The Department of Defense has reopened its program to help military spouses pay for school, but, as expected, fewer people will be eligible, and they'll get less money.
The military announced the new rules last week for the Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts program, called MyCAA, after spending months trying to figure out how to keep it alive. Started quietly in March 2009, MyCAA had been widely discovered by spouses by last fall and was swamped with applicants as spring classes approached.
More than 133,500 people had enrolled in MyCAA, which was open to nearly all spouses of active-duty service members and activated National Guard and Reserve members.
In mid-February, the Defense Department shut down the program without warning, setting off a firestorm among spouses, who suddenly were faced with bills of up to several thousand dollars they didn't know how they would pay.
MyCAA was soon restarted for those already enrolled. The recent changes will govern new applicants.
Under the new rules, the program will pay for course work for spouses of service members in lower pay grades only. It will only pay for associate's degrees, licensing and certification programs - no bachelor's or master's degrees.
MyCAA grants will now top out at $4,000 total per student, down from $6,000. Students must complete their program of study in three years.
With those limits, the program is expected to cost $250 million in the coming fiscal year. Without the limits, defense officials estimate the program would have cost more than $1 billion.
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan has asked the military to reconsider its decision to limit access to the program. She said she sent a letter Wednesday to Defense Secretary Robert Gates saying, in part, "I do not believe the restructured MyCAA program is entirely consistent with the program's original intent."
Hagan urged Gates to restore the $6,000 cap and reopen the program to bachelor's and master's candidates.
