MILITARY & veterans

Military Education Benefits and Financial Aid

Using DoD Tuition Assistance Benefits

MACU participates in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) tuition assistance program and serves as a liaison to the DoD in processing tuition assistance and other military education benefits, which can cover a significant portion (in some cases, up to 100 percent) of your tuition for a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Before you receive DoD tuition assistance benefits and enroll in your classes, you may be required to develop an education plan or complete tuition assistance orientation. Please keep the following in mind when you apply for enrollment:

1. DoD tuition assistance benefits may only be used to pursue degree programs at colleges and universities in the United States that are regionally or nationally accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. You can verify a school’s accreditation status by visiting the U.S. Department of Education.
2. Your service’s education center must approve your benefits before you enroll in a course. Learn more about tuition assistance for your service:

• Air Force Tuition Assistance
• Army Tuition Assistance
• Coast Guard Tuition Assistance
• Marine Tuition Assistance
• Navy Tuition Assistance

Using Tuition Assistance

For students on active duty status, MACU will reduce their tuition for undergraduate courses, per semester credit hour (SCH) to $250 and waive fees. Active Duty status will be verified each year.

Tuition Assistance Top-Up

VA Tuition Assistance Top-Up allows funds from the Montgomery GI Bill® – Active Duty or the Post-9/11 GI Bill® to be used for tuition and fees for high-cost courses not fully covered by tuition assistance funds.

Eligibility: To use Tuition Assistance Top-Up, your service branch must approve you for tuition assistance. You must also be eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® or the Montgomery GI Bill® – Active Duty.

Application: First apply for tuition assistance in accordance with the procedures of your service branch. After applying for tuition assistance, you will need to apply for Department of Veterans Affairs education benefits. Make sure you specify “Top-Up” on the application submit it to the Education Services Office on your base or to an official administration personnel member in your unit.

Financial Aid

Aside from using the MGIB-AD or Post-9/11 GI Bill® for items such as tuition and fees not covered by tuition assistance, other funding opportunities are available to service members, including federal and state financial aid.

The federal government provides $150 billion annually in grants, work-study programs, and direct student loans. The aid comes in various forms, including need-based programs such as Pell Grants, subsidized Stafford Loans, Supplemental Educational Opportunity grants, and federal work-study programs. You can also get low-interest loans through the federal government. Visit Federal Student Aid to find out more or complete an online application for FAFSA at no cost to you. Please keep FAFSA deadlines in mind.

Financial Aid Support

Before offering, recommending, arranging, signing up, dispersing, or enrolling service members for student loans, we provide service members access to a financial aid counselor who will make available appropriate loan counseling, including, but not limited to:

• Provide a clear and complete explanation of available financial aid, including Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended.
• Describe the differences between private and federal student loans, including terms, conditions, repayment, and forgiveness options.
• Disclose the institution’s student loan Cohort Default Rate (CDR), the percentage of its students who borrow, and how its CDR compares to the national average. If the institution’s CDR exceeds the national average CDR, it must disclose that information and provide the student with loan repayment data. Information on the most recent 3-year student loan default rate for borrowers at MACU and the national average can be found on our Consumer Information webpage.
• Explain that students can decline all or borrow less than the maximum student loan amount allowed.

Financial Resource Tools

• College Scorecard is a consumer-planning tool and resource to assist prospective students and their families as they evaluate options in selecting a school.
• College Navigator is a consumer tool that provides school information, such as tuition and fees, retention and graduation rates, use of financial aid, and student loan default rates. It also features a cost calculator and a school comparison tool. 
• College Financing Plan is a consumer tool designed to simplify the information prospective students receive about costs and financial aid so they can easily compare institutions and make informed decisions about where to attend school.
• Paying for College is a webpage that prospective students can use to enter the names of up to three schools to receive detailed financial information on each one. It can also be used to enter actual financial aid award information.
• Guide to Financial Aid College can be expensive. Don’t give up when you see the price tag. Financial aid is available to help you meet the cost of higher education. There are several types of aid available to you. Click here for helpful guides, financial aid office contact, forms, costs, and fees.

Cpt. James Ahn Special Forces Memorial Scholarship
Gain Service Academy Admission is sponsoring the Cpt. James Ahn Special Forces Memorial Scholarship, a $1,000 annual scholarship for military students named in honor of Captain James Ahn. Captain Ahn died tragically in a parachuting accident while with his unit in Washington state in 2015. To learn more about the scholarship and apply, click here.

Net Price Calculator

What does Net Price mean? – Net Price is the amount a student pays to attend an institution in a single academic year AFTER subtracting scholarships and grants the student receives. Scholarships and grants are forms of financial aid that a student does not have to pay back.

What is a Net Price Calculator? – Net Price calculators are available on a college’s or university’s website and allow prospective students to enter information about themselves to find out what students like them paid to attend the institution in the previous year after taking grants and scholarship aid into account.

