Here is the VA reference:
SA grads complete their ADSO - and I read that as “whatever they have incurred” - and then must do 36 months to earn 100% of the Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit.
But I am not an official source. You can find certified veterans’ benefits counselors at VA facilities, as well as state, county and larger city veterans’ services offices, as well as certified volunteer benefits counselors at American Legion posts, VFW, DAV, AMVETS, etc.
Don’t overlook the fact there are opportunities to obtain graduate degrees while on AD, either as a full-time student or through remote or local after-hours programs, with either service schoolhouses or civilian schools. If you obtain a degree on your Service’s time or dime, you will owe additional obligated service BUT it usually runs concurrently with your ADSO. That is different than the consecutive requirement for ADSO for the VA benefit. And that VA benefit will be waiting for you - if you already have, say, an MBA you earned on AD, after separation/retirement you could use your VA benefit to earn certificates as a Program Management Professional, or gain specific skills in Business Analytics, Marketing, Non-Profit Executive Management or a one-year executive Master’s in a complementary field, or you could hang onto that VA benefit for your family. One of our USNA sponsor family alumni went Navy air, and got his aero M.S. during a shore tour at UMD on Navy dime and time, had a concurrent payback with his ADSO. He will retire this year and accepted an offer from a major airline. He has told his 4 kids they each get a year of his Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit, and after that, he and his wife expected them to earn scholarships, choose schools they can afford and have part-time jobs unless their academics or sports suffered.
You can also research your service’s Tuition Assistance program.
Finally, you are at an SA, where you have the benefit of being awash in officers from various branches across a wide range of paygrades. They are there to educate you on these kinds of officer life opportunities too! Research their bios, ask them how they got to go to the Naval Postgraduate School or Georgetown or National Defense University or the Army War College or get X degree from Y school at Z point in their career. I never would have learned about the program below if a senior mentor had not recommended it to me as a Navy JO:
