Federal Tuition Assistance (FTA)

General Information

This is an Army only program. Federal Tuition Assistance (FTA) pays up to $250 per semester hour for up 18 credits each fiscal year (Oct. 01 - Sept. 30). Soldiers are limited to $4,500 per year. FTA goes toward tuition only; it does not pay for any fees. Service members can use State Tuition Assistance (STA) for additional costs.

Soldiers must complete ArmyIgnitED 101 training and Career Path Decide (CPD) prior to creating an education goal.

Eligibility

Apply for funding based on the current class schedule
The school will be paid directly based on the funding approval
First associate and/or bachelor’s degree, or an academic certificate
Part-time or Full-time enrollment
Member must be actively drilling, cannot be flagged, and the class must end before the member’s Expiration - Term of Service (ETS) date.

HOW TO APPLY

Go to the ArmyIgnitED (AIED).

You will need to login using your Common Access Card (CaC)

Slides are located HERE.

Create and/or update your account

Complete the Virtual Training in AIED.

ARNG Public-Education Services Per the FY25 VolEd Policy (PPOM 24-026, dated 3 Sep 2025), all Soldiers who have not previously used ArmyIgnitED to request FTA must complete ArmyIgnitED 101 training before their education goal can be approved. A copy of the ArmyIgnitED training brief and marketing flyer is attached (CLICK HERE) and has been posted to the files tab on the ARNG Education public team at: ARNG Public-Education Services, to the ARNG Education LinkedIn page at: https://ng.linkedin.com/company/arngeducation, and to nationalguard.com at: www.nationalguard.com/education .

In addition, a recorded version of the briefing will also be made available on the public MS Teams page AIED 101 Video Brief and on the ARNG Education YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/c/armynationalguardeducationservices.

Soldiers must send a message in ArmyIgnitED stating that the training has been completed.

Establish an Education Goal in AIED.

Download the ArmyIgnitED-101-Flyer.

Contact your academic institution and request an Evaluated Degree Plan from your advisor.

Minimum requirements will show the schools name, Soldiers name, degree pursuing, total number of Semester Hours (SHs) and/or courses required to complete degree, courses/credits already completed that were applied towards the degree program, and the total number of hours remaining.

An Evaluated Degree Plan is required upon completion of two classes funded through ArmyIgnitED

If you provide a manually created degree progress report/evaluated degree plan, it must be on school letterhead and be signed and dated by your advisor.

After your Education Goal is approved, you can request Tuition Assistance for your upcoming courses.

Download the ArmyIgnitED-101-Flyer.

You must have your Tuition Assistance request submitted and approved No earlier than 60 days prior to course start but also No Later than eight Business Days prior to start.

Once your TA is approved, print your TA authorization, and submit to your education institute. Education institutions have varying requirements on submission. Make sure you are following your school’s latest guidance. If you are unsure where to submit, contact your school’s third-party billing official in the student finance office for additional guidance.

Important Information

Submitting a Tuition Assistance request does not enroll you in the course. You must register for the course at your Academic Institution.

With the new ArmyIgnitED 2.0, Soldiers must request tuition assistance in the system no earlier than 60 days and no later than eight days prior to the class start date.

Submit requests for wait-listed classes. The Education Office can assist with removing requests if you do not get in.

A Soldier may pre-register for a course to secure a slot.

Apply for State Tuition Assistance after applying for Federal Tuition Assistance.

All Tuition Assistance must be approved prior to the start date of the course; however, if a class is canceled at the last minute and you select a new course or if you drop a course, the Education Office can assist with adjusting your TA.

If an eligible Soldier decides to use Tuition Assistance, Academic Institutions will enroll him/her as TA-funded only after the TA is approved by the Army.

Soldiers will be solely responsible for all tuition costs without this prior approval.

Tuition Assistance is approved on a course-by-course basis and only for the specific course(s) and class dates that a Soldier requests.

If you find an error on your TA request

Start by contacting the education office. We can often fix the problem - even after the start date.

Call us before you delete or remove it