Military Grant-in-Aid and Tuition Assistance are available to help active-duty service members cover all or part of their educational expenses.
Our Military Grant-in-Aid program makes it possible for actively serving service members and their spouses to save on undergraduate tuition, bringing our tuition rate closer to the Department of Defense (DoD) cap. Military Grant-in-Aid, offered only through Penn State World Campus, lowers the cost of undergraduate tuition to $376 per credit. When combined with military Tuition Assistance, the remaining student investment is $126 per credit for the 2024–25 academic year.
Eligibility and Applicability
- Actively serving service members, guard, and reserve for all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, and their spouses (individual Ready Reserve and inactive National Guard are not eligible)
- Applicable to all undergraduate programs and undergraduate courses offered by Penn State World Campus
- You, or your spouse, must be serving in the military at some point during the semester in which you are registering
- Service members and/or spouses electing to use their GI Bill® education benefits (Chapters 30, 31, 33, and 35) or any other Penn State Grant-in-Aid are not eligible
- Service members electing to use their Montgomery GI Bill® Selected Reserve (Chapter 1606) benefits are eligible to use Military Grant-in-Aid along with those benefits
How to Use Military Grant-in-Aid
- Enroll in classes at Penn State World Campus. Your academic adviser can help you choose courses and learn how to enroll.
- Complete and submit the Military Grant-in-Aid form.
You must complete the Military Grant-in-Aid form each semester that you plan to take courses through Penn State World Campus. To qualify, the form must be submitted to Penn State World Campus within seven days of scheduling your courses.
Penn State World Campus has agreed to the DoD Voluntary Education Partnership Memorandum of Understanding, which allows service members to use military Tuition Assistance (TA) benefits when enrolled as a student.
When requesting approval for military TA, students should use OPE-ID #00332900, which is the identification number that Penn State World Campus shares with Penn State University Park campus.
How to Use Tuition Assistance
- Enroll in classes at Penn State World Campus. Your academic adviser can help you choose courses and learn how to enroll.
- Request Tuition Assistance through your service branch (PDF).
- Provide the required documentation for your branch to Penn State World Campus, using the payment document upload form.
If you are unable to use the payment document upload form, you may also send the required documentation to our office:
Military Educational Benefits Office
Penn State World Campus
121 Outreach Building
University Park, PA 16802
[email protected]
Fax: 814-863-1385
If you need to drop or withdraw from your class(es), Penn State will comply with DoD requirements for the return of TA funds. The policy can be viewed here: TA Billing and Student Schedule Changes.
Student Agreement/Degree Plan Requests
To request a student agreement/degree plan, please send a request from your Penn State email account and include your name, Penn State ID, and degree program.
Undergraduate students should send their request to their academic adviser. If you do not have an adviser, please use the Academic Advising Contact Form.
Graduate students should send their request to [email protected].
