Army, Marine Corps tuition assistance program suspended

INDIANA (WLFI) - U.S. soldiers and Marines looking for help paying for higher education just got a blow to their wallets thanks to budget cuts.

The U.S. Department of Defense says the suspension of tuition assistance has been approved. The suspension became effective March 8.

Navy and Air Force officials said they are studying the way forward with the program and expect decisions next week.

Soldiers and Marines will no longer be permitted to submit new requests for tuition assistance. However, those currently enrolled in courses approved for tuition assistance are not affected, and will be allowed to complete current course enrollments, according to Lt. Col. Tom Alexander, spokesman for the Army’s personnel chief.

The Department of Defense says thousands of service members take advantage of the tuition assistance program, which allows them to take college courses that prepare them for their jobs in the military or as they transition to the civilian workforce.

However, the current U.S. fiscal situation forced service officials to make hard decisions.

“Each service is responsible for funding and administering tuition assistance funding,” Navy Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said.

The Defense Department’s comptroller issued guidance “indicating that the services should consider significant reductions in funding new tuition assistance applicants, effective immediately and for the duration of the current fiscal situation,” Hull-Ryde said.

The Marine Corps canceled its program when across-the-board spending cuts under “sequestration” in budget law took effect.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus ordered the Marine Corps to cease new enrollments in the voluntary education tuition assistance program. The Marine Corps falls under the Navy Department.

Mabus said in an all-Navy order that the actions are needed “to preserve support for those forces stationed overseas and currently forward-deployed. Reductions in lower-priority forward operations, and significant reductions in all other operations, training and maintenance are a result of this selection process.”

This change in the Tuition Assistance program applies to all soldiers, including the Army National Guard and Army Reserves.

“The Army understands the impacts of this decision and will re-evaluate the decision if the budgetary situation improves,” Alexander said.

In the meantime, Alexander said soldiers can continue to access their GI Bill benefits, if applicable, either the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) or the Post 9/11 GI Bill, or use other funding sources (grants, scholarships, or Army National Guard Soldiers using state Tuition Assistance where available).

Soldiers should contact their local education centers with questions and to get updates.

Updated Army information will also be posted to GoArmyEd.com.