Two branches of the military, the Marine Corps and the Army, have announced suspension of tuition assistance benefits due to sequestration. Army folks have until 1700 EST today, 8 March 2014, to submit new requests for tuition assistance via the GoArmyEd portal. I expect that the other services will soon be announcing similar messages, so get moving NOW to enroll in any classes you are considering taking.
Marine Corps
In an ALNAV message released 2 March 2013, it was announced that the Department of the Navy would immediately “CEASE NEW USMC ENROLLMENTS IN VOLUNTARY EDUCATION TUITION ASSISTANCE.” This is one of numerous drastic measures being taken by the Navy,including shutting down a carrier air wing and cancelling numerous deployments .
Army
The notice released by the Army yesterday gives soldiers a little bit of time to organize last minute educational plans. New tuition assistance requests will be suspended at 1700 EST today, 8 March 2013.
The Army currently has more than 201,000 active duty, Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers receiving tuition assistance. The annual cost for this benefit is about $353 million.
Air Force, Navy
There is little doubt that the Air Force and Navy will be announcing tuition assistance cuts soon. Members in these two services would be wise to speed up their educational plans in order to maximize their benefits while they are still available.
I have long said that tuition assistance would be cut as the services struggle with shrinking budgets. Their value as a recruiting and retention tool is diminished as the military decreases its force size.
Servicemembers seeking to continue their education should look for other sources of funding, such as private and public scholarship programs and the Post 9/11 GI Bill. GI Bill benefits, as a Department of Veterans Affairs program, are specifically exempt from sequestration cuts. Other ways to help complete education include using College Level Examination Program (CLEP) examinations and taking advantage of the tax benefits available for educational expenses.
Army, Navy, and Air Force folks – get moving now!
Yet we can still afford to send $52B to Egypt? Sound good… o_O
Sounds good… o_O *
Two letters B.S and that doesn't stand for Bachelor of Science
Now, now. Be nice. Look at the good side. King Barrack still has money set aside to fly Air Force One (at a cost of $180,000 per hour) to some tropical island so wife and kids can play on the beach and he can play golf.
This is just an ignorant comment. The President –ANY President–flies on AF1 for reasons of security and traveling equipped to run the country. He has done nothing different from any previous President with regard to this.
how are we even remotely supposed to look forward to anything as a country when we are being stripped of the bare minimum and we are so great of a country we can even say do what is right and get an education?
What a joke. But hey its the military get use to it. I mean we only take a vow to defend this nation. Thanks for the support
Stumbled across this site, and just wanted to say "Thank You Pete" and to the rest of our service men and women. I had the honor to be married to a ex marine for 27 years, who served 2 tours of nam voluntarily. He would have been the first to say that after the fact, his government did nothing for him. Its sad to see how much they are chipping away at everything you all are entitled to. Military personnel and families make great sacrifices, its sad to see how much is being taken away.
I actually use TA, this is beyond retarded. The military stresses education, but now they wont give it to us? As a soldier with a family, car payment, and kids one can no longer be able to attend school. Way to go! Next goes the family healthcare I bet.
I agree completely I am also using TA without it I wont be able to finish my last year of school. So the money they have spent on us is wasted since we wont be able to finish what we started!
You are also right on the health care it is a strong possibility we will be forced out of tricare and onto "Obama Care" at least that is what looks like at this point.
This is ridiculous and does affect me much like other soldiers across the states. I re-enlisted for the College Incentive Program back in 2010. I have not been able to take advantage of this program until now. But my contracted college time is being ruined which is horrible because I did my part being blown up, shot at, and watching battle buddies die. Now instead of taking care of us, the defenders of freedom, they take away the little bit of motivation we have. Why don't we just try something else like lower the pay that the president gets for the white house decoration, lower the pay of our politics, or lower the pay of our celebrities who get a flag at half mass instead of a soldier who dies of murder or in defense of the country.
Anyone know how GI bill transfer and GI bill use works now with this? My husband transfered his entitlement to out son, with the fact he would use TA assistance during his last three years to get his degree. Can he still use the GI Bill, now and take away a benefit that was a good idea at the time
Amy, provided your husband is still in the military yes he is able to make adjustments. It sounds like he is and should have no issues removing what he needs from your son's name. He needs to log into his account that he created and then is able to adjust months allotted.
