Officers group objects to new MyCAA limitations - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Officers group objects to new MyCAA limitations

The Defense Department’s revised policy for the My Career Advancement Account program “yanks the rug out from under career spouses yet again,” said Steve Strobridge, government relations director for the Military Officers Association of America.

MOAA has expressed strong disagreement with the Pentagon’s decision to severely limit military spouses’ eligibility for tuition funding through the MyCAA program, announced Tuesday.

“MOAA believes longer-serving spouses deserve fairer treatment, and we’ll be asking Congress to help them get it,” Strobridge said. The funding should be available to all spouses, MOAA contends.

The changes, which take effect Oct. 25, limit eligibility for funding to spouses of service members in paygrades E-1 to E-5, W-1, W-2, O-1 and O-2.

Career counseling through the program will remain available to all spouses.

In addition, total funding will be limited to $4,000 per spouse, compared to $6,000 under the previous program. There will also be an annual cap of $2,000 per spouse, but waivers may be given to use more than that in one year.

The changes were necessary to make the program viable and sustainable, Clifford Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said Tuesday in announcing that the program will reopen to new enrollees in October.

“What we have now is the fiscal reality of where we are,” Stanley said

Defense officials said about 363,455 spouses will be eligible under the program’s new rules.

Currently, 136,583 spouses are participating in the program; of those, 73,891 will no longer be eligible as of Oct. 25.

“MOAA believes strongly that the newly announced restrictions penalize spouses whose careers are most injured by military relocation requirements,” Strobridge said.

“That’s why MOAA has been urging defense leaders so strongly not to disenfranchise spouses above the most junior grades,” he said. “Limiting it mostly to spouses of first-term personnel — many of whom won’t stay for military careers — seems to miss the whole point. Allowing coverage for courses leading to associate degrees, but not bachelor’s or master’s degrees that are essential for nursing, teaching, and other portable careers, seems equally incongruous.”

On Feb. 16, MyCAA was abruptly halted less than a year after its launch after a wave of applications overwhelmed the system and threatened to drain available funding.

After spouses objected to defense officials and lawmakers, the program was reinstated in March to those who were already enrolled, but remained closed to new enrollees until Stanley’s announcement.

DISCUSS: MOAA DISAPROVING NEW MyCAA