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Guard Tuition Assistance — Up to $20,500 a Year

The operating programme is the Major General David F. Wherley, Jr. DC National Guard Retention and College Access Program. It pays up to $20,000 of tuition plus up to $500 of authorised fees per fiscal year — $20,500 in total, or $16,000 a year at schools without a DoD memorandum of understanding. Eligibility runs from enlistment; the member must be in good standing with at least two years of service remaining from the last day of the funded course, and must apply at least 30 days before the course starts. Payment goes directly to the institution.

Verified August 27, 2026

What this benefit is

The operating programme is the Major General David F. Wherley, Jr. DC National Guard Retention and College Access Program. It pays up to $20,000 of tuition plus up to $500 of authorised fees per fiscal year — $20,500 in total, or $16,000 a year at schools without a DoD memorandum of understanding. Eligibility runs from enlistment; the member must be in good standing with at least two years of service remaining from the last day of the funded course, and must apply at least 30 days before the course starts. Payment goes directly to the institution.

What it's worth: Up to $20,000 tuition plus $500 fees per fiscal year — $16,000 at non-MOU schools

  • The cap is $20,000 of tuition plus up to $500 of authorised fees per fiscal year, $20,500 in total. At institutions without a DoD memorandum of understanding it is $16,000 a year.
  • One credential per degree level — associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral. Certificates and prerequisite courses are eligible.
  • Eligibility begins at enlistment rather than after a qualifying period.
  • The member must be in good standing with at least two years of service remaining, measured from the last day of the funded course. A course that runs past your remaining obligation is not funded.
  • Applications must be in at least 30 days before the course starts. This is the condition that most often costs a member a term.
  • Funds are paid directly to the institution rather than reimbursed to the member.
  • On residency: the recruiting FAQ states no District residency condition, while D.C. Code §49-807 imposes residency on funds the DISTRICT contributes. Those are consistent if the programme is funded from more than one source, and we do not assert a single residency rule. Ask which pot is paying your award.
  • The section is permissive throughout — funds "may be utilized, at the discretion of" the Guard. It creates no entitlement, whatever the programme currently pays.
  • The programme's own portals were unreachable when this was verified. The terms here come from the official recruiting FAQ and are corroborated by Department of Defense reporting; confirm the current figures with your unit education office before relying on them.

Who is entitled to it

  • You have served or are serving.
  • Your home is in this district.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: Set by the Guard, not by the code
  1. 1Confirm your residency in the District first. It is the only eligibility condition the statute actually states, and it is the one that will be checked.
  2. 2Ask the Guard education office, in writing, what the current programme pays, whom it is aimed at this year, and what the application deadline is — the code delegates all three.
  3. 3Ask specifically whether the current year’s funds are directed at all members or reserved for new recruits. The section permits either, and the answer changes whether you are inside it.
  4. 4Do not plan a degree around this alone. The section creates a discretionary spending permission, not an entitlement to a fixed sum.
File with
The Guard’s education office
Each term
Claimed per academic term.
CorrectionThis is a spending permission, not a benefit with terms. Anyone quoting a figure for it is quoting a programme rule, not the code — the code names no amount, no institution, no service obligation and no deadline.
Worth knowingThe residency condition attaches to the member, not to the school. A resident member studying elsewhere is not excluded by the text read here.
Known gapThe programme’s own published terms — amount, eligible institutions, service obligation, application window — were not reachable this session. Everything operational about this benefit sits outside the code.

Sources

Why only one source type: The section is short and self-contained: it states the permission, the discretion and the residency condition, and nothing else. No published Guard page setting the programme terms was reachable this session.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.