Effective January 1st 1997, the Recruitment Incentive & Retention Program (RIRP) is a very generous benefit available to you as members of the Naval Militia. The RIRP is a tuition assistance program available to members of the New York Army National Guard, New York Air National Guard, and the New York Naval Militia. The RIRP is a program funded by New York State with the intention of retaining and recruiting drilling reservists within New York State. If approved for the RIRP, New York State will pay your school a maximum of the current State University of New York's (SUNY) maximum in-state undergraduate tuition per semester at any college, university, or community-technical college in the State of New York recognized and approved by the New York State Board of Regents or State University of New York. The rate for the Spring 2019 semester was $3,435, and that rate is rumored to increase to $3,535 for the Fall 2019 semester.
In order to qualify for the RIRP, you MUST meet the eligibility requirements outlined in DMNA REG 621-1. The basic eligibility requirements are as follows:
RIRP is a SEMESTER to SEMESTER program, meaning you must re-apply completely each semester if you would like to be approved.
RIRP currently covers the Spring and Fall semesters only.
The deadline dates listed below are subject to change.
Late applications will not be accepted under any circumstances.
Beginning the day after the first deadline, you will have a 60 day grace period to collect all final requirements and submit them to NYNM HQ for approval. This grace period is meant to allow for processing times at HESC and FASFA; all additional remaining requirements should be submitted ASAP to allow HQ time to review them and make sure everything is correct.
Please note: your college/university will not receive notification about RIRP from NYNM until we have received all requirements & approved your application, therefore it is crucial you submit all documents as early as possible.
Please utilize the NYNM RIRP Checklist which will outline exactly what you need to do in order to apply. In the checklist, you will see that the Naval Militia has an additional required form, the NYNM RIRP Acknowledgement form - this form MUST be signed and submitted with your RIRP application.
Once received, I will be going through each application and contacting each person as quickly as possible to explain exactly what I have received, and what I still need to receive prior to the deadlines.