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GI Bill comparison
The Post-9/11 GI Bill pays the school and pays you housing; the Montgomery GI Bill pays you a flat amount and leaves tuition to you. Which is worth more turns on the school, its ZIP code and how many classes you take. Enter them and this works out a school year under each.
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The school
The ZIP code of the campus where you take most of your classes.
Net tuition and mandatory fees for the school year, after any scholarship paid straight to the school. At a public school VA pays the in-state amount.
Result
Post-9/11, a school year
$1,000
Housing and books, less the tuition you still pay
Montgomery, a school year
$23,409
The monthly payment, less the tuition you pay
For this school year the Montgomery GI Bill leaves you $22,409 better off.
| Item | Post-9/11 | Montgomery |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition paid to the school | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Tuition you pay | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Paid to you a month | $0.00 | $2,601.00 |
| Paid to you for the months in class | $0.00 | $23,409.00 |
| Books and supplies | $1,000.00 | $0.00 |
| Months of entitlement used | 9 | 9 |
| School years the months left cover | 4 | 4 |
- Post-9/11 counts 100% rate of pursuit at 100%. Enter the campus ZIP code to find the housing rate.
- Montgomery pays at full time.
- Holding both, you may be able to use up to 48 months between them, under the 48-month limit and the Rudisill decision. They cannot be used at the same time.
How this is worked
Post-9/11 tuition is the net in-state tuition and fees at a public school, and up to $30,908.34 a year at a private or foreign school, times your benefit level. At the 100% level a Yellow Ribbon school's share is matched by VA. Housing is DoD's 2026 Basic Allowance for Housing for an E-5 with dependents at the campus ZIP code, times your benefit level and your rate of pursuit, which is your credits over full time rounded to the nearest tenth, and it is paid only above half time. Books are $41.67 a credit up to $1,000.00 a year.
Montgomery pays the monthly rate for your training time, effective October 1, 2026, plus any kicker or buy-up, and below half time no more than tuition and fees. A month of full-time school uses a month of entitlement, and part time the matching share.
What it leaves out
The housing rate is the one for people who first used the Post-9/11 GI Bill on or after January 1, 2018; VA pays earlier users a somewhat higher rate it does not publish. Housing for partial months, breaks between terms, flight and correspondence training, and the chapter 33 election's return of the $1,200 Montgomery contribution, which comes back in pieces with the housing allowance, are not worked out. Transferred benefits follow the rules on the transfer entry.
An estimate for reference, not a VA decision. Rates read October 9, 2026 from VA's Post-9/11 rates, Montgomery rates and Selected Reserve rates.