Marine Corps Tuition Assistance & Education Benefits

As a member of the Marine Corps, it’s likely that you understand how important a role college degrees can play in your future success. Whether you’re looking to rise up the ranks and gain promotions to advanced leadership positions with higher pay grades, or even if you want to return to the civilian workforce with a high paying career, earning your college degree will play a major role in accomplishing either of those objectives.

Fortunately, Marine Corps members enjoy financial benefits from several different education assistance programs, including the Post 9/11 GI Bill and the Yellow Ribbon Program. Both of these can help cover your tuition and other educational fees, as long as you make sure to attend one of the colleges found on our Military-Friendly Schools List.

Marine Corps Education Benefits Include:

Marine Corps Tuition Assistance (TA)

Marine Corps TA is a type of financial aid that provides up to 100% of college tuition and other educational fees to eligible Marines. Potential applicants must complete at TA orientation class online prior to using their tuition assistance benefits. This orientation can be completed online by marine members at remote locations, or alternatively, it can be completed at your local Lifelong Learning or Education Office. Marines must also receive written authorization for using USMC TA benefits from the appropriate education office prior to enrolling in any course that will be paid for with those benefits.

Marine Corps Tuition Assistance Policy:

You must abide by the following Marine Corps tuition assistance rules to receive your TA benefits in full:

• Once enrolled, a Marine must submit their degree plan prior to going beyond 12 units of semester hours.
• Officers using TA must remain on active duty for the two years following their TA funded program or course.

The Marine Tuition Assistance spending cap is not to exceed:

• $250 @ Semester Credit Hour, or
• $166 @ Quarter Credit Hour, and
• $4500 @ Fiscal Year

USMC Scholarships

A Marine Corps scholarship is another excellent way to help cover your tuition costs, and fortunately there are several scholarships available for eligible Marines. Most of these scholarships require an application, and they are also often very competitive, but there’s definitely some potential for additional assistance money here.

Scholarships provide essentially free money and so are definitely worth applying for, as long as you meet the eligibility requirements. There are multiple general service related scholarships that eligible Marine Corps members can apply for, but there are also many scholarships that are exclusively for Marines and their families.

Here are just a few examples of scholarships exclusively offered to Marines and their dependents:

• Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation – The Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation offers scholarships to the children and grandchildren of marine corps members. Since it began in 1962 this marine corps scholarship program has awarded over $65 million in scholarships and $5 million to more than 1,600 students between 2011-2012.
• The Colonel Richard A. Christie Memorial Fund annually awards at least one scholarship to an enlisted marine corps member that has left service to undertake a bachelor’s degree. The scholarship provides $250 per month to the recipient who is allowed to spend the money however they want and this stipend can last up to 40 months.
• Women Marines Association Scholarship awards scholarships to active duty marine corps as well as veterans and certain members of their families. This scholarship awards a number of $1500 scholarships annually and you can download their application form online.

How to Use Your Marine Corps Education Benefits

Once you’ve lined up all the education benefits to help pay for the cost of your college degree, it’s important to next make sure that you’re attending a school that offers a high quality program, at an affordable rate.

You should consider things like the flexibility provided by an exclusively online program, the availability of guidance counselors or academic advisers with experience helping military students, and the participation in additional military education benefits programs (like the Yellow Ribbon Program or the provision of scholarships for military students), when determining which school you want to attend.

To take some of the work-load off your shoulders, our editors compile an annual list of the Top 25 Military Friendly Schools & Universities.

Check out our most recent list to see if any of the schools here offer degrees in the academic field that you’d like to study, then contact the schools for additional information and to find out exactly how much you’ll have to pay out of pocket (if anything) to earn your degree.

Talk to as many different colleges and universities as you think appropriate, but make sure to speak with at least a couple different providers before making your decision, because not all schools are created equal. Good luck!