New Jersey Vietnam-Era Tuition Programs (Closed to New Applicants)

This entry exists to save a Vietnam veteran a wasted application. The Veterans Tuition Credit Program. N.J.S.A. 38A:22-4 gives an eligible veteran a tuition credit of up to $200 a semester, $100 a quarter or $400 a year for service on active duty after December 31, 1960 and before May 7, 1975. But subsection (c) requires the veteran to apply "within eight years from the date of (a) separation from active duty or (b) March 3, 1976, whichever is later". For a veteran who left service by the mid-1980s, the window has closed. Only a veteran with Vietnam-era service who stayed on active duty until well into the 2000s could still be inside it. Vietnam veterans tuition assistance. N.J.S.A. 38A:22-5 promised up to full tuition at a public college for a Vietnam veteran domiciled in New Jersey on April 9, 1985, but subsection (e) says "Eligibility for this program shall be limited to a period of five years from April 9, 1985". It ended in 1990. Why they still appear. P.L.2025, c.139 moved both sections into the new chapter 22 of Title 38A when it created the Department of Veterans Affairs, deadlines included. The department's benefits guide, first edition January 2026, describes the Veterans Tuition Credit Program with its dollar amounts and no deadline, and the Army benefits library lists it as available. The fiscal 2027 budget sets aside $4,000 for all veterans' tuition grants. What a Vietnam veteran can use instead. New Jersey public colleges must give priority registration to veterans (N.J.S.A. 18A:62-4.3b), and the Operation Recognition diploma is open to Vietnam veterans who left high school to serve.