Tuition discount available to combat veterans

Veterans of the United States military -- especially those who served in an official combat zone after Sept. 11, 2001 -- either are or soon will be eligible for new state and federal financial aid programs offered through Northwest Missouri State University.

According to Del Morley, director of Northwest’s Office of Financial Assistance, a handful of combat veterans who are currently Northwest students will receive tuition waivers under Missouri’s Returning Heroes’ Education Act, which went into effect Aug. 28.

Because Northwest’s fall trimester began Aug. 25, the University was not obligated to provide benefits under the statute until the start of the spring term in January 2009. But Morley said Northwest decided to go ahead with the program this year, as did most other state universities.

Morley noted that the discount goes into effect after all other federal and state aid to which students are entitled has been applied, including federal Department of Veterans Affairs benefits. So though the Returning Heroes’ Education Act will have some financial impact on the University, it is not expected to be significant.

The statute requires state colleges, universities and post-secondary training schools to charge eligible veterans no more than $50 per credit hour in basic tuition provided they were Missouri residents when they joined the military, officially served in armed combat after Sept. 11, 2001, and were discharged under honorable conditions.

This provides considerable savings to qualified veterans who choose to attend Northwest, where basic tuition is $157.39 per credit hour. The discount does not apply to dedicated fees, such as those charged to help for pay for student activities, laptop computers, facilities improvements and wellness services, which means the actual cost for eligible veterans per credit hour will shrink from $230.39 -- the University’s “sticker price” -- to $123.

Qualified veterans receive discounted tuition as long as they maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 2.5 on a 4-point scale. Eligibility for the program expires ten years from the date of the veteran’s most recent discharge from service.

About 90 students are currently enrolled at Northwest as veterans or dependents of disabled veterans. Of these, about 40 have either been on active duty or called up, and so may be eligible for aid under the state’s Returning Heroes program or the new federal Post-9/11 Veterans Education Act, which will start providing benefits in August 2009.

Under the federal government’s so-called Post-9/11 GI Bill, veterans receive a percentage of a maximum benefit depending on how long they served. This benefit cannot exceed the most expensive combination of in-state undergraduate tuition and fees at a public institution of higher education in the veteran’s home state.

In addition, qualified veterans can also receive a monthly housing allowance, a book stipend for up to $1,000 and a one-time payment of $500 for certain individuals relocating from “highly rural areas.”

To receive the maximum federal benefit, veterans must have been on active duty for at least 36 months or have served at least 30 continuous days on active duty before being discharged with a service-related disability. A veteran who serves at least 30 months but less than 36 months receives a 90 percent benefit, and so forth down a scale ending with at least 90 days but less than six months of service (40 percent benefit).

Like the state’s Returning Heroes initiative, the Post-9/11 GI Bill requires veterans to have been discharged under honorable circumstances.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone: 660.562.1704
Fax: 660.562.1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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