and be in good standing as an active Guard member; be accepted and in good standing in an undergraduate or graduate program; have applied for all available state and federal grants and scholarships; and have applied for any Post-9/11 GI Bill tuition benefit, unless the member has transferred it to a family member. The Army benefits library notes that the waiver covers tuition only, not fees or books. Last dollar. Subsection (b) has the state reimburse the college only for tuition the GI Bill does not pay, and the college applies other grants first, so the waiver fills whatever tuition gap is left. Deployment. Subsection (c) protects a member whose studies are interrupted by deployment. After a discharge other than dishonorable, the member keeps the benefit for one semester or the length of the deployment, whichever is longer, or, after a medical discharge for an illness or injury from combat, terrorism or a natural disaster response, until the degree is finished or for five years. Families. N.J.S.A. 18A:62-25 gives the same benefit to the child or surviving spouse of a Guard member who completed initial training and was killed in the performance of duties, but only where classroom space permits and enough tuition-paying students are enrolled. Apply through your unit with form 621-2 and the college's financial aid office each term.