$250/SH Masters Programs for Active Duty Servicemembers

[rgran53]

I had a long conversation with the Navy College Office earlier this week. Key takeaways: 

1. Tuition Assistance will pay $250/SH for both undergrad and graduate degrees. It will pay up to two classes per semester. Anything over that is out-of-pocket. 

2. You get 120 semester hours worth of lifetime finding. Example- If you go to a CBE school like WGU or UMPI and the military pays for 12 SH throughout your program, but you accelerated and finished the entire degree, you would still have 108 SH worth of lifetime credit funding for future degrees. 

3. They will pay for graduate certificates, bachelors degrees, certifications, and graduate programs. 

4. The Navy College Office provided me with the attached document. The document lists all the schools the Navy College Office is tracking who charge $250/SH for masters degrees. This means that it would be 100% covered by TA, as long as you only take two classes a semester and don't go over your 120 lifetime semester hours! I figured this might help out any AD servicemembers who are looking for affordable masters degrees, covered by TA! 

[turbotortuga]

I had a long conversation with the Navy College Office earlier this week. Key takeaways: 

1. Tuition Assistance will pay $250/SH for both undergrad and graduate degrees. It will pay up to two classes per semester. Anything over that is out-of-pocket. 

2. You get 120 semester hours worth of lifetime finding. Example- If you go to a CBE school like WGU or UMPI and the military pays for 12 SH throughout your program, but you accelerated and finished the entire degree, you would still have 108 SH worth of lifetime credit funding for future degrees. 

3. They will pay for graduate certificates, bachelors degrees, certifications, and graduate programs. 

4. The Navy College Office provided me with the attached document. The document lists all the schools the Navy College Office is tracking who charge $250/SH for masters degrees. This means that it would be 100% covered by TA, as long as you only take two classes a semester and don't go over your 120 lifetime semester hours! I figured this might help out any AD servicemembers who are looking for affordable masters degrees, covered by TA! 

Honestly, like everyting else in the Navy, it's always better to read the actual instruction than anything else. The current NAVADMIN delineates that when using Navy TA, you can not have more than 2 courses taken concurrently (not per term/semester) utilizing Navy TA. So what does that mean? It means that if you using TA at someplace non-traditional like WGU, then as long as your course dates don't overlap, you can take up 6 courses per term and receive the full $4500 per fiscal year amount. 

The Navy will pay for an associates degree, a bachelors degree, a masters degree, and/or masters degree, in that order. You cannot get a lateral or lower degree than one that you already possess. What does that mean? It means that if you already have a bachelors when you came in, then the Navy will only pay for a Masters for you, not another bachelors or an associates. And if you came in with Masters, then you can only use up to 18 hours of coursework towards ONE certificate. A certificate is the only thing that one can obtain regardless of your current educational degree level, but only one per career.

[rgran53]

I had a long conversation with the Navy College Office earlier this week. Key takeaways: 

1. Tuition Assistance will pay $250/SH for both undergrad and graduate degrees. It will pay up to two classes per semester. Anything over that is out-of-pocket. 

2. You get 120 semester hours worth of lifetime finding. Example- If you go to a CBE school like WGU or UMPI and the military pays for 12 SH throughout your program, but you accelerated and finished the entire degree, you would still have 108 SH worth of lifetime credit funding for future degrees. 

3. They will pay for graduate certificates, bachelors degrees, certifications, and graduate programs. 

4. The Navy College Office provided me with the attached document. The document lists all the schools the Navy College Office is tracking who charge $250/SH for masters degrees. This means that it would be 100% covered by TA, as long as you only take two classes a semester and don't go over your 120 lifetime semester hours! I figured this might help out any AD servicemembers who are looking for affordable masters degrees, covered by TA! 

Honestly, like everyting else in the Navy, it's always better to read the actual instruction than anything else. The current NAVADMIN delineates that when using Navy TA, you can not have more than 2 courses taken concurrently (not per term/semester) utilizing Navy TA. So what does that mean? It means that if you using TA at someplace non-traditional like WGU, then as long as your course dates don't overlap, you can take up 6 courses per term and receive the full $4500 per fiscal year amount. 

The Navy will pay for an associates degree, a bachelors degree, a masters degree, and/or masters degree, in that order. You cannot get a lateral or lower degree than one that you already possess. What does that mean? It means that if you already have a bachelors when you came in, then the Navy will only pay for a Masters for you, not another bachelors or an associates. And if you came in with Masters, then you can only use up to 18 hours of coursework towards ONE certificate. A certificate is the only thing that one can obtain regardless of your current educational degree level, but only one per career.

You're right, and most of what you said is accurate, except for the part about taking "2 courses concurrently." Honestly, like with everything in the Navy, it's always better to refer directly to the instruction. The current NAVADMIN states: "Sailors may only take two funded courses per fiscal quarter, determined by the start date."

