A single SANS cybersecurity course runs a civilian about $8,500, and the GIAC certification exam on top adds roughly $950. Through the SANS VetSuccess Immersion Academy, a qualified veteran takes three of those courses and earns the certs for $0. That’s something like a $27,000 head start on a cyber career, paid for by someone else.
That program is real, and it’s one of about a dozen. But right now your feed is full of carousels pushing the same three “100% free” tech programs, and at least one of them is already out of date. So here’s the honest version: what’s actually free, what changed with VET TEC, and the programs nobody’s posting about.
VET TEC 2.0: read this before you apply
VET TEC is the one everyone’s reposting, and it’s worth understanding because the details changed in a way that matters to your wallet.
The original VET TEC was a five-year VA pilot. It ran out of funding and stopped taking new students in March 2024, and its legal authority expired that April. For about nine months, it was dead.
Then Congress brought it back. The Elizabeth Dole Act (Public Law 118-210, signed January 2, 2025) reauthorized it as VET TEC 2.0, and VA is accepting applications now. You can apply on VA.gov today.
What it covers is genuinely good: VA pays your tuition straight to a VA-approved high-tech training provider (cybersecurity, software development, cloud computing, data, and similar), plus a monthly housing allowance and a book stipend, for a non-degree program. No tuition out of your pocket.
Here’s the catch the carousels skip. VET TEC 2.0 is not the same deal as the pilot:
- There’s a cap. Only 4,000 paid participants per fiscal year. Apply early in the year — by mid-summer the year’s slots may already be spoken for, and if you’re told the cap is hit, applications reopen with the new fiscal year on October 1.
- It now charges your GI Bill. The old pilot did not touch your Post-9/11 entitlement. This version deducts one month of entitlement for every month of full-time training. If you’ve still got GI Bill months you want to protect, that’s a real cost. (You can still use VET TEC 2.0 with zero entitlement left, which is the sweet spot.)
- It has an expiration date. The current authority runs only through September 30, 2027.
Eligibility: a veteran with a discharge other than dishonorable, or active duty within 180 days of separation, with at least 36 months of active service, and under age 62 at approval.
Bottom line: still a strong option, especially if your GI Bill is low or gone. Just stop thinking of it as free money that costs you nothing.
The free programs that don’t touch your GI Bill
These are paid for by companies and nonprofits, not by your VA benefits. That’s the key difference. You can finish one of these and still have your full Post-9/11 GI Bill in your pocket.
SANS VetSuccess Immersion Academy. The deepest cyber training on this list. A 100% scholarship covering up to three SANS courses and their GIAC certifications, usually the GFACT, GSEC, and GCIH track. It’s competitive: limited seats, a timed online aptitude assessment, and merit-based selection, so not everyone gets in. Open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are within six months of separating or who left service within the last five years. No prior cyber experience required.
Onward to Opportunity (O2O), Syracuse University. Free training across 30-plus tracks, including CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, CySA+, and cloud certs from AWS, Azure, and Google. One thing to get right: O2O covers your certification exam fee only if you enroll while transitioning off active duty or while you’re unemployed. If you’re already employed, you can still take the training for free, but you pay your own exam. Open to transitioning service members, veterans, Guard and Reserve, and military spouses.
Microsoft Software & Systems Academy (MSSA). A 17-week program in cloud administration, server and cloud, software development, or cybersecurity, with a pipeline to interviews at 50-plus hiring partners. Fully funded by Microsoft. Open to active duty within 180 days of separation, veterans, retirees, and Guard/Reserve. The main track is not open to spouses, but Microsoft runs a separate MSSA spouse program.
AWS re/Start. A 12-week, full-time, cohort-based cloud program for people with no tech background. It covers the training and a certification exam, with job-placement support. Separately, AWS reimburses veterans for AWS certification exam fees, which is worth knowing even if you skip the cohort.
Google Career Certificates. Free access to Google’s six career certificates (IT Support, Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, Project Management, UX Design, and Digital Marketing), self-paced over a few months. The cleanest path in is through Hiring Our Heroes’ Career Forward program, open to veterans, transitioning members within a year of separation, military spouses, and caregivers.
Salesforce Vetforce. Free Salesforce admin and developer training through Trailhead, instructor-led classes, and exam vouchers that waive the certification fee. Salesforce talent is in demand and undersupplied. Open to active duty, Guard, Reserve, veterans, and spouses; you verify with ID.me.
