E Army U

Most people know about veteran's benefits. It's heavily advertised that you can sign up for the US Army and they'll give you a VA loan and money for school after you've served your term. Few people, even the Army's own soldiers, realize that you can get a university education, even a graduate degree, for free online while serving your country.

Welcome to E Army U, the military answer to educating soldiers in the 21st century. Via the web, and at times through a free laptop for soldiers, it offers university degrees on flexible schedules. Soldiers complete the work in their off-duty hours, just as their civilian counterparts might work full time and go to school in their off hours. This program is available to all soldiers.

It actually consists of two related programs, Go Army Ed and E Army U. Go Army Ed is a tuition reimbursement program for distance education courses offered by civilian colleges and universities. This covers 100% of the soldier's tuition, fees, and books, up to a semester hour cap of $250 and an annual cap of $4,500. The school the soldier chooses must be accredited in the US; there is a list of approved schools on the Go Army Ed website.

E Army U is a web portal that consolidates the distance learning offerings of dozens of colleges and universities, allowing soldiers to log on to a single site to manage their entire college education. As an officially recognized university itself, it allows the soldier to bypass the residency requirements that traditional schools have. It also allows the soldier to apply for tuition reimbursement, do all paperwork filing, and track transcript information, all in one place.

There is a single application for all 25 universities and 140 degree programs that participate in E Army U, and credits earned are guaranteed to be two-way transferable between all of the institutions. Soldiers who have been able to get into the Laptop Program (suspended indefinitely for new applicants) can also access unlimited tutoring. The accredited university grants the degree the soldier earns.

Since the program was specifically designed to reach soldiers regardless of their duty station, thousands have transferred to new posts without interrupting their studies. More than 31% of E Army U students either extend service or reenlist specifically to access this benefit. In some cases, non-commissioned officers have finished their bachelor's degree through E Army U, and then reenlisted as an officer in order to pursue a master's degree.