Good luck
Amy, the sponsor always retains the right to modify or revoke a transfer. I wouldn't recommend that he revoke the transfer, but rather reduce the amount that he put in your son's name to 1 month. While he is in there, I would also recommend that he give you a month. A month acts as a placemarker, allowing him to make changes in the future. That way, if he doesn't use it all himself, you or your son can use it in the future.
This is only going to get worse. The next thing you know your going to have thousands of soldiers kicked out, and the remaining soldiers on serving on food stamps like they were during the Clinton Administration. Irresponsible government spending is out of control.
you can thank Jr and his daddy for putting you in this situation to begin with.
How does this affect the Post 911 GI Bill? I'm suppose to start school in Aug and the Post 911 GI Bill is my only source of TA. Since I am a veteran I had no notification of the change until i saw it in the news.
Amanda, there has been no change to the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Everything under the Department of Veterans Affairs is exempt from sequester cuts. This change only applies to active duty tuition assistance programs. Good luck with your studies!
I transferred my GI Bill to my wife so she could finish her final two years and I was using the TA since I didn't need the GI Bill at the time, this really sucks, looks like I will be fileing for some scholarships and grants.
Thanks alot Washington, I think that you should have your entitlements, pay, and benefits cut until you all get your freaking acts together, better yet you come and try to our my jobs and we will go and show you how to do yours.
eric, you can still use your GI Bill, especially if your wife is only using two years of benefits. The servicemember always retains the right to modify the transfer, and any unused months always belong to you. I hope that helps.
So the people that do work, get their entitlements stripped from them, while there are millions of people on welfare, most of which still have cable tv and somehow still have money to buy cigarettes and alcohol and can have as many babies as they want to take more away from those of us that do something for a living. Try this, make the people on welfare do something for what they get and give us back the assitance that we have earned fighting for the freedoms to sit on your butt and do nothing.
You may want to actually sign this petition. It has more signatures and is closer to the 100,000 needed.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/reinsta…
What happen to to taking care of our own people first. Especially the ones that are trying to make thier lives better. The last couple of years i feel like living by the rules is the wrong way to live, due to the fact that everyone else gets so many damn entitlements. For everyone that works hard to take care of their family and friends keep trucking we will get this shit turned around. We need to cut that foreign aid crap and educate ourselves. For example when Dr. Carson spoke during the prayer breakfast he stressed education and the lack of in the United States. We need our education to better ourselves and so the people can keep the Government from getting out of control. The people can prevent this with knowledge. Knowledge is power.
Oh yea lets just give reduced tuition to illegal immigrants too!
Hello,All. So, My husband us currently active duty air force. His 6 year mark is coming up in a few dsys,he’s already re enlisted and took care of that,him still being in. Anyway my question is, does this apply to him,this news here? Does he still get to transfer his G.I. bill to me,we are planing t that this week&I’m suppose to use it to go to school for nursing.?? Any help please is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Mary Mac, this has no impact on the Post 9/11 GI Bill. This news does apply to your husband in the sense that the tuition assistance program has been suspended, but it has nothing to do with the GI Bill. All Department of Veterans Affairs programs are exempt from sequester. Hope that helps.
I find all of this to be extremely disheartening, given the fact that we have served our country and have been told that education is a “perk” of our job when transfered to billets that promote school. I have served the military for 9 years, and now am being transfered to a shore based facility only to find out that my opportunity might not be there. I’m glad i worked so hard for nothing.
The article states 2 dates for submitting requests in the ARMY…is it March 8, 2013 or 2014? This is certainly not the army my son signed up for. I think this is a horrible way to enforce Obama's inability to run his finances. Agree with earlier post, should cut white house decorations, etc. These benefits that our guys receive in the armed forces are NOT where sequestering should hit !!
the air force announced today it suspended TA effective last night at 5pm. The Coast Guard has also suspended their TA; the only one left is the Navy and they'll probably cut theirs tomorrow. SAD.
Isn't the California Dream Act a STATE program? Oh, yes it is, so the "big-eared guy" problably didn't have anything to do with it.