New MyCAA Rules

DoD officials explain new spouse tuition rules

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 20, 2010 13:50:51 EDT

The My Career Advancement Accounts tuition program for military spouses will reopen to new enrollees Oct. 25, with some major restrictions on eligibility and funding, defense officials announced Tuesday.

The popular MyCAA program’s tuition assistance will be open only to spouses of junior service members in paygrades E1 through E-5, W-1 and W-2 and O-1 and O-2, said Clifford Stanley, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness. Spouses of National Guard and reserve members in those paygrades are eligible if their service member has been activated on Title 10 orders.

An estimated 363,000 spouses will be eligible.

About 136,600 spouses are now in the program. Pentagon officials said about about 73,900 of those spouses no longer will be eligible for the program after Oct. 25 because of the new restrictions, although if they are in a class at that time, they will be allowed to finish the semester.

The career counseling aspect of the program, however, will be eligible to all military spouses, regardless of rank or activation status of the military member. Career counselors also can help spouses identify other sources of funding for their education, Stanley said, noting that all the counselors have at least masters’ degrees.

Other changes:

• Monetary assistance will not be available for four-year degrees. That was not the original intent of the program, Stanley said. Money will be available primarily for associates degrees, certificates and licenses.

• The total lifetime tuition cap will be reduced to $4,000 from the previous cap of $6,000. Spouses also will have an annual cap of $2,000 a year, with waivers in some cases of up to $4,000, which would mean spouses could use their entire benefit in one year.

• Spouses must use their $4,000 benefit within three years of the start date of their first class.

The changes were necessary to make the program viable and sustainable, Stanley said. “What we have now is the fiscal reality of where we are,” he said. “As we look at now sustaining the program … we want to make sure we’re taking care of them as they move from duty station to duty station, most importantly our youngest.”

Sustaining the program and being responsible in managing and monitoring it are key, he said. “If you’re going to do something like this, we don’t want to start it and stop it. This is something we want to continue because it’s important to take care of our families.”

MyCAA was abruptly halted on Feb. 16, less than a year after it was launched, because the system was overwhelmed with applications and close to exhausting its available funding. After spouses loudly voiced objections to defense officials and their congressional representatives, the program was reinstated in March for those already enrolled, but remained closed to new enrollees.

Stanley said officials have compiled actuarial projections of costs, and how many spouses will be eligible. Program costs will run about $215 million through the end of September and spike to about $250 million in fiscal 2011 because of the additional spouses who will be eligible as of Oct. 25. In fiscal 2012 and beyond, the program will cost an estimated $192 million a year.

MyCAA will continue as is until Oct. 25, said Virginia Penrod, acting deputy under secretary for military community and family policy. That means currently enrolled spouses may request funds for the fall semester, regardless of the rank of their service member, and even if they are in a four-year college program. But after Oct. 25, the new program rules will apply.

Defense officials will e-mail each enrolled spouse to explain the changes, Penrod said.