GI Bill Kicker: Eligibility, Amounts, and How to Apply

The GI Bill Kicker is a monthly supplement of up to $950 that the Department of Defense adds on top of your regular GI Bill payment, funded entirely by DoD as a recruiting and retention incentive for hard-to-fill specialties. It isn’t a benefit every service member receives. It only exists if a kicker provision is written into your enlistment or reenlistment contract, and if your contract doesn’t include one, you don’t get one.

The supplement is sometimes called the “College Fund.” A recruiter advertising a “$30,000 College Fund” is describing a kicker paid out at roughly $833 per month across 36 months of full-time enrollment, not a lump sum.

How Much the Kicker Pays

Kicker amounts run from $150 to $950 per month, set in $100 increments at the time you sign your contract.¹ The amount depends on your branch, your specialty, and current manning priorities.

One detail catches many people off guard. Your kicker amount is locked in at the contract rate and never increases. The base Montgomery GI Bill payment gets an annual adjustment tied to rising tuition costs, but the kicker stays flat for the full 36 months of entitlement.² A kicker signed in 2020 still pays the same monthly amount today.

The maximum kicker entitlement is 36 months and runs on the same clock as your base benefit.³ Every month you use toward education draws down both the base benefit and the kicker together. There’s no way to use one without the other, and no way to bank kicker months for later.

If you attend school less than full-time, the kicker is prorated. Three-quarter time gets 75% of the monthly kicker, half-time gets 50%, and so on.

Under MGIB vs. Post-9/11

The kicker applies to the Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty (Chapter 30) and the Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve (Chapter 1606). It can also carry over to the Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33), but the payment structure changes.

Under MGIB, the kicker is bundled into a single monthly stipend. Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, tuition goes directly to your school, you receive a separate housing allowance, and the kicker is paid monthly alongside that housing allowance based on your enrollment status.⁴ The statutory maximum stays at $950.⁵

To receive the kicker under Chapter 33 you must voluntarily waive your MGIB benefits. Following the Supreme Court’s Rudisill decision, previous MGIB waivers can be revoked, but if you revoke, you lose your kicker payments under Chapter 33 going forward. You won’t have to repay kicker money already received, and any remaining kicker entitlement would only be payable under your MGIB or MGIB-SR benefits.⁶

Who Qualifies

The kicker is an incentive, not an entitlement. You qualify only if your enlistment or reenlistment contract specifically includes a kicker provision. Federal law authorizes the Secretary of each military branch to offer kickers to individuals entering skills “in which there is a critical shortage of personnel or for which it is difficult to recruit.”¹ Active duty kickers fall under Chapter 30 of Title 38; Selected Reserve kickers operate under Chapter 1606 of Title 10.⁷

Which specialties qualify shifts constantly. The Army might offer a kicker for infantry or intelligence specialties one year and drop them the next. The Navy targets specific ratings. What matters is what your branch was offering the day you signed.

Active duty kickers are typically tied to a minimum three-year service obligation. Reserve and Guard members generally need a six-year commitment from the date of the kicker contract.³ Guard members may also pick up a kicker by extending after three continuous years of service, provided they haven’t passed 14 total years.

When your eligibility for the underlying GI Bill benefit expires, the kicker expires with it.³ For Reserve members using MGIB-SR, eligibility typically ends the day you leave the Selected Reserve, with limited exceptions for disability separations and certain involuntary separations.⁸

The kicker also does not transfer to a spouse or children. Even if you qualify for both a kicker and Post-9/11 transferability, only the base educational benefits carry over.⁹ If you plan to transfer benefits to dependents, the kicker only has value if you use it yourself.

Verify the Paperwork Before You Separate

A kicker only pays out if the VA can verify it in your records. Check now, not after you file.

Active duty members should have an enlistment contract addendum, often called Annex K or the College Fund rider, that spells out the kicker amount. It needs to be in your Official Military Personnel File. National Guard and Selected Reserve members need a DD Form 2384-1 (Notice of Basic Eligibility) certified by the military department.⁸ Guard members also complete branch-specific paperwork such as NGB Form 5435, the MGIB-SR Kicker Addendum.³

Access your records through systems like iPERMS, or ask your unit career counselor to pull your file and confirm the kicker appears. A missing addendum or a mismatch between your contract and the electronic record is the single most common reason kicker payments get delayed or denied.