Important Phone Numbers for VA Education Benefits

VA Education Hotline: 1-888-442-4551

Monthly Verification of Attendance: 1-877-823-2378

Direct Deposit: 1-877-838-2778

Other VA Benefits: 1-800-827-1000

Get Started With MACU’s Military Education Assistance Program

Reaching out to an enrollment counselor is the first step in finding out how armed forces tuition assistance can benefit you at MACU. We’ll guide you every step of the way!

Fill out the form below for more information, or complete your free application now.

GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government Web site at https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill.

Military Leave of Absence

Mid-America Christian University supports students who serve in the Armed Forces (including reserve components) who receive orders “to perform a period of service” (i.e., active duty, inactive duty training, or state service). Upon verification of orders requiring active duty, the service member may select from several tuition and fee credit options. Students may obtain additional information regarding tuition credit by contacting the Office of the Registrar.

Options available to qualified students: Upon meeting with the Office of the Registrar to verify orders, MACU would work with the student to determine the best plan for their circumstances. MACU has three options to review and consider:

• Withdrawal and Refund: Withdraw from the student’s entire registration and receive a 100% refund for tuition and housing fees associated with the term in which the enrolled student receives official orders ‘to perform a period of service,’ including but not limited to active duty, inactive duty training, or state service.
• Incomplete Grades: Plan with the student’s instructors for course grades or incompletes that the student at a later date shall complete. If such arrangements are made, the student’s registration shall remain intact, and the courses’ tuition and mandatory fees shall be assessed.
• Partial Incompletes: Plan with only some of the student’s instructors for grades or incompletes that the student will contact to complete the coursework later. If such arrangements are made, the course registration shall remain intact, and tuition and mandatory fees shall be assessed for those courses. Any course for which arrangements cannot be made for grades or incompletes shall be considered dropped. The entire tuition and mandatory fees for the dropped course will be fully refunded.

For further details or assistance, students are encouraged to contact the Office of the Registrar.

GI Bill® is the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) registered trademark.

Readmission of Service Members

MACU will promptly readmit service members with the same academic status they had when they last attended the institution or were accepted for admission before deployment. This readmission applies to any student unable to attend school due to military service.

The Student Veteran Advisor is the designated contact of MACU that a student will contact to provide both notification of service and notice of intent to return.

1. Student Responsibilities:
   • Students must notify the Student Veteran Advisor of their military service and intention to return to school.
   • Student or an appropriate officer of the armed forces or official of the Department of Defense must give oral or written notice of such service to the school as far in advance as is reasonable under the circumstances. This notice does not have to indicate whether the student intends to return to the school and may not be subject to any rule of timeliness. Timeliness must only be determined by the facts in each case.
   • The student may submit an attestation of military service that necessitated the absence from school at the time of readmission.
   • The student is not required to provide notice if precluded by military necessity, such as service in operations that are classified or would be compromised by such notice.
   • Students must give oral or written notice of their intent to return to the school within three years after the completion of the service period.
   • Students must notify the school within two years after the period needed for recovery from hospitalization or convalescing due to an illness or injury incurred or aggravated during service performance.
   • The student who fails to apply for readmission within the required periods outlined in section C, subsections e and f, does not automatically forfeit eligibility for readmission.
2. MACU Admission Process:
   • The University must admit the student to the same program to which the student was last admitted or, if that exact program is no longer offered, the program most similar to that one, unless the student chooses a different one.
   • The University must admit the student at the same enrollment status unless the student wants to enroll at a different enrollment status.
   • The University must admit the student with the same credit hours completed during prior enrollment. However, if the student chooses, upon readmission, a different program, all completed credit hours may not apply to the selected new program.
   • The University must admit the student with the same academic standing (e.g., with the same satisfactory academic progress status) as the student had before readmission.
   • The cumulative length of the absence and all previous absences from the institution for military service may not exceed five (5) years. Only the time the student spends performing service is counted.
3.  MACU Responsibilities:
   • The University will assess the tuition and fee charges for the first academic year (if the student is readmitted to the same program) that the student was or would have been assessed for the academic year during which the student left the school. However, suppose veteran education or other service member education benefits will pay the higher tuition and fee charges that other students in the program are paying for the year. In that case, the school may also assess those charges to the student.
   • The University will assess no more than the tuition and fee charges that other students in the program are assessed for that academic year if the student is admitted to a different program and subsequent academic years for a student admitted to the same program.
   • The University will make reasonable efforts at no extra cost to the student to help the student become prepared or to enable the student to complete the program if determined that the student is not prepared to resume the program with the same academic status at the point where the student left off or will not be able to complete the program. This includes providing remediation and allowing the student to retake a pretest at no extra cost.
   • The University is not required to readmit the student if it determines that there are no reasonable efforts it can take to prepare the student to resume the program at the point the student left off. After making reasonable efforts (those that do not place an undue hardship on the institution) to enable the returning student to complete the program, and it is determined that the student is not prepared to resume or complete the program, the institution is not required to readmit the student in that particular program.

For more information, please contact MACU’s Office of Veteran Services at 405-692-3147 or email LaHonda Toussaint at [email protected].