An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

My Coast Guard
Commentary | Oct. 8, 2024

Start early if you want to transfer education benefits to your dependents

By Reidus Stokes, GI Bill Program Manager, Personnel Service Center

If you want to transfer your Chapter 33 Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits to your dependents, Coast Guard officials recommend you get an early start.  

To be eligible to transfer your education benefits (TEB) under the GI bill, you must have a minimum of six qualifying years of service and be willing to serve and additional four years (Active Duty or Selective Reserve).  

You are advised to get at least a six-month head start in processing the TEB to help ensure that your spouse or dependents can access these benefits when they need to pay for their college, graduate school, or vocational and technical training education.  

The most up-to-date rules for the GI Bill Education Benefits are in Defense Instruction (DoDI) 1341.13, which you can find here. The Coast Guard also wants to clarify the following:  

  • Service Members with 16 or more years of military service ARE still eligible to transfer their Post-9/11 GI Bill education Benefits (TEB) to their dependents. As long as you are able to obligate four additional years of service from date of TEB request, it does not matter if you haves six years or 20+ years. ALL Coast Guard service members, excluding Purple Heart recipients, are required to obligate four years of military service.   

  • Obligated service for transferring education benefits remains in effect even if the service member elects to revoke their TEB prior to completion of the obligated service requirement. If you want to rescind your obligated service, you are now required to request a waiver from CG- 

  • Service members who have not applied for TEB, who are on limited duty, or involved in a Medical Evaluation Board, Physical Evaluation Board (PEB), or Disability Evaluation System process must wait until the process is complete before applying. If found fit for duty, the Service member will comply with the standard TEB application procedure. Service members not found fit for duty and are informed they must separate or retire are ineligible to transfer their Chapter 33 Post-9/11 GI Bill Education Benefits to their dependents. 

  • This does NOT affect personnel who have previously transferred their benefits to their dependents. Those members can reallocate unused TEB months between their dependents at any time, even after they leave the service, if each dependent has a minimum of one benefit month assigned to them. 

  •  If you have previously transferred your benefit to an eligible dependent and would like to move months to another dependent or yourself, you can add unused months of your Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits to a dependent who was initially excluded from the original transferred benefit allotment at any time while you are still a member of the Armed Forces. This will "not" change your original obligated service dated for transferring your benefits or add additional months to your obligated service requirement. You can also "reallocate" benefits between eligible dependents, even after separation/retirement, if each dependent has at least one month allocated to them. 

So, don’t delay your TEB request. Transferring your Post-9/11 GI Bill to your dependents can happen as early as six years of service. 

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Reidus Stokes, phone number (202) 795-6643. 

-USCG- 

Resources: