Starting with the Fall 2013 semester, newly-entering first-time freshman and transfer undergraduate students, as well as newly-entering graduate students, who 1) are actively serving in the United States Armed Forces or 2) have been honorably discharged from the United States Armed Forces will, regardless of residency status, pay an Alternate Tuition Rate of 1.0 times the current applicable in-state tuition rate.

For purposes of verifying the incoming student's US military service against the criteria just noted, such students will need to submit current versions of official documentation to SIU:

• Those who are still actively serving in the US military should submit a photocopy of both the front and back sides of their current unexpired military photo ID card;¹
• Those who have been discharged from the US military should submit a photocopy of their DD 214 (or equivalent) form – preferably the "Member 4" or the "Service 2" version of the DD 214 – that shows the discharge.

The appropriate documentation must be submitted and received within 30 school days of the official start of the term for which you applied for admission.  Late submissions can not be accepted.  Please mail the requested documentation to:

Office of the Registrar
SIU Carbondale, Mailcode 4701
1263 Lincoln Drive, Room 0251
Carbondale, IL 62901

Please be sure to include your SIU Dawg Tag (nine digit 85-ID number) along with the documentation.  As another option, you may fax the documentation to 618-453-2915.  (However, if the faxed copies are not clearly legible, we may request that you also mail them.)  Even though e-mail might seem to you to be more convenient, we do not want you to e-mail such sensitive information to us.  Finally, you may drop off the documentation at our office in room 0251 of the Student Services Building.

If you have any questions, please call 618-453-2993 during normal business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 4:30 Central time).²

This Alternate Tuition Rate will not apply to students who are pursuing one of these degrees:  JD, LLM, or MD.  It also will not apply to students pursuing the Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies.  It also will not apply to students who started at SIUC at any level prior to the semester noted above.

Effective Fall 2017, this Alternate Tuition Rate will no longer be offered to domestic undergraduate students due to a change in domestic undergraduate tuition, since out-of-state domestic undergraduate students will automatically be charged the applicable in-state undergraduate tuition rate without the need for this Alternate Tuition Rate program.  However, this Alternate Tuition Rate will continue to be offered to qualifying graduate students.

¹ While it is true that photocopying your military ID card is generally prohibited by Title 18, U.S. Code Part I, Chapter 33, Section 701, there is an exception for government agencies.  In our attempt to verify that you are entitled to this ATR benefit, the University falls under the authorized photocopying example of "administering other military-related benefits to eligible beneficiaries" (as noted here).  Therefore, you are permitted to provide a photocopy of your military ID card to us for this ATR benefit.

² This ATR is not the same as the Active Duty Military ATR.  If you are actively serving in the US military and you are an incoming student to SIUC now, the latter ATR may offer you a better tuition rate than the one described on this page.