Fixing a Missing Kicker Record

If your kicker contract is missing but you know it was part of your enlistment deal, start with your unit or branch’s administrative channels. The Board for Correction of Military Records only reviews cases after you’ve exhausted other remedies.¹⁰

If administrative channels fail, file a DD Form 149 (Application for Correction of Military Record) with your branch’s correction board. Include everything that supports your claim: copies of your original contract, recruiter correspondence, statements from anyone who witnessed the agreement, and records of prior attempts to resolve the issue. Send copies, not originals.¹⁰

How to Apply for the Kicker

Kicker payments aren’t automatic. You activate them by filing VA Form 22-1990 (Application for VA Education Benefits). The form has specific fields for the kicker. Item 17C asks active duty members whether they have a DoD kicker contract; Item 16F covers Reserve kickers. Check “Yes” on the applicable question, and, as the form itself recommends, send the VA a copy of your kicker contract with the application.¹¹

Give a copy of the contract addendum to your School Certifying Official as well. The school reports enrollment to the VA each semester, and the certifying official needs to know about the kicker so the institution’s records match what the VA expects.

After you file, the VA cross-references your claim with DoD records to confirm the service obligation and the kicker amount. Once verified, the kicker is folded into your regular monthly education payment rather than arriving as a separate deposit. You’ll certify enrollment each semester to keep payments flowing. Report any change in credit hours right away, because overpayments get recouped and the VA is not forgiving about collection.

How You Can Lose the Kicker

The kicker disappears under several circumstances, and getting it back is rarely possible.

Not finishing your service obligation. If you leave before completing the required years, you forfeit the kicker and may owe back a prorated share of what you already received.
Changing specialties voluntarily. For Reserve members, switching out of the qualifying specialty during your six-year kicker obligation terminates the benefit, and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service recoups payments proportional to the unfinished obligation.¹²
Unsatisfactory participation in the Reserve or Guard. Being declared an unsatisfactory participant and receiving an MGIB-SR Code “H” permanently ends eligibility across all Reserve and Guard components, not just the one that flagged you.¹²
Voluntarily transferring to the Individual Ready Reserve without requesting a suspension of benefits.¹²
Revoking your MGIB waiver. If you waived MGIB to use the Post-9/11 GI Bill and later revoke that waiver, remaining kicker entitlement under Chapter 33 ends. Any remaining kicker would only be payable under your MGIB entitlement.⁶

Taxes and Financial Aid

All GI Bill payments, including the kicker, are tax-free. The VA is explicit: do not include education benefit payments as income when filing your taxes.¹³

The same logic applies to financial aid. VA education benefits are classified as resources, not income, and should not be listed in the income section of the FAFSA. This is one of the most common mistakes student veterans make, and it can reduce need-based aid by inflating reported income.¹⁴ If your school’s financial aid office asks about your GI Bill, provide the information, but make sure it’s categorized as a resource.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 3015 – Amount of Basic Educational Assistance
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 3015 – Amount of Basic Educational Assistance
3
Army National Guard. GI Bill Kicker
4
MyAirForceBenefits. Post-9/11 GI Bill
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 3316 – Supplemental Educational Assistance
6
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Impact of Rudisill and Perkins Supreme Court Decision on Veterans
7
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty (MGIB-AD)
8
Veterans Affairs. Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve (MGIB-SR)
9
U.S. Congress. Post-9/11 GI Bill Transferability: Frequently Asked Questions
10
Army Review Boards Agency. Army Review Boards Agency
11
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Form 22-1990 Application for VA Education Benefits
12
Navy Reserve. CNRFINST 1780.1E SELRES GI Bill Kicker Program
13
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. How VA Education Benefit Payments Affect Your Taxes
14
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. FAFSA and VA Education Benefits