My Experience with Army SLRP and Post 9/11 GI Bill

Hey all, just trying to clear the air and maybe provide some much needed guidance for some of you still active duty.

I enlisted in 2018 for an in-demand job, really wanted student loan repayment. I had the option of enlisting for 5 or 6 six years (plus training) and had to opt out of Montgomery GI Bill, which to my knowledge, not everyone gets anyway. It was initially tough to process the paperwork, but my federal loans were paid after being active about 2-3 years. SLRP does not pay for private loans (i.e. Discover). You’ll (depending on yearly regs) get close to 90% of your federal loans paid up to 65k (if you meet requirements) and the remainder will be “tax” but you’ll likely receive it as a refund when you do your taxes the following year.

The SLRP regs seem to change frequently, but as it applies to me, my first three years of service were to satisfy the SLRP requirement, my remaining two years and nine months of service were generating Post 9/11 GI Bill eligibility.

Some information on this sub states that it’s SLRP or GI Bill, which at least sometimes, is incorrect. I wouldn’t sign a three or four year contract for SLRP, as the GI Bill is likely worth a lot more money (unless you plan on reenlisting anyway and gaining GI Bill eligibility that way).

In my situation, I received 36 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill. Best of luck and hope this helps a few of you.