(a) Subject to the annual appropriation to the Alabama National Guard Educational Assistance Program in the annual Education Trust Fund Appropriation Act, provided the annual appropriations shall not exceed ten million dollars ($10,000,000), the Alabama Commission on Higher Education may pay or reimburse the qualifying tuition for any active member of the Alabama National Guard who is one of the following:
Terms Used In Alabama Code 31-10-3
Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(1) A student dually or concurrently enrolled in high school and an institution of higher education.(2) A postsecondary student who is enrolled in an institution of higher education.(3) A postsecondary student who is dually or concurrently enrolled in more than one institution of higher education and is enrolled in a program leading to a qualifying academic pathway, including a short certificate or long certificate, or associate, baccalaureate, masters, or doctorate degree in an accredited institution of higher learning, including a community or technical college within this state.(b) The payments or reimbursements shall be made timely at the end of each academic quarter or semester for all tuition reimbursements, and shall be made on the basis of certified invoices submitted by the institution to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, and shall be supported by names of the students receiving the benefits, together with the amounts claimed for each student. The tuition reimbursement authorized under this article may be used for undergraduate or graduate studies. In no event shall payments of the tuition reimbursement under the Alabama National Guard Educational Assistance Program amount to more than 100 percent of qualified tuition and fees. An undergraduate student that qualifies for the Academic Excellence Benefit shall receive an amount equivalent to 100 percent of qualified tuition and fees. Undergraduate students with this benefit may use these funds for tuition and fee reimbursement or ancillary costs. No guard member shall be eligible for tuition reimbursement or academic excellence benefits for more than 12 years after the date of the first tuition payment to him or her under this article. In the event that requests for tuition reimbursements provided for in this article from the institutions for educational benefits in any fiscal year exceed the appropriated amount, then the reimbursements shall be prorated equally among the institutions on a percentage basis of the total invoices received by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education and paid accordingly. The reimbursement shall be made promptly at the end of each academic quarter or semester for all certified invoices.
