Financing › Army Credentialing Assistance
Enlisted and warrant officers
Army Credentialing Assistance
Army CA
Funds one civilian credential per fiscal year — course, materials and exam — for enlisted Soldiers and warrant officers across all three components.
What it pays
The numbers people get wrong most often.
- The cap
- Up to $2,000 per fiscal year, for one credential. It was $4,000 until December 2024.
- Shared with TA
- CA and Tuition Assistance draw on one combined $4,500 per fiscal year. Spend $2,000 on a certification and $2,500 is left for college that year.
- Aviation
- Aviation-related credentials are capped at $1,000 per year.
- How many
- Three credentials per ten years of service, with three more available after ten years. Recertifications do not count against it.
Who qualifies
The official portal makes the final call. This is the shape of it.
You are likely eligible if
- Enlisted Soldiers, E-1 through E-9.
- Warrant officers, W-1 through W-5.
- Active Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve, in good standing and not flagged.
- Your course or exam end date has to fall before your ETS.
You are not eligible if
- Commissioned officers, O-1 through O-10 — ineligible since 19 March 2026 under ALARACT 102/2025. If you had a credential goal submitted and unfinished before that date, you may still request funding to finish that one credential. Officers remain eligible for Tuition Assistance; only CA changed.
- Retirees, and anyone under an active recoupment suspension.
How to apply
Submit no earlier than 90 days and no later than 45 days before your start date. Some official guidance says 45 business days, so treat that as the safe margin.
First time? Clear the prerequisites
The MilGears decision-support tool and CA 101 / ArmyIgnitED 101 training are mandatory before you can create a goal.
Check the credential is on Army COOL
If it is not listed there, CA will not fund it.
Create the credential education goal
In ArmyIgnitED, under Education Programs, MOS-related or not.
Apply for funding
Accept the user agreement, choose thinQtank as the vendor, set your dates, and attach our quote — it needs your name, start and end dates, itemised materials and fees, and the total including shipping.
Get supervisor and commander approval
Required for every Soldier now, regardless of rank.
Army approval and payment
The request routes to Credentialing and Continuing Education Services, then the CA Business Office pays the vendor.
Train, then test
Sit the exam within 180 days of finishing training.
Upload your result
Vendors must upload grades within 30 days of the end date.
Where this actually happens
Funding requests go through ArmyIgnitED. Look the credential up first on Army COOL. Both are official sites — we do not sit between you and either of them.
What catches people out
Worth reading before you submit anything.
There is no reimbursement. Ever.
The Army pays the vendor. If you start a course before payment goes through, you are liable for the whole cost yourself.
You have to sit the exam
Take it within 180 days of finishing the training or you repay the cost. Using CA for a prep course alone no longer works.
Two recoupments and you are out for a year
Two in the same fiscal year suspends you from both CA and Tuition Assistance for 12 months.
CA is not the GI Bill
Separate benefit, separate money. Using CA does not touch your GI Bill entitlement.
Governing policy: ALARACT 102/2025, Changes to Voluntary Education Policy, released 14 November 2025 and effective 19 March 2026, and AR 621-5.
Checked against official sources in August 2026.
Next steps
Pick the credential, and we will put the quote together in whatever format your portal wants.
thinQtank® Learning is a training provider. We are not the U.S. Army, ArmyIgnitED, Army COOL, the Department of the Air Force, AFVEC, AF COOL, the Department of Defense, Military OneSource, or the Department of Veterans Affairs, and we are not endorsed by any of them. Eligibility, credential approval, funding availability and payment authorisation are decided by those organizations inside their own systems, under their own policies, which change. This page was checked against official sources in August 2026 and is a starting point, not advice about your particular situation. Confirm your own eligibility and current limits in your official portal before you commit to anything.