Anyone Using Military Tuition Assistance at WGU?

Maui

I can't seem to wrap my head around how that can work on a full term basis. It is not worth it to pay by cu of $350. If you get 4500 per fiscal year are they paying 2250 per term you pay the balance? Which is fine but knowing all the rules in place I'm sure its not that easy. Thanks

mistabrumley89

I haven't been able to figure out how that would work either. My assumption is that the remaining portion will be deducted from your GI Bill. I was going to enroll, but I couldn't figure out how it worked. So I just enrolled at UMUC for my core classes, and I will transfer them to WGU when I get out and use my GI Bill from there on out.

Maui

I'm a reservist the yearly benefit covers a large portion of going 2 terms @ full time. However WGU being an un-traditional type of learning I do not think it has been addressed. Going part time at $350 a CU would cost you nearly the full time rate but would only net you 12 cu's in a year. Not worth it at all. Seams WGU would address this with the military.

Codyy

I used it last term without any real issues, but WGU is a Non-LOI school so it can take GoArmyEd(in my case) months to approve WGU's courses(have to keep this in mind when planning for your next term, I've yet to do it successfully in time). It literally took 2 months for them to approve mine. Go to a **** school like Phoenix or Devry and you're good to go instantly.

Now you have to do a "course planner" as some of you may know before requesting TA. Basically, the degree plan that you must submit when requesting TA isn't good enough anymore, so now you have to manually type in and give info about every single course you plan to take at your school. Also, TA is now approved based on "is this course relevant to developing your military career?" ..no real surprise though, they want to cut back on TA so they've made it as annoying/frustrating to get as possible.

As for the $4500 annual limit and WGU being around $6k, I had just planned on paying the rest out of pocket or dipping into my GI Bill.

Maui

Codyy wrote: »

I used it last term without any real issues, but WGU is a Non-LOI school so it can take GoArmyEd(in my case) months to approve WGU's courses(have to keep this in mind when planning for your next term, I've yet to do it successfully in time). It literally took 2 months for them to approve mine. Go to a **** school like Phoenix or Devry and you're good to go instantly.

Fantastic! Thank you for the information. I'm Air Force but its somewhat the same they pay on a per class basis. I will see if I can find a way to have them pay 2250 for a term and I pay the balance (maybe sign up for 4 classes a term if those are accomplished just continue without notifying the education office since those are technically "free"). Actually not sure how this will work but its great to see someone got it to work for them with the full time rate and paying the balance.

TomkoTech

If you are intending on going the IT route, get Comptia cert before you enroll and you can get a $500 scholarship per term for 4 terms I believe. So that's at least a grand a year you won't have to take out of your GI Bill. That should leave you with about $574(~$50/mo) out of pocket expenses for the year. You can probably get a payment plan with them to break that up for 3 months at the beginning of each term so it would actually be like $100 a month out of pocket. Or you could get a subsidized student loan. And pay that off as you can monthly without worrying about interest.

Maui

I did not know that. Is that a benefit for military folks attending or across the board? I will not be using the GI bill only Tuition assistance. After my return from Afghanistan one of the first things I did was transfer my GI bill to my young son. I couldn't think of a better gift for him and his future.

OfWolfAndMan

I am going through this process right now and, for the first term (Six months), the only fee you will have to pay out of pocket is the resource fee, which is like $140 or something like that. I am AF as well.

devils_haircut

Codyy wrote: »

Go to a **** school like Devry

Easy there, killer. Some of us actually learned something at DeVry (and didn't pay a dime for it).

Codyy

I actually went to DeVry before WGU and learned a few things, though here is no denying that it's a diploma mill with an awful reputation in the workforce. I enjoyed the insanely easy / near impossible to fail coursework and the fact that getting my A.S.(in Network Systems Administration also) was basically guaranteed as long as they got their money, but the thought of how non-respected my degree could be to a potential employer made me move on.

devils_haircut

I've heard it can vary drastically from one campus to another. My local campus was pretty good instructor-wise, but some of the staff members were clueless.

A couple of my instructors were actually retired military, so in addition to have their Master's degrees, they also had 20+ years experience in the military doing what they were teaching. Maybe I just got lucky, but I didn't have any bad instructors, and I actually physically attended most of my classes at the local DeVry campus.

Maui

OfWolfAndMan wrote: »

I am going through this process right now and, for the first term (Six months), the only fee you will have to pay out of pocket is the resource fee, which is like $140 or something like that. I am AF as well.

That's what I wanted to hear. Was hoping it would work like that. So I'm assuming second term you pay around $1200 TA covers the rest?

OfWolfAndMan

Assuming this is your first term using TA, they will cover it for two terms. There will be a resource fee each term. That's it, unless you buy additional resources yourself. After the second term yes you will have to pay some out of pocket, or you can 1. Use your GI Bill or 2. Apply for something at FAFSA

SteveLord

I am confused about how the 9/11 GI Bill works. I am eligible for 50%. Then there is BAH, which I guess is half because WGU is an online school.

My hope was to get the 50% from the GI Bill, maybe get my office to pay the other half and then pocket the BAH. Or at least, hope the BAH is enough to cover the other 50%. But I think that is based on how many credits you're taking?

devils_haircut

I was talking to an enrollment counselor from WGU last night about the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and he said he really didn't know. I think I need to talk to their VA representative about it, because I have 4 months of the 9/11 GI Bill left, and I'm wondering how that affect a 6-month term. I'll update once I hear back from them about it.

OfWolfAndMan

Half? Were you on AD for three years? Or were you reserve?

Djpapeleta360

I'm currently in the process of enrolling in WGU. The way I was told about using TA is that using TA you can only do 8 cu per semester. This would be considered part time. If you want to be full time which is 12 cu or more you can you you post 911 to cover the rest. Doing it this way you will only use 3 months of your eligible 36 months of your GI Bill/post 911 for your 6 months semester. This is want I am doing and hoping to start either July 1st or August 1st depends on how fast all my transcripts gets processed. The TA process is really annoying though with adding classes you are taking and sending it to your command for approval. I was thinking of just using my post 911 to pay for the school since I'm at 90% and pay the rest out of pocket or through grants.

SteveLord

OfWolfAndMan wrote: »

Half? Were you on AD for three years? Or were you reserve?

Guard. And 10 months of active duty.

Paul6

Army here; The amount of new rules being introduced for TA is insane. I believe they are hard capping the credit hours you can earn at 16 per fiscal year now; regardless of how much of the $4500 you've used. I'm glad I'm almost done and out.

OfWolfAndMan

SteveLord wrote: »

Guard. And 10 months of active duty.

Wow, old post! Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner SteveLord! Yes I talked to the counselor about the GI bill (Both Montgomery and 9/11) and she said that 50% is only allowed for those on active duty because they only allow you to go to school half time max. I think that is 12 semester hours per six months or something like that. I don't know about Guard, but if you ever make a transition, you can always have WGU's VA dept reevaluate to go for the full 100%. Just make sure you meet the class requirements though.