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North Carolina Tuition Assistance Program — Up to $3,240 a Semester, Reimbursed
A reimbursement programme for actively drilling Army and Air Guard members: up to $3,240 a semester for undergraduates and $3,360 for graduates, not exceeding the cost of tuition. Full tuition and fees are approved at community colleges and NC Promise schools; everywhere else it is tuition only.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
A reimbursement programme for actively drilling Army and Air Guard members: up to $3,240 a semester for undergraduates and $3,360 for graduates, not exceeding the cost of tuition. Full tuition and fees are approved at community colleges and NC Promise schools; everywhere else it is tuition only.
What it's worth: Up to $3,240 a semester undergraduate, $3,360 graduate — not exceeding the cost of tuition
- The information paper sets the current maximum semester cap at $3,240.00 for undergraduate students and $3,360.00 per semester for graduate students, not to exceed the cost of tuition. Trade, certification and flight programmes are allotted up to a maximum of $3,240.
- Distribution of funds for 100% of tuition and fees is approved for North Carolina community colleges and NC Promise schools only — UNC Pembroke, Western Carolina University, Fayetteville State University and Elizabeth City State University. All other schools are paid for tuition only.
- Where federal tuition assistance is covering tuition at 100%, NCTAP covers a capped amount of $1,000.00 per semester of fees instead.
- Payments will not exceed the cost of tuition, and awards are adjusted against use of the Post-9/11 GI Bill and federal tuition assistance. A member receiving 100% Post-9/11 GI Bill is ineligible for NCTAP.
- All payments are subject to availability and subject to change based on the budget, and the eligibility-to-payment window does not extend past the end of the state fiscal year on 30 June.
Who is entitled to it
- You are an eligible member of the North Carolina Army or Air National Guard in good standing.
- The reimbursement is paid on the member’s own enrolment.
- Your home is in North Carolina.
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: Fall 1–30 August; Spring 1–30 January; Summer 12 April–10 May- 1Apply inside the window or not at all. The application periods are 1 to 30 August for the autumn term, 1 to 30 January for the spring, and 12 April to 10 May for the summer, and the information paper states applications received after the deadline will not be processed.
- 2Note the change coming for summer study: from Summer 2026 there is a separate application window specifically for the Summer II session.
- 3Check the two-year obligation before applying. You need two years remaining on your current service contract, or to be willing to extend two years beyond the last day of the class or training funded.
- 4Enrol in a North Carolina based school or training programme. That is a condition, not a preference.
- 5Use federal tuition assistance where you have it. Federal funding is the primary payer and NCTAP awards adjust against it — and a member on 100% Post-9/11 GI Bill is ineligible.
- 6Work out which bucket your school is in before you budget. Community colleges and the NC Promise schools are approved for tuition and fees; every other school is tuition only.
- 7Do not drop courses lightly. Any dropped course or programme unsuccessfully completed must be repaid by the service member if it was funded by NCTAP.
- 8Do not commission out of state without checking the balance. A member awarded NCTAP who commissions into a component outside the North Carolina National Guard must repay all funding where the two-year obligation is not met.
- 9Make sure your school takes electronic funds transfer. The Guard prefers it and states that payment may be delayed where a school or programme does not use it.
- Form
- NCTAP application, within the open period for the term
- File with
- North Carolina National Guard, NCTAP Program Manager
- Each term
- Claimed per academic term.
CorrectionFees are not covered everywhere. The information paper approves 100% of tuition and fees only at North Carolina community colleges and the NC Promise schools; at every other institution NCTAP pays tuition and leaves the fees with you.
CorrectionFull Post-9/11 GI Bill entitlement makes a member ineligible rather than topping up. NCTAP is written as the payer that adjusts around federal money, not as an addition to it.
Worth knowingThe repayment triggers are the part to read twice: a dropped course, an unsuccessfully completed programme, and commissioning into a component outside the North Carolina National Guard all put funded money back on you.
Known gapN.C.G.S. § 116-209.50 is named in the information paper as the reference and ncleg.gov refused retrieval again this session, so the statutory frame — including whether the caps are statutory or administrative — is unverified here.
Sources
- authority · published policyNorth Carolina National Guard — Information Paper, NCTAP, 25 June 2024 (reference: article 15 of NC Senate bill 105, AR 621-5, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 116-209.50). Tuition assistance as a reimbursement programme; payments will not exceed the cost of tuition; application dates Fall 1–30 August, Spring 1–30 January, Summer 12 April–10 May, with applications received after the deadline not processed; the time frame of eligibility to payment will not exceed the end of state Fiscal Year (June 30); EFT is the preferred form of payment; federal funding may be used in addition to NCTAP not to exceed the cost of tuition, awards adjust against the Post 9/11 GI Bill and Federal Tuition Assistance, and those receiving 100% Post 9/11 GI Bill are ineligible; distribution of funds for 100% of tuition and fees approved for all North Carolina community colleges and NC Promise schools only (UNC Pembroke, Western Carolina University, Fayetteville State University and Elizabeth City State University), all other schools paid for tuition only; where FTA covers tuition at 100%, NCTAP covers a capped $1,000.00 per semester of fees; current undergraduate maximum semester cap $3,240.00 and graduate $3,360.00 per semester not to exceed the cost of tuition, with trade, certification and flight programmes allotted up to a maximum of $3,240; eligible members of the North Carolina Army National Guard and Air Guard in good standing with their units, with 2 years remaining on their current service contract or willing to extend 2 years beyond the last day of class or training funded; members must be enrolled in a North Carolina based school or training programme and in good standing with their academic or training institution; dropped courses or programmes unsuccessfully completed must be repaid; a member who commissions to a component outside the North Carolina National Guard must repay all funding where the 2-year obligation is not met
- operating · published policyNorth Carolina National Guard — North Carolina Tuition Assistance Program (NCTAP) programme page, noting that beginning Summer 2026 NCTAP will implement a separate application window specifically for the Summer II session
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.