About STAPState Tuition Assistance Program

Funded by the State of Texas, the State Tuition Assistance Program (a.k.a. State Tuition Reimbursement Program, STRP) is an education benefit that provides money for college to eligible members of the Texas Military Department pursuing their educational and career goals. This benefit is available to active drilling members (not AGR) of any of the 3 following Texas components:

  • Texas Army National Guard (TXARNG)
  • Texas Air National Guard (TXANG)
  • Texas State Guard (TXSG)

Applicants interested in requesting assistance must:

  • Have completed Basic Training (or its equivalent)
  • Be attending an accredited Texas college or university
  • Be pursuing:
    • an academic certificate
    • their first undergraduate degree
    • their first graduate degree

Interested in applying for State Tuition Assistance? Click on the “How Do I Apply” tab below to find the link for the application form. But first, take note of this new requirement for the new school year.

Degree Plan. We must have a degree plan on file for each applicant. It can be an electronic printout from your student portal or you can scan an actual document

Additional Questions?

All applicants can submit inquiries by email: email

Texas Air National Guard Airmen may also contact:

Texas State Guard Members submit your inquiry by email: email

 

Download
GoArmyEd Handbook

 


Our office reviews each application to determine whether an applicant meets all the qualifications for a State TA award and to determine the qualified amount of each award. The review process focuses on 3 categories of information. An applicant must get a GO in all 3 in order to be approved to receive a State TA tuition award. The categories are: 1) Military Service, 2) Scholastic and 3) Financial

Click on the “More Information” link below to find more information about the review process.

 

More Information

Application Instructions: State TA for Fall and Spring can now be requested using one application form.

1.   Fill out the State TA application form.

2.   Sign the form.

3.   Save the completed form.

4.   Attach the saved file in an email to ng.tx.txarng.mbx.trp@mail.mil.

5.   Submit Additional Documents AFTER the semester begins.

6.   Submit an Official Transcript AFTER the semester ends.

  
(Left) Click on icon to open the application form. (Right) Click on the icon for example of fee statement.

 

See “Deadlines” section for current deadlines of all steps


Click the link below for more details on the application instructions.

Deadline summary:

  Fall Semester Spring Semester
1) Primary Application Deadline 05 Aug 2018 01 Jan 2019
    Extended Application Deadline 09 Sept 2018 03 Feb 2019
2) Supporting Documents Deadline 30 Sept 2018 28 Feb 2019
3) Official Transcript Deadline 13 Jan 2019 09 Jun 2019

Additional Information On Deadlines

Award Funding Limitations and the “High Need Exemption”


State TA funds from 3 to 12 credit hours of tuition and mandatory fees per academic semester during Fall and Spring semesters only. The current budget level of this program paired with recent levels of participant demand does not allow awarding full 12 credit awards to all eligible applicants. 

In addition to the financial criteria described in the “How Do I Qualify” section of this site, award amounts are based on:  1) available funding, 2) the number of eligible applicants for that semester and 3) the successful completion of courses.

More Information

State Tuition Process Status
Figure 1. Summarized 5 step process for State TA.

The State TA Program will reimburse Service Members with out-of-pocket expenses for tuition and mandatory fees. Students are responsible to the school for all charges at the beginning of the semester. If all steps are followed, after the semester is over an award payment is sent to the school. The school will either apply the funds to new charges or refund the amount to the student.

Figure 1 shows a simplified model of the State TA process. Status updates are sent to all applicants throughout the semester. At a minimum, the completion of each of the 5 steps in this model will be announced to the applicant in a status update email.

The general process is detailed a little more fully below. More specific steps required to apply for this benefit can be found in the “How To Apply” section.

More Information

  • STATE TA awards are based on: 1. available funding, 2. number of eligible applicants and 3. successful course completion. Since any one of these factors can change from one semester to the next, an award amount received one semester may not be the same as one received another semester even for the same person.
  • Applicants will receive multiple email status updates throughout the semester. If you are not receiving status updates, contact the Education Office to ensure that your application was received and is being processed. See the section on “How It Works” for a list of expected status updates.
  • The tuition award will only reimburse classes that are successfully completed. Classes that are withdrawn, incomplete or failed will not be reimbursed. Official transcripts are required to confirm grades.
  • This program does not pay until after the end of the academic semester. Therefore, it is the applicant’s responsibility to request an alternate payment option, such as an emergency tuition loan or an installment payment plan, if unable to fund the full tuition balance at the beginning of the semester.
  • Classes may be dropped if a balance remains unpaid and/or no payment arrangement is made with the school at the beginning of the semester.
  • Schedule changes should be reported by submitting an updated course schedule and fee statement to the Education Office.
  • The State TA award will be issued at the completion of the academic semester and only after an official transcript is received in the Education Office.
  • By Texas State law, this program is only authorized to issue payments directly to a college or university in Texas. We cannot issue payments to out of state institutions or to individual persons.
  • Payments are sent as a bulk payment that includes all awards for all award recipients at a given school. Schools may take 7-10 days from the date the payment is scheduled to process the payment. It may take additional time for the school to update the student’s account.
  • If the STATE TA payment creates an overpayment on the student’s account, then the school may issue a refund of the overpayment amount. The school may offer other options to handle the overpayment.

