South Dakota National Guard Tuition Benefit

The figure moved in 2023 and the old one is everywhere. House Bill 1039 of that year took the South Dakota National Guard tuition benefit from fifty percent to one hundred percent of in-state resident tuition across four sections at once: undergraduate at a Board of Regents institution, graduate at a Regents institution, and the equivalents for courses not subsidised by the general fund. Section 33-6-6 puts the state technical college benefit at one hundred percent of tuition for one approved program of study. Guidance written against the pre-2023 text still says half. Nonresidents are inside it. Section 33-6-5 grants one hundred percent of the in-state resident tuition to a member of the South Dakota National Guard whether or not that member is a resident of the state, and 33-6-8.1 goes further by deeming a nonresident Guard member a resident for tuition purposes at any Regents institution, so the nonresident surcharge disappears rather than being paid out of pocket. The technical college benefit in 33-6-6 is narrower: it reaches only a member "who is a resident of the state". The credit ceilings are the real limit. One hundred twenty-eight credit hours toward a baccalaureate degree across 33-6-5 to 33-6-8, and thirty-two credit hours toward a graduate degree. What the GI Bill does to it: nothing. Section 33-6-5.4, added by the same 2023 act, defines "federal tuition benefit" as a benefit provided by the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army or the Department of the Air Force, and expressly excludes any benefit or entitlement provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. So federal tuition assistance is applied first and the state pays the rest, but Chapter 33 or Chapter 30 entitlement is not counted at all. The combined federal and state benefit may not exceed one hundred percent of tuition, and that ceiling is measured against tuition assistance only. This is the mirror image of the wartime veterans entitlement in 13-55-2, which cannot be used until the GI Bill is exhausted. Private institutions came in with Senate Bill 29 of 2024. Sections 33-6-5.5 and 33-6-5.6 let an in-state private nonprofit postsecondary institution recognised under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) as of January 1, 2024 and authorised under chapter 13-48 join the program. The institution must agree to accept the state benefit plus any federal tuition benefit as full and complete payment of tuition for a qualifying student, which is the condition that matters: the school absorbs the difference between its own tuition and the state maximum rather than billing the student. The Department of the Military publishes the maximum benefit for the coming academic year by July 1, and pays the institution within sixty days of a request. Eligibility under 33-6-7 is about being a Guard member in good standing, not about a rating or a discharge. The member must be in a South Dakota Army or Air National Guard unit throughout each semester or program applied for, have satisfactorily completed initial basic training, have satisfactorily performed duty on return from basic training including at least ninety percent attendance at scheduled drills and annual training with the parent unit, maintain satisfactory academic progress, and give the institution proper notice at registration for the term. The ninety percent drill attendance figure is the one students are caught by. Applications go to the Department of the Military rather than to the school or the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the adjutant general decides them.