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National Guard College Assistance — Up to 100% of Tuition, $18,000 Lifetime

Grants of up to one hundred percent of college tuition and fees for a member in good standing of the active National Guard, capped at eighteen thousand dollars in total and one hundred thirty semester hours.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Grants of up to one hundred percent of college tuition and fees for a member in good standing of the active National Guard, capped at eighteen thousand dollars in total and one hundred thirty semester hours.

What it's worth: Up to 100% of tuition and fees, $18,000 lifetime, 130 semester hours

  • §59-114-30 caps the grant at up to one hundred percent of college tuition and fees.
  • The same section caps the total of all grants received at eighteen thousand dollars and the hours at one hundred thirty semester hours.
  • The headline figure is the lifetime ceiling because it is the number that decides how far the benefit actually goes.

Who is entitled to it

  • The grant runs to the serving member.
  • Your home is in South 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: Set by the commission each academic year
  1. 1Check which obligation you are taking on. Enlisted personnel continue their service during the term of the courses covered; officers continue for at least four years after the most recent grant awarded.
  2. 2Be in good standing with the active National Guard at the beginning of each academic year, and stay in good standing through the whole of it — the statute says both.
  3. 3Track the $18,000 running total, not just the current term. The ceiling is on the total of all grants received.
  4. 4Track the hours too. One hundred thirty semester hours is the statutory limit however the money is spent.
  5. 5File with the commission, which administers the chapter, rather than assuming the unit will do it for you.
Form
College Assistance Program application
File with
South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, in coordination with the National Guard
Each term
Claimed per academic term.
CorrectionThe officer obligation and the enlisted obligation are not the same. An officer continues serving for at least four years after the most recent grant; an enlisted member continues during the term of the covered courses.
Worth knowingTwo ceilings bind at once — eighteen thousand dollars and one hundred thirty semester hours. Whichever is reached first ends the benefit.

Sources

Why only one source type: Read from the General Assembly’s own publication of the Code. The state veterans department’s pages refused connection from this session, so no application form, current appropriation or processing guidance is described here.

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