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Army, Marine Corps Cancel Their Tuition Assistance Programs Because of Sequestration

Mar. 8, 2013 7:00pm Madeleine Morgenstern

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The U.S. Army and Marine Corps have pulled the plug on their tuition assistance programs one week after across-the-board federal spending cuts known as sequestration went into effect.

Soldiers and Marines will be able to finish up courses they’ve already started, but they won’t be able to enroll in new courses, the Defense Department announced.

“This suspension is necessary given the significant budget execution challenges caused by the combined effects of a possible year-long continuing resolution and sequestration,” Pentagon Army spokesman Paul Prince told Stars and Stripes. “The Army understands the impacts of this action and will re-evaluate should the budgetary situation improve.”

According to Stars and Stripes, the Army’s program allowed for soldiers to complete a high school diploma, certificate program or college or master’s degree with the service paying all tuition and fees up to $4,500 per fiscal year.

“This week, DOD’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,” Pentagon spokesman Nathan Christensen told the Marine Corps Times.

According to the Defense Department, Navy and Air Force officials are reviewing their options and are expected to announce a decision about continuing their own tuition programs next week.

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Comments (99)

AirForceVet-ProudGunOwner-American
Posted on March 13, 2013 at 4:13pm
They have just taken away the Air Force TA now. I’m four classes from finishing my BS and have a class starting in two weeks. Now I have to figure out how to pay for the rest of my education. I know everyone has to do their part to save money, but what about the wasteful programs. I’m currently overseas, but I’m sure every major city still has a billboard advertising a military service. They sponsor NASCAR and even have a monster truck. An educated military only benefits our military members, the military and society once they return to civilian life. I wish they would have put thought into this before acting off the cuff.

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VotersOfNY
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 8:50am
This is what happens when you elect a little boy to run the country. Happy you Dumbacrats?

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katzkiner
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 8:31pm
We can’t take care of our son’s and daughters serving ,but, we can spend $330 billion caring for illegal aliens each year. Personally, I think we have become to passive, Spending this much on foreign nationals while neglecting our own should have us rioting in the streets. This treason will continue until Americans riot and demand our fellow citizens and soldiers be given first priority. Maybe we could organize a national burn a trash can day, would that be to radical?

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blamb61
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:25pm
With cuts like this and to DoD civilians (20% for six-months and then who knows what) they are hurting a huge class of people. It would be better to let some go through a RIF and not hurt everyone.

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conservative1212
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:03pm
This is pitiful. obama hates the the normal, poor working man. Loves you if you are hispanic or on welfare or dumb enough to vote for him.

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conservative1212
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 4:59pm
Isn’t there anyone out there wiling to get obama out of our country forever. I am an old lady but he needs to go no matter what anyone says.

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blamb61
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 4:41pm
Sad. I joined the Army National Guard way back to help me get through school (BS Mech Engr). Was a
Chinese Linguist and Interrogator. Eventually got a MS in Elect Engr. “Ground Zero” your an idi0t!

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tyuchic
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 1:09pm
“and I’ve said this all across the country when I talk to parents about education, government has to fulfill its obligations to fund education” barack obama

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rbolt
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 12:52pm
It looks like the sequester cuts are going to be mainly to the military and to programs that will be most painful for Americans (White House Tours, Border guards). This is by design and remember Obama has almost exclusive power over what gets cut and what doesn’t. This the another difference between liberals and conservatives. Liberal want to seen the public suffer and they want absolute control.

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The_Fifth_Column
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 11:15am
I spent 20 years in the US Military. I couldn’t begin to count the number of times throughout that period of my life that I heard the words “You signed a contract when you joined”. I even said it myself a few times to a young troop. Sounds like a breach of contract to me! We can afford to give out free cell phones, free tuition to illegal aliens, and money for the study of the Voochy Bull Frog’s sex life, but we can’t keep a promise to our Brave Soldiers. This justifies a letter to your Congressman. These Men and Women are keeping their end of the deal, we need to keep ours.

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- AirForceVet-ProudGunOwner-American
  Posted on March 13, 2013 at 5:07pm
  Thanks, The_Fifth_Column. I’m tired of listening to people bitch and complain about the military. We have come a long way and for good reason. Just taking TA out of our benifit package is a step backwards. Why did we do away with the draft??? Because we built a military that people were proud to join. Myself, I joined because I was in a deadend job, living with my parents and had to make a decision about my life. I joined the military and it’s the best thing I ever did with my life. Now, for those of you who have never served in the military…I’m here so you don’t have to be. Don’t judge me or any of my brothers or sisters because you don’t know. I’m not looking for a thanks or a pat on the back, just would like for people to stop attacking the members that signed their lives away for 2,4,6 or 20 years to keep our country safe. They deserve an education.
  
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cknapp
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 8:34am
Since the sequester is a cut in future increases to the budget and not an actual decrease in spending, I am confused about all the cuts made within the first week of sequestration. Now, if the DOD is to cut 2-3 percent from the budget, how about decreasing funding to ALL projects by the 2-3 percent instead of cutting any project, in this case, TA by 100 percent? Is the SECDEF an idiot? Does MY Chain of Command (I am 51 serving my 23rd consecutive year in the U. S. Army) think I am too stupid to see the political shenanigans being played out here?

