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Maine National Guard Education Assistance — 100% of Tuition, One Credential Per Level

A member of the Maine National Guard in good standing is entitled to a 100% tuition benefit at a state postsecondary institution, full-time or part-time. At a private non-profit institution the benefit is capped at last year’s in-state University of Maine at Orono rate. It buys one credential at each of three levels: baccalaureate, associate, and certificate or licensure.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

A member of the Maine National Guard in good standing is entitled to a 100% tuition benefit at a state postsecondary institution, full-time or part-time. At a private non-profit institution the benefit is capped at last year’s in-state University of Maine at Orono rate. It buys one credential at each of three levels: baccalaureate, associate, and certificate or licensure.

What it's worth: 100% of tuition at a state institution; capped at the UMaine Orono in-state rate at a private one

  • This is a tuition benefit, not a cost-of-attendance benefit. Housing and non-tuition expenses are outside it, and the statute says so when it excludes them from the offset rule.
  • The benefit is REDUCED by any other tuition assistance a member receives that is not related to housing or non-tuition expenses, so federal tuition assistance and employer reimbursement come off the top.
  • No dollar figure is claimed because the Orono in-state rate moves each year and the statute names no number.

Who is entitled to it

  • The tuition benefit runs to the guard member personally.
  • You are in this state.

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, term by term
  1. 1Four prerequisites sit in §354 and all of them must hold: basic training completed or a commission received; satisfactory participation and good standing at the beginning of and throughout the entire semester; a written contractual commitment; and having applied for all other available tuition benefits.
  2. 2The service commitment is concrete — at least one year in the Maine National Guard beyond the end of the term the benefit covers. It is a contract, and §356 provides for restitution.
  3. 3The "applied for everything else" condition is not a formality. It names federally funded military tuition assistance, employer tuition reimbursement or assistance, and federal grants such as the Pell Grant. Skipping the FAFSA can put you outside the prerequisite.
  4. 4A member who has already earned a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent is out, whatever the level of the new programme.
  5. 5One credential per level, not one credential in total: a certificate or licensure, an associate degree and a baccalaureate can each be taken once.
  6. 6Check the institution is registered. §352-A requires participating institutions to register, so an unregistered school is outside the programme however willing it is.
  7. 7If you are mobilised or deployed mid-programme, §359 deals with you separately — raise it rather than letting an award simply lapse.
Form
Maine National Guard Education Assistance Program application, plus a written service commitment
File with
Maine National Guard, through a participating institution
Each term
Claimed per academic term.
CorrectionSearches for this programme frequently land on 37-B M.R.S. §1071, which is REPEALED (PL 2001, c. 460, §2). The live programme is Title 37-B, chapter 3, subchapter 7-A, at §§351 to 360. An adviser working from §1071 will conclude Maine has no Guard tuition programme, which is wrong.
CorrectionThe tuition grant section most write-ups cite, §353, is also repealed. The operative benefit section is §353-B, and it is drafted as a BENEFIT rather than a grant — which is why it reduces against other tuition assistance instead of stacking on top of it.
Worth knowing§357 deals separately with in-state tuition rates, so a member charged out-of-state rates has a second provision to point at before the benefit is even calculated.
Known gapThe Maine National Guard Postsecondary Fund (§353-A) is the money behind this, and whether it is fully funded in the current year was not verified. The Guard’s own application deadlines were not read this session.

Sources

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