Through the Montgomery GI Bill for Selected Reserve, Air National Guard members can attend a college or university full time while serving. Military.com states that to be eligible, the member must have a six-year obligation to the Guard, a high school diploma and have completed the initial active duty training. After being accepted, members will receive benefit checks to pay for tuition, books and supplies. Benefits are available for up to 36 months and can only be used while participating in the Guard. Members must be pursuing their first undergraduate degree to receive benefits.
Many states offer scholarships to Air National Guard members in addition to the GI Bill benefits. Colleges and universities often earmark scholarship money for active duty military. The Air Force ROTC offers two scholarship programs—one two-year program and one four-year. The AROTC is for members who would like to receive a commission in the Air Force and also obtain a degree. AROTC scholarships pay for tuition, books and fees as well as up to $500 of spending money per in-school month. Entering freshmen, transfer students and sophomores are eligible for AROTC scholarships. The AROTC website suggests transfer students and sophomores apply early in order to complete all the necessary steps.
The Community College of the Air Force began in the ‘70s as a way to offer college credit for Air Force training. CCAF offers professional certification as well as associate applied science degrees. Since 1977, the CCAF has awarded more than 300,000 degrees and is the only college system offered by the Air Force for enlisted Air Force members, according to CCAF’s website. Affiliated colleges provide the coursework through traditional classroom instruction or via distance learning.
The Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support is a credit-by-exam program that allows Air National Guard members to receive full or partial college credit through testing. Getting credit by exam allows members to use knowledge from their training to get college credit, save money by not taking courses they already have training in and offers flexibility that a traditional classroom does not. There are three types of exams in a variety of subjects—the College Level Exam Program (CLEP), DANTES Subject Standardized Test (DSST) and Excelsior College Exams (ECE). Both the CLEP and the ECE are free for service members. Credit-by-exams is accepted at thousands of colleges and universities nationwide.