What does this mean in practical terms? If you're enrolled at WGU, where semesters run for six months, TA will cover $250 per credit hour for all four courses listed in your degree plan. You'd be responsible for any additional out-of-pocket costs. This is exactly how it worked when I worked on my BSNOS at WGU. The Navy pays for two courses per fiscal QUARTER, not just concurrently. With WGU semesters running for 6 months the Navy would pay $250/credit hour for all four courses WGU lists in the degree plan- two classes for quarter 1 and 2 classes for quarter 2. The remaining balance is owed by the servicemember. My BSNOS was roughly 4k/6months. The Navy paid $3k for the 6 month period and I paid the remaining 1k balance out of pocket. 

Also, keep in mind that you can't apply 18 credit hours toward a single certificate. Specifically, the instruction allows "(2) Up to 15 SH (or equivalent) toward completion of one academic or vocational certificate program (i.e. non-degree granting) in a Sailor’s career. May be completed out of sequence with traditional academic progression. Post-graduate certificates are authorized."

This thread focuses on masters programs that cost $ 250 per credit hour for AD Servicemembers. The Navy College Office provided the attached document for reference, and I wanted to share it rather than get into a semantics debate. Someone might be out there looking for a masters program covered under TA at the $250/SH rate.

[turbotortuga]

You're right, and most of what you said is accurate, except for the part about taking "2 courses concurrently." Honestly, like with everything in the Navy, it's always better to refer directly to the instruction. The current NAVADMIN states: "Sailors may only take two funded courses per fiscal quarter, determined by the start date." 

What does this mean in practical terms? If you're enrolled at WGU, where semesters run for six months, TA will cover $250 per credit hour for all four courses listed in your degree plan. You'd be responsible for any additional out-of-pocket costs. This is exactly how it worked when I worked on my BSNOS at WGU. The Navy pays for two courses per fiscal QUARTER, not just concurrently. With WGU semesters running for 6 months the Navy would pay $250/credit hour for all four courses WGU lists in the degree plan- two classes for quarter 1 and 2 classes for quarter 2. The remaining balance is owed by the servicemember. My BSNOS was roughly 4k/6months. The Navy paid $3k for the 6 month period and I paid the remaining 1k balance out of pocket.

Also, keep in mind that you can't apply 18 credit hours toward a single certificate. Specifically, the instruction allows "(2) Up to 15 SH (or equivalent) toward completion of one academic or vocational certificate program (i.e. non-degree granting) in a Sailor’s career. May be completed out of sequence with traditional academic progression. Post-graduate certificates are authorized." 

This thread focuses on masters programs that cost $ 250 per credit hour for AD Servicemembers. The Navy College Office provided the attached document for reference, and I wanted to share it rather than get into a semantics debate. Someone might be out there looking for a masters program covered under TA at the $250/SH rate.

Hopefully you aren't giving your Sailors the same bad gouge. The two course limit per fiscal quarter was recinded in May2023 with NAVADMIN 112/23. It is now and has been since that date, two course max concurrently. I know because I'm currently attending WGU for the Master's in Accounting Program and I used TA to fund the fiscal year max of $4500 by taking six 3 semester hour courses.

[rgran53]

You're right, and most of what you said is accurate, except for the part about taking "2 courses concurrently." Honestly, like with everything in the Navy, it's always better to refer directly to the instruction. The current NAVADMIN states: "Sailors may only take two funded courses per fiscal quarter, determined by the start date." 

What does this mean in practical terms? If you're enrolled at WGU, where semesters run for six months, TA will cover $250 per credit hour for all four courses listed in your degree plan. You'd be responsible for any additional out-of-pocket costs. This is exactly how it worked when I worked on my BSNOS at WGU. The Navy pays for two courses per fiscal QUARTER, not just concurrently. With WGU semesters running for 6 months the Navy would pay $250/credit hour for all four courses WGU lists in the degree plan- two classes for quarter 1 and 2 classes for quarter 2. The remaining balance is owed by the servicemember. My BSNOS was roughly 4k/6months. The Navy paid $3k for the 6 month period and I paid the remaining 1k balance out of pocket.

Also, keep in mind that you can't apply 18 credit hours toward a single certificate. Specifically, the instruction allows "(2) Up to 15 SH (or equivalent) toward completion of one academic or vocational certificate program (i.e. non-degree granting) in a Sailor’s career. May be completed out of sequence with traditional academic progression. Post-graduate certificates are authorized." 

This thread focuses on masters programs that cost $ 250 per credit hour for AD Servicemembers. The Navy College Office provided the attached document for reference, and I wanted to share it rather than get into a semantics debate. Someone might be out there looking for a masters program covered under TA at the $250/SH rate.

Hopefully you aren't giving your Sailors the same bad gouge. The two course limit per fiscal quarter was recinded in May2023 with NAVADMIN 112/23. It is now and has been since that date, two course max concurrently. I know because I'm currently attending WGU for the Master's in Accounting Program and I used TA to fund the fiscal year max of $4500 by taking six 3 semester hour courses.

Again- this thread focuses on masters programs that cost $250 per credit hour for AD servicemembers. Not on you taking a dig on what “bad gouge” I’m telling my Sailors. That’s awesome you’re attending WGU for the MA in Accounting. Maybe you can pursue commissioning programs, if you haven’t already commissioned.