Senators John Hoeven of North Dakota and John Boozman of Arkansas announced this week that the Office of Secretary of Defense will work with the Department of Veterans Affairs to enable members of the Guard and Reserve to concurrently use federal tuition assistance and GI Bill benefits to fund their education, similar to active-duty servicemembers.

This achieves the goals of Hoeven and Boozman’s bill, the Montgomery GI Bill Parity Act, which Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota joined as original cosponsors.

The announcement will enable Guard and Reserve members to receive the full education benefits to which they are entitled, and the Office of Secretary of Defense expects the change to become effective by the end of the year.

“The National Guard and Reserve components are a central part of our nation’s defense, both at home and abroad, and our efforts were all about ensuring these servicemembers can access the benefits they have earned,” said Hoeven. “We appreciate the administration for working with us to restore the full education benefits for our Guard and Reserve members, and we look forward to the policy change being fully implemented later this year.”