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Military Tuition Assistance and SpouseWorks calculator

Pick your branch and plan to see what Tuition Assistance pays a year and what is left, or what SpouseWorks pays a military spouse.

Military Benefits Check · FY2026 service rules

What will the military pay toward your classes?

Service members can use Tuition Assistance while they serve, and spouses the SpouseWorks Scholarship. See what each pays for your plan, branch by branch.

  • $250a credit, Tuition Assistance
  • $4,500a year in most branches
  • $4,000SpouseWorks, for spouses

About a minute · No name, email or phone · Official service rules, every one sourced

Military Benefits CheckQuestion 1

Which describes you?

Why we ask: Tuition Assistance is for service members, SpouseWorks for spouses, and the GI Bill for veterans.
Review the methodology behind this result

Results are shown before email capture or partner handoff. The estimate uses source-backed rules and public data so you can evaluate the result before taking the next step.

Full calculator methodology See formula sources, assumptions, limitations, and update cadence. Editorial standards Review how we source, fact-check, and disclose partner relationships.

Tuition Assistance is the military’s own tuition benefit for off-duty classes. It is separate from the GI Bill: you use it while you serve, and the service pays your school directly, for tuition only. Source · DoDI 1322.25

$250
A semester hour
Every branch
$4,500
A fiscal year
Army, Air Force, Space Force, Marines, Coast Guard
$4,000
SpouseWorks Scholarship
For military spouses

What each branch pays

Every service pays up to the same $250 a semester hour. The yearly limits differ, and each service resets them every fiscal year, starting October 1.

Tuition Assistance by branch (service policies read October 10, 2026)
Branch A fiscal year Credits a year Lifetime semester hours
Army $4,500 18 130 undergraduate, 39 graduate
Navy Not published 18 120 in a career
Air Force $4,500 No set limit stated 124 undergraduate, 42 graduate
Space Force $4,500 No set limit stated 124 undergraduate, 42 graduate
Marine Corps $4,500 No set limit stated 138 undergraduate, 45 graduate
Coast Guard $4,500 No set limit stated Lifted
Branch Army
A fiscal year $4,500
Credits a year 18
Lifetime semester hours 130 undergraduate, 39 graduate
Branch Navy
A fiscal year Not published
Credits a year 18
Lifetime semester hours 120 in a career
Branch Air Force
A fiscal year $4,500
Credits a year No set limit stated
Lifetime semester hours 124 undergraduate, 42 graduate
Branch Space Force
A fiscal year $4,500
Credits a year No set limit stated
Lifetime semester hours 124 undergraduate, 42 graduate
Branch Marine Corps
A fiscal year $4,500
Credits a year No set limit stated
Lifetime semester hours 138 undergraduate, 45 graduate
Branch Coast Guard
A fiscal year $4,500
Credits a year No set limit stated
Lifetime semester hours Lifted

The Army raised its cap from $4,000 to $4,500 and from 16 to 18 credits in November 2025. Source · ALARACT 102/2025

The Navy states its 18-credit limit but no yearly dollar figure on its public pages, so ask your Navy College office for it. Source · Navy College Program

Officers agree to serve longer

Officers who use Tuition Assistance take on a service obligation: two more years on active duty after the course, or four years in the Selected Reserve for Reserve officers.

Enlisted rules vary: Marines serve 60 days after the last course, Coast Guard enlisted members owe none, and DoD lets a service ask Selected Reserve enlisted members for up to four years. Source · DoDI 1322.25

Paying what Tuition Assistance doesn’t

Tuition Assistance goes on your school account before any Pell Grant, and Pell can then pay other charges.

With the Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty, VA’s Top-Up pays the difference between the course cost and Tuition Assistance, for up to 36 months. Source · VA, Tuition Assistance Top-Up

DoD also lets the Post-9/11 GI Bill cover tuition Tuition Assistance doesn’t. Ask VA and your school’s certifying official how they would pay it before you count on it.

Our guides to the GI Bill and Pell together and stacking employer tuition, Pell and the GI Bill show how the pieces add up.

SpouseWorks pays for job-ready programs

The SpouseWorks Scholarship, formerly MyCAA, pays up to $4,000, no more than $2,000 a fiscal year, toward a license, certification or associate degree you need for a job. It is now open to spouses of every rank. Source · Military OneSource, SpouseWorks

Guard and Reserve spouses qualify while the service member is on Title 10 orders. Source · SpouseWorks FAQ

See what your GI Bill pays at your school

Every chapter, the October 2026 VA rates and the Yellow Ribbon schools, for the program you pick.

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Sources & Methodology

  1. DoD Instruction 1322.25, Voluntary Education Programs (Change 4, 2020)
  2. Army ALARACT 102/2025: Tuition Assistance cap and semester hour changes
  3. Navy College Program, Tuition Assistance and NCPACE
  4. My Air Force Benefits, Military Tuition Assistance (reviewed June 18, 2026)
  5. NAVMC 1560.25, Marine Corps Guidelines for Tuition Assistance (Nov. 5, 2024)
  6. Coast Guard ALCOAST 390/25, FY26 Tuition Assistance policy
  7. Military OneSource, SpouseWorks Scholarship
  8. SpouseWorks Scholarship (MyCAA) FAQ
  9. VA, Tuition Assistance Top-Up (updated Sept. 3, 2025)