Military programs are governed by federal law, Department of Defense policy and additional policies specific to the branches of service. Below are the DOD policies that govern voluntary education programs in the military including tuition assistance, Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

DOD Directive 1322.08E, “Voluntary Education Programs for Military Personnel,” January 3, 2005, certified as current April 23, 2007 This directive updates policy that establishes voluntary education programs in each of the branches of service and states that the amount of monetary support provided to service members as tuition assistance shall be uniform across the services.

DOD Instruction 1322.19 CE-01, “Voluntary Education Programs in Overseas Areas,” April 23, 2020 This instruction establishes policy, assigns responsibilities and prescribes uniform procedures consistent with DOD Instruction 1322.25 (Reference (d)) for the delivery of voluntary education programs and services provided to service members serving in overseas areas, whether assigned to an enduring or permanent location or deployed to a contingency location.

DOD Instruction 1322.25, “Voluntary Education Programs,” April 2, 2020 This instruction implements policy, assigns responsibilities and prescribes procedures for the operation of voluntary education programs in DOD and establishes the Interservice Voluntary Education Working Group.