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Drill-status Air National Guardsmen would have a permanent federal tuition assistance program compatible with the one available to the Army Guard under legislation reintroduced Feb. 6.
If enacted, the Air Guard Standardizing Tuition Assistance to Unify the Services, or STATUS Act, (S. 489), would require the secretary of Air Force to provide drill-status Air Guardsmen access to a permanent federal tuition assistance program.
“Our Air Guard members deserve to receive the same benefits as their counterparts, both in the reserve and active-duty components of the military,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., a cosponsor of the bipartisan measure, in a Feb. 13 press release.
“Our legislation makes the Air Guard FTA pilot program that we first worked to establish in 2020 permanent and available to drill-status Guard members across the country,” added Hoeven, a 2019 recipient of the NGAUS Harry S. Truman Award, the association’s highest honor.
“Passing our bipartisan legislation will make tuition more affordable for the Air National Guard and bring their educational benefits in line with the other service branches,” urged cosponsor Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and co-chair of the Senate National Guard Caucus. “Let’s get this done.”
Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., also are cosponsors.
Hoeven and Shaheen led the effort in 2019 to establish a pilot tuition assistance program with the goal of making it permanent.
The Air National Guard Federal Military Tuition Assistance Beta Test was operational in fiscal years 2020, 2021 and 2023 with notable success.
Funding challenges led to the program not being available in 2022 and 2024 — underscoring the need for a permanent version to be created.
NGAUS strongly supports this legislation.
“We must take care of the service members who take care of our nation,” stated retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the NGAUS president. “One way to show our gratitude is to invest in their future through federal tuition assistance.”
“This bill corrects a long-standing gap in National Guard benefits and will empower our Airmen to reach new heights in knowledge and skill,” he continued. “We thank Sens. Hoeven and Shaheen for their efforts and continued support of the National Guard.”
The bill complements work by Hoeven and Shaheen to:
• Establish and fund an FTA pilot program, and ensure that North Dakota and New Hampshire Air Guardsmen had access to this important benefit.
• Secure a total of $18.8 million across fiscal years 2020-2023 to support the program.
Hoeven and Shaheen noted in an October 2023 letter to then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall that 974 drill-status Guardsmen utilized the program in fiscal 2021 and 838 in fiscal 2023.
— By Jennifer Hickey
