Enrollment surge forced tuition program to halt - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Enrollment surge forced tuition program to halt

An abrupt sixfold increase in the number of military spouses enrolling in the My Career Advancement Account program caused the sudden halt of the program Feb. 16, according to a defense official.

About 95,000 spouses enrolled in the first six weeks of the year for a program that, until then, rarely received more than 10,000 applications a month. The spike overwhelmed the system and threatened to drain the program’s budget, said Tommy Thomas, deputy undersecretary of defense for military community and family policy.

Military spouses — who were depending on the program to help pay for classes for which they already had registered — could not be told about the shutdown ahead of time because “given the gravity of the situation, there was no time for a warning,” Pentagon spokeswoman Air Force Maj. April Cunningham said.

The online MyCAA program provides up to $6,000 in tuition assistance to help spouses pursue education, training, licenses, certificates and degrees leading to portable careers.

Thomas said the halt is temporary and “was done in the best interest of all.” Officials said they hope to resume the program in several months, though no date has been set.

The MyCAA program expanded last March after a limited pilot program. Of the 133,000 spouses who applied for the program before the surge of applications early this year, 98,000 had been approved for assistance.

Frustrated spouses learned about the shutdown just as they tried to request funding for classes that start within a month. They cannot request payment for classes for which they have already registered.

Scrambling to come up with money

Some spouses said they had reduced financial aid loans from other sources in expectation of getting funding from MyCAA, and they now must scramble to figure out if they can come up with money for their education.

Spouses should call Military OneSource at 800-342-9647 and “request consultation with a career counselor to discuss alternative funding options,” Cunningham said — although many spouses who have called say they’ve been unable to get their questions answered.

In the days immediately following the halt of the program, Thomas acknowledged receiving “concerns expressed by many program participants.”

After some spouses from Virginia Beach, Va., contacted Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Va., he sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, noting that thousands of spouses are waiting for approval and assistance from MyCAA.

After receiving information from defense officials, Nye said in a statement that “the Pentagon needs to take action to help military spouses who were counting on this program so they aren’t forced to cancel or postpone their education plans.”

But some spouses are still upset. One group is organizing a demonstration in Norfolk, Va.

“If we don’t fight for ourselves, nobody’s going to fight for us,” said Navy wife Jacquelynne Blazon, a demonstration organizer and student at Tidewater Community College who faces a cutoff in her MyCAA funding.

“I don’t feel we’re being told the honest truth,” she said. “I cannot fathom for a millisecond that [the Defense Department], in creating this program, couldn’t foresee that this wasn’t going to take off” in popularity.

A date for the demonstration has not been set.

“Something happened, but that doesn’t mean their promise to us shouldn’t be honored,” said Blazon, whose husband is an E-5 assigned to Naval Station Norfolk. “And not a single woman I’ve talked to has been notified. That’s criminal.”