Cisco Networking Academy (Military). Free networking and cybersecurity courses and certification prep (CCST and CCNA tracks), plus Cisco’s Talent Bridge job matching for veterans. Open to the whole military community, spouses included. Pairs well with military credentialing assistance.
NPower and Per Scholas. Two nonprofits offering free IT and cybersecurity training with certifications and job placement, no debt. The trade-off is location: both run in specific metro areas (Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, the Bay Area, Baltimore, St. Louis, and others) rather than nationwide. Many of their tracks are SkillBridge-approved, which makes them a strong move for your last 180 days in uniform.
Code Platoon. A coding bootcamp built for veterans and military spouses (Python, JavaScript, React). Be precise here: it’s not fully free for everyone the way the others are. The average scholarship knocks the price down so most students pay no more than about $3,000, with full scholarships for people who’ve exhausted their benefits. It accepts the GI Bill and was one of the larger VET TEC providers.
Community and career help, free and lighter
Not every program is a bootcamp. A few are networks and mentorship that cost nothing and quietly move careers:
- Operation Code is a national virtual community for military-connected people learning software development, with mentorship and a scholarship fund that has paid out more than $1.2 million toward bootcamps. Open to active duty, Guard/Reserve, veterans, and dependents.
- Vets Who Code is a free, fully online software engineering program for veterans and spouses, no tuition.
- VetsinTech runs free and low-cost training plus about 25 local chapters for networking with companies like Amazon, Google, and Salesforce.
- FourBlock is free, but know what it is: career-readiness coaching and employer networking, not technical training. Useful alongside a cert program, not instead of one.
When free isn’t enough, make the VA pay
The programs above are free because someone else foots the bill. These next four are your own benefits, and the right order depends on your situation.
VR&E, also called Chapter 31 or Veteran Readiness and Employment. If you have a service-connected disability and an employment barrier, this is the most generous option that exists. It pays 100% of tuition, fees, books, and even tools or a laptop based on an individual plan, plus a monthly subsistence allowance. Crucially, it does not use up your GI Bill. If you qualify, start here.
Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33). Pays tuition directly to a GI-Bill-approved school or bootcamp (private programs are capped at $29,920.95 for the 2025-26 year), plus a monthly housing allowance and a book stipend. It spends your 36 months of entitlement, so use it on training that’s worth the entitlement.
DoD SkillBridge. Not money for school. It lets you spend your final 180 days of service doing a civilian tech fellowship while you keep drawing full military pay and benefits. Many of the programs above (NPower, Per Scholas, Code Platoon, Hiring Our Heroes) run SkillBridge tracks. It needs command approval and you have to still be on active duty.
VET TEC 2.0 sits between these: VA-funded like the GI Bill, aimed at non-degree tech bootcamps, but now charging entitlement (see above).
Simple decision logic:
- Service-connected disability and an employment barrier? VR&E first. It’s the only one that pays for everything and saves your GI Bill.
- Still in uniform with under 180 days left? SkillBridge. Train on the military’s dime.
- Want a bootcamp and your GI Bill is low or gone? VET TEC 2.0, while it lasts and while slots remain.
- Otherwise, do a free third-party program above and keep your GI Bill entirely. That’s often the smartest play of all.
The honest part about the salaries
Those posts love a big number. “$65k average starting.” “$80k to $120k cleared cyber jobs.” Treat those as program marketing, because that’s what they are. They’re usually self-reported by the program, not pulled from an independent source.
For a reality check, the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the 2024 median pay for information security analysts at $124,910 and software developers at $133,080. Those are excellent numbers, and they’re real, but they’re medians for established professionals, not what you make the week after a bootcamp. Entry-level tech roles are genuinely good and genuinely attainable from these programs. Just walk in expecting a solid first job, not six figures on day one. A security clearance does push pay up, but a cleared role requires an employer to sponsor it, which is a separate hurdle.
Where to start this week
If you’re transitioning, line up SkillBridge or O2O now, while the exam fees are covered. If you’ve already separated, apply to SANS VetSuccess or MSSA for the structured route, or knock out a Google or Salesforce certificate this month for free while you decide. If you have a service-connected disability, call VR&E before you spend a dollar or a single month of GI Bill. And if a post tells you a program is “100% free” with no catch, check the eligibility and the expiration date first. The benefit is real. The fine print is where people get tripped up.