The last step to complete a Tuition Assistance request is to send in your official transcript to show you passed your classes. Only OFFICIAL transcripts will be accepted. Unofficial versions or screen shots of your grades will NOT be accepted.

PLEASE NOTE: Send in your official transcript AFTER your grades have posted. If you send in your transcript without the grades showing, you will have to order another transcript.

The short version of instructions to send your transcript is to order an electronic PDF version from your school. If you are a student at Texas A&M University College Station or Galveston campus only, click on the link below for more information on steps you need to take when sending your transcript. "Do NOT follow the steps in the next paragraph. Click on the More Information link below and in the detailed instructions, read the information under Option #1, A."

 

For students of all other schools, login to the transcript ordering site for your school.

On the transcript order screen, search the list of recipients to find "Texas Military Department, Tuition Assistance". Select that option as the recipient and complete the ordering process. If you are unable to find this listing, enter our email address as the recipient: "ng.tx.txarng.mbx.trp@mail.mil". If your school does not offer electronic transcripts, order a paper copy for yourself. Once you have it, scan it and send a copy to our office.

Once we receive your transcripts, we will send out confirmations AFTER your grades have been logged into our system. At certain points it may take a few days from receiving the transcript to update the grades. Please be patient, but if a week passes or the deadline approaches with no confirmation from our office please send an email to confirm if we received your transcript.

Click on the link below to see a more detailed explanation of the suggested steps to send in your official transcript.

More Information

FAQ

  • Active drilling members in “Good Standing” with TXARNG, TXANG or TXSG.

  • Eligible ranks are: Enlisted (E1-E9), Officers (O1-O5) and Warrant Officers (W1-W3).

  • Applicants must be accepted and registered in a Texas qualifying college or university for a minimum of 3 semester credit hours. Part-time or full-time students are eligible.

  • Applicants must have completed Basic Training prior to the start of the semester. TXSG must complete BOT, RBOT or AIT.

  • Members must continue to serve in their component through the end of the semester. As of the date of signature on the application, the Service Member’s Expiration of Term of Service (ETS) or Mandatory Retirement Date (MRD) must be a date after the official last day of class. State Guard Members do not have a contract ETS date, but must serve through the end of the semester in order to receive the award payment.

  • ROTC (GRFD and DANG) Cadets utilizing the Room & Board scholarship option or non-scholarship contracts are eligible.

  • AGR are not eligible.

  • Eligible school must be a public or private Texas state college or university with headquarters in Texas as defined in Texas Education Code Section 61.003. For profit schools are not eligible.

  • Must have and maintain a 2.0 cumulative GPA.

  • Based on available funding, STA is available for fall and spring academic semesters only.

  • The average award payment is for up to 6 credits of tuition and fees, not to exceed $2,250 per semester.

  • Applicants can apply for a high needs exemption to receive up to 12 credits of tuition and mandatory fees with a maximum payout of $4,500 per semester (See section on High Need Exemption).

  • Private school reimbursement rates are calculated based on the average STA award for public schools.

  • Public school Out-of-State or Out-of-district resident tuition/fee charges are not eligible for reimbursement. Tuition will be paid at the in-state or in-district rate.

  • Applicants pursuing their first undergraduate, graduate or professional degree have funding priority, in that order.

  • State tuition assistance is available for five academic years or ten semesters. This applies during semesters of reduced funding as well.

  • Incomplete, Dropped or Failed classes are ineligible for reimbursement.

  • Continuing education classes (not receiving state tax support) are not eligible for reimbursement.

  • STA will not pay for the same class twice.

  • Yes, State TA can be used or “stacked” with other federal tuition assistance or state programs to cover up to 100% of tuition and eligible fees.

  • If other programs are covering 100% of the tuition and eligible fees, then State TA is not needed and will not be awarded.

  • Yes, however, your Pell, SEOG, grants and/or scholarships will be included when determining your eligible award amount.

  • Loans will not be included in the calculation of eligible award amount.

  • Failure to disclose other financial aid, grants or scholarships may be grounds for denial, permanent disqualification from the program as well as prosecution under the Texas Military Code of Justice.

  • The standard STA award is 6 credit hours not to exceed $2,250 per semester.

  • A HNE approval will grant up to an additional 6 semester credit hours not to exceed $2,250 in funding for tuition and fees (total of 12 credits or $4,500 per semester).

  • The HNE is a one time, per semester, exemption for undergraduate applicants (graduate students will not be considered) who meet certain eligibility criteria (see below).

  • HNE is subject to available funding and only a limited number of applicants will be approved. Requests are reviewed on a case by case basis after all standard STA awards are reviewed and approved.

To be eligible for HNE, the student must be an undergraduate student seeking their first Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree AND meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • Officer Without Degrees (OWD) (commissioned officers)

  • Within 1st 3 years Time in Service (TIS)

  • ROTC-SMP Cadet that does NOT have a tuition scholarship contract

  • First year student (fewer than 30 semester credit hours)

  • Graduating at the end of the semester

  • Ineligible for financial aid such as Pell Grant, SEOG, Texas Grant, or other scholarships

  • Attending a private school

  • Complete the STA Application.

  • The last page of the application is the request for this HNE. Follow the instructions on the page. Do NOT forget to sign the page.

  • Only a limited number of HNE requests will be approved. Requests are prioritized and approved until funding runs out.

  • It’s a statutory requirement that can only be changed by the Texas Legislature.