ALBANY – Funding in the state budget will expand a tuition assistance program for veterans of the Vietnam, Persian Gulf and Afghanistan wars.

The tuition assistance awards were increased from a flat $1,000 grant, said Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther of Forestburgh.

“At this time, combat veterans that served after February 28, 1961 will not receive that block grant of $1,00, but an amount equal to undergraduate tuition at a SUNY or CUNY school in New York State,” she said.

The funding will apply to vets taking undergraduate, graduate or vocational training programs.