Spouse Tuition Assistance Halted

[nugget81]

I wasn't aware my tax dollars were going to fund a military spouses education. Perhaps, if they want thier education funded they could join up and put on the uniform. Spouses are not the same as military members and have not done what military members have done, I don't care what the spouses club says.

You are right. Spouses are not the same as military members, but guess what? They have to go where the military member is ordered to go. (Sure they don't have to go, but what would be the point of the marriage then?) So take for example a teacher...each state has different requirements for getting certified to teach in that state. Do any of these states offer reciprocity with another state's teaching certificate? Hell no. Do they even have the same type of certificates (K-8, or K-4 & 4-8, etc)? Not likely. So now if that spouse wants to teach in a new state, he/she has to take all the required tests over again and they are not cheap. That's what this program was designed to help spouses with -- assisting with new certifications (in any field) and helping spouses get more portable jobs. We may have tough jobs, but the spouses have even tougher ones at home when they effectively become single parents for six months at a time or longer. Cut them a little slack....

 

[S.O.B.]

You're absolutely right, this program is clearly an incentive to keep servicemembers in. I think that if you want to put money towards retention, give it to people in uniform.

There are single sailors who are unable to take advantage of this program (and aren't entitled to this $$$) simply because they have chosen not to get married.

I agree as well and would go as far as getting rid of family separation pay and making BAH equal, but again the point is that this benefit was promised when people enrolled in programs. This isn't going to be a hardship for a guy like me, but I would imagine to an E5 who's wife is half-way through school it's going to hurt financially.

 

[PropAddict]

That's what this program was designed to help spouses with -- assisting with new certifications (in any field) and helping spouses get more portable jobs.

Damn. And I just shelled out $250 for Mrs. Prop to get her third teaching cert in as many years.

We may have tough jobs, but the spouses have even tougher ones at home when they effectively become single parents for six months at a time or longer.

Aren't we a little early to be starting on the semi-annual "Who works harder: husbands or wives" debate?

 

[Fred]

While I can agree if cuts need to be made they need to be made. However, I think abruptly ending the program with no heads up is wrong. I’ve read other articles about this, and even those whose job it was to help spouses with this program were not told until the day it stopped, they were totally caught off guard.. I have a feeling far more spouses took advantage of the program than the DOD had anticipated. I truly hope the same thing doesn’t happen to the new GI Bill.

 

[srqwho]

I wasn't aware my tax dollars were going to fund a military spouses education. Perhaps, if they want thier education funded they could join up and put on the uniform. Spouses are not the same as military members and have not done what military members have done, I don't care what the spouses club says.

My spouse is currently enrolled at TAMU Corpus and is using this program. She left her job as an attorney in Florida and we are living off my income. Guess what, she is going back to school and getting a degree that will enable her to eventually put a uniform on.

In my short experience the spouse of a military member makes sacrifices that we will never understand and in many ways are more difficult than the ones we will have to make.

Being in the Navy just over a year I don't feel salty enough to comment on the decision to cut the program, but for us it hurts in a big way. It potentially means my wife will have to delay her education, but at the same time can't work.

Take a second and think about the sacrifices that military spouses make before commenting on them. Imagine your spouse saying "hey, I really want to do X, but I need you to put your dreams/goals on hold indefinitely so that I can do it." While I get to do what I've always dreamed of doing, it was cool seeing my wife take steps to make her own come to life, and to now see that I have to break this news really sucks.

 

[picklesuit]

I wasn't aware my tax dollars were going to fund a military spouses education. Perhaps, if they want thier education funded they could join up and put on the uniform. Spouses are not the same as military members and have not done what military members have done, I don't care what the spouses club says.

If you aren't aware of what your tax dollars are doing, you are ignorant...but hey, we will still pay you!

As much as I rag on my wife for being a stay at home mom and not working as hard as I do (a surefire way to get the couch after an argument, btw) I appreciate how hard it is for her to drop what she is doing, pack up the house/kids, and move every couple of years. The Navy realized that many good sailors/officers were leaving because their family life was suffering and decided the cost of retraining people was higher than shelling $6000 bucks out to their spouse. There was no sympathy/soft-hearted "let's help the wives because it feels good," going on here...it was a decision based in economics...unfortunately the idiots that cut defense spending saw an easy kill that wouldn't directly affect the military member...these are the same idiots who will continue to sign off on Plasma TV's for the Air Force...

 

[Brett327]

If you aren't aware of what your tax dollars are doing, you are ignorant...but hey, we will still pay you!

As much as I rag on my wife for being a stay at home mom and not working as hard as I do (a surefire way to get the couch after an argument, btw) I appreciate how hard it is for her to drop what she is doing, pack up the house/kids, and move every couple of years. The Navy realized that many good sailors/officers were leaving because their family life was suffering and decided the cost of retraining people was higher than shelling $6000 bucks out to their spouse. There was no sympathy/soft-hearted "let's help the wives because it feels good," going on here...it was a decision based in economics...unfortunately the idiots that cut defense spending saw an easy kill that wouldn't directly affect the military member...these are the same idiots who will continue to sign off on Plasma TV's for the Air Force...

Who are these idiots you're referring to exactly?

Brett

 

[SynixMan]

Take a second and think about the sacrifices that military spouses make before commenting on them. Imagine your spouse saying "hey, I really want to do X, but I need you to put your dreams/goals on hold indefinitely so that I can do it." While I get to do what I've always dreamed of doing, it was cool seeing my wife take steps to make her own come to life, and to now see that I have to break this news really sucks.

