help funding school

[dcan]

You can't get a PhD on DoD Tuition Assistance even for Active Duty -- we are limited to only master's degrees under TA, and it doesn't pay full tuition at that. I just looked up the Guard TA program and it is even more limited -- you can get a master's degree funded provided funding is available for the program. It apparently explicitly states it is not a guaranteed benefit. Are you sure they will pay for a second master's? I don't know that Active Duty TA will pay for that, it's not clear to me when they say they won't pay for a second one if they mean they won't pay for two or they just won't pay at all if you already have one.

I recommend trying to get TA to pay for it. They should pay for it regardless of you being enlisted or commissioned, unless they restrict it due to funding? The site below says first-come/first-served, but it wouldn't be the first time I've seen that kind of bias... 10 years ago the AF Institute of Technology was trying to fill its open student slots because not enough officers were applying, so the CMSgt of the AF suggested they open it up to enlisted. They almost had heart attacks.

National Guard Tuition Assistance | Military.com