Cutting TA 100 percent will save some money, but the on-base education centers will still have employees, they just will not be as busy because most Active Duty Soldiers cannot afford college tuition “out of pocket”, thus the cost of over head expense per semester hour administered will skyrocket, you know, the whole “unintended consequences” as well as second and tertiary effects of an initial action.

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who8thecat
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 4:26am
You can be a welfare illegal leach sucking bum and get more pay and benefits than a American soldier willing to pay with his life to defend this Country. F….ing pathetic!

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Vunks
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 1:56am
And why couldn’t they cut some bases? I am not sure why the military thinks doing things like this for political motivation is correct. We could afford to send them to school when we spent 300 billion a year on the military but now even tho they are still spending over 600 billion a year they can’t?

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xLucettax
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 1:16am
Sign the petition to gives soldiers back tuition.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/give-military-back-their-tuition-assistance/1LQ08rVs

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- xLucettax
  Posted on March 9, 2013 at 1:35am
  give*
  
  Report this comment
Budrow
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:59pm
HEY WAIT A MINUTE !!!
In a lot of cases the opportunity to get an education is why a lot of men and women joined the services and now our government is going back on that arrangement??? While at the same time the Obam’s take lavish vacations around the world and that a$$-hole Obama plays golf with celebrities and spends trillions on crony and phony companies whose CEO’s take all the cash as bonuses and then go bankrupt. ARE YA KIDDING HERE?

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howboutthemapples
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:00pm
Just left Camp Geiger, Jacksonville NC this week after our son’s graduation from Marine Combat Training. Family members were informed about this change in the tuition assistance by the Battalion Command, who you could tell were very disappointed to put it mildly. They stressed to parents to push your kids to use every option that still remains before it is removed as well, as they feel any help may go away. It was one of the reasons our son joined, so he could get his college education paid for while serving his country for us.
What a great way our president and DC leadership have betrayed the very ones that allow them the safety to do what they do each and every day/night!
These kids, mostly 18/19 year old, enlisted, earning about 18000-20000/yr as pvt-pfc and ready to sacrifice their lives without hesitation while DC can’t do anything but blow smoke and earn 225,000/yr plus what we don’t know about.
DC won’t do the jobs they were elected to do, yet our kids are asked to give their lives when needed, and when their lives are not required and they have the opportunity to better educate themselves: “Uh no money for college boys and girls, I need some new golf clubs because I’m wearing sets out left and right. Oh yea, and my family needs another vacation, even though you won’t get another vacation with your family for quite some time, and maybe never”.
After some talks with “shiny” uniformed people, my trust lies with them, definately not with DC suits

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helioquois
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 10:13pm
Less than one half of one percent of all Americans serve in the military. A smaller minuscule percentage of troops use tuition assistance. I am willing to bet you could remove the tuition assistance cost to the armed services from the subsidy we give to Planned Parenthood and have sufficient monies to still do both programs. The Chief of Staff of the Army and the Marine Corps Commandant should be ashamed…the action is wrong, and the amount of money we are talking about is tiny. I bet you could take the cost of the USMC F-35 fighter’s rudder and fund tuition assistance for a full decade, but there’s no political gain for Obama and his cohorts if they do not cut things they can later blame on the GOP. Shame, shame, shame.

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Bonnieblue2A
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 9:27pm
Another part of the equation: http://www.stripes.com/news/as-furloughs-loom-pentagon-spends-1b-on-unemployment-benefits-1.210896

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HMCHIEF
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 9:16pm
http://griffin.house.gov/Lifeline

See above link. 1.25 billion federal funds paid for Lifeline or free cell phone program.

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ALL4FREEDOM
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 9:09pm
Excellent! Our future military leaders need to be as far away from college leftist liberalism as possible. Been there, done that, got the tee shirt. College was so bad, I couldn’t wait to get out. Mindless, senseless, soul-less zombies!

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EricStoner
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 8:56pm
Come on, you know what green fees are up to?

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BlasberryStrat
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 8:33pm
GOOD! Keep the young out of the military Oby. That’s thousands more on our side when this all comes to head. Personally I don’t want to be against at a “home grown” boy just as much as they don’t want to be against me. Let Oby screw with the military as much as he wants. It will ultimately lead to hundreds of thousands walking away from his “orders” and standing with the people.

Bull riders, farmers, hunters, construction workers, average Joe city folk (with hopefully good skills), vindictive women that Oby has belittled, and now a slew of pissed off fully trained military – with a chip for getting dumped on by Oby. These are odds I can live with! BooYa!! This may come down to the funnest “2 hours” EVER. Keep this up Oby, and it will be just you, Feinstein, and a handfull of ‘rainbow’ occupiers against ALL of us. (The occupier’s won’t be much help because they will be arguing over who’s going to carry that “proud” rainbow flag)

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okredstate
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 8:13pm
All because the conservatives would not play his dirty game. He said the sky was falling, so only for a select few, the sky will fall.

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