Something I constantly think about, and she ain't even my spouse yet. I was actually banking on this program, so this irks me more than a bit.

 

[zippy]

Something I constantly think about, and she ain't even my spouse yet. I was actually banking on this program, so this irks me more than a bit.

Hold off on making her your spouse for a bit (say until you are finished with your first WESTPAC) and maybe it will be back by then.

 

[Flash]

I truly hope the same thing doesn't happen to the new GI Bill.

That is a different pot of money, the VA.

....In my short experience the spouse of a military member makes sacrifices that we will never understand and in many ways are more difficult than the ones we will have to make.......Take a second and think about the sacrifices that military spouses make before commenting on them. Imagine your spouse saying "hey, I really want to do X, but I need you to put your dreams/goals on hold indefinitely so that I can do it."......

I was actually banking on this program, so this irks me more than a bit.

You have to remember that the military is going to take a hard look at things that are not under it's primary mission that cost it money and frankly, this is far outside it's core mission. It is a 'nice to have' that was probably thought of as a retention tool but guess what, in today's economy who needs encouragement to stay in and keep getting a steady paycheck? In it's cold calculus the military may have decided that this was not worth the money, and they are probably right.

Before some of you go al high and mighty on me I fully appreciate what my wife had to give up when she married me, including moving to a new country and leaving all her family and friends. But spouses have been making the same sacrifices for years and have not had this benefit. I remember one of my squadronmates who graduated from Purdue along with his wife who happened to have a degree in the same major, except her grades were much better. He was flying planes while she was a receptionist at a dentists office. Sometimes that is the breaks and you have to live with them. Life, and especially marriage, is full of compromises and you and your spouse have to figure out how to balance it all out. The government has made some things easier for spouses lately, including easing state residency rules and making it much easier for them to get federal jobs. But those don't really cost the government a whole lot, this potentially does. And like a myriad of benefits for servicemembers there was no guarantee that this program was going to be around forever, or the next fiscal year. Welcome to the government.

 

[villanelle]

As a military spouse, I have to say that I find it hilarious when anyone plays the "spouses have it worse than the military member", with the implication being that just being married to someone in the military is harder than being in the military. Navy spouse > Navy member is total BS. It sounds like a platitude used by someone whose wife complains too much about how hard her life is. :lol "Yes dear, you *do* have it even worse than I do!"

As for the program, Eh. I don't have a problem with this. Sure it sucks for someone who planned on having this money, but if cuts have to be made, I don't think this is a bad place to make them.

Also, rumor has it that they halted the program due to rampant fraud. If true, it will likely be reinstated eventually, with better safeguards to ensure that only people who actually qualify are getting this money, and I think everyone can agree that's a good thing.

 

[Fred]

That is a different pot of money, the VA.

I understand that. However, the benefit is now open to a much larger pool of people. I am afraid the supply of money the VA has available/budgeted is not going to keep up with the demand.

 

[srqwho]

That is a different pot of money, the VA.





You have to remember that the military is going to take a hard look at things that are not under it's primary mission that cost it money and frankly, this is far outside it's core mission. It is a 'nice to have' that was probably thought of as a retention tool but guess what, in today's economy who needs encouragement to stay in and keep getting a steady paycheck? In it's cold calculus the military may have decided that this was not worth the money, and they are probably right.

Before some of you go al high and mighty on me I fully appreciate what my wife had to give up when she married me, including moving to a new country and leaving all her family and friends. But spouses have been making the same sacrifices for years and have not had this benefit. I remember one of my squadronmates who graduated from Purdue along with his wife who happened to have a degree in the same major, except her grades were much better. He was flying planes while she was a receptionist at a dentists office. Sometimes that is the breaks and you have to live with them. Life, and especially marriage, is full of compromises and you and your spouse have to figure out how to balance it all out. The government has made some things easier for spouses lately, including easing state residency rules and making it much easier for them to get federal jobs. But those don't really cost the government a whole lot, this potentially does. And like a myriad of benefits for servicemembers there was no guarantee that this program was going to be around forever, or the next fiscal year. Welcome to the government.

Sir, I totally agree with everything you said. To be honest, I was a bit shocked when I first learned of the program. My wife and I were planning on paying for here classes out of pocket. Truth be told being a military spouse has its benefits that the non-military spouses can't touch. We both have been more than pleased with our new lifestyle. It just blows when you bank of something being there and you find out it's not going to be at the last minute. But that is how stuff works...

To villanelle:
I am not saying either has it "harder", but different. But, if I had to chose, I would rather be in my shoes than in hers. My wife doesn't need me around... she chose to leave her career and follow me with the promise of moving every 6 months or so until I'm done with flight school. The sacrifices she has made trump mine at the time being. For you to call that BS is BS. Unfortunately, my wife's career isn't "portable" as someone else put it. For some people, yeah being married to a servicemember is great in the pros v. cons department, but not in our situation. Taking your circumstance and applying it mine, and everybody else who thinks that their spouse has had to endure more than they have had to in order that we (the servicemember) can do what we love, doesn't work.

 

[squorch2]

Who are these idiots you're referring to exactly?

Brett

Pickle, since you seem to be having trouble with this one, I'll help out:

Defense spending hasn't been cut since the Clinton era.

 

[squorch2]

I understand that. However, the benefit is now open to a much larger pool of people. I am afraid the supply of money the VA has available/budgeted is not going to keep up with the demand.

It's about the same amount of people that are/were eligible to us MGIB... do you have any hard numbers or just a gut feeling to back up your assertions?