Comments on: Educational Benefits for Military Members

By: The Happier Husband

The Happier Husband — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:20:10 +0000

Jen,

Sorry for the delay – I did some more research into the Military Spouse Career Advancement Account program and it provides $6000 each year for spouses of DOD (sorry no Coast Guard – they are DHS) active duty. That’s more than the servicememeber gets! It is quite a deal and requires registering a degree/career plan. Post soon to follow.

Thanks,

TH Husband

By: The Happier Husband

The Happier Husband — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:18:56 +0000

Sorry for the vagueness of that very important sentence. I’ll do my best to research options available for spouses and family members of active duty and get back with all of you.

Thanks,

TH Husband

By: Kate

Kate — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:14:04 +0000

Jen,

As an Army wife, I am eligible for $3000 for a year of classes, and can extend that to a second year ($6,000 total) in tuition assistance completely separate from the GI Bill. There are several other programs specific to the spouses that help us earn diplomas or certificates. I don’t know about the Coast Guard, but it can’t hurt to look into it. Militaryonesource.com might be a good place to look for an overview

By: Miranda

Miranda — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:09:07 +0000

Great Post, I love how my husband earned an associates, and only actually took about 5 actual colllege courses, most of them were PACE courses. And is now earning his BS for nothing OOP! That is also another wonderful way to earn your degree while out to sea,(even on a Submarine!) many people don’t realize that is possible! I’ll never understand why so many service members do NOT take advantage of all the education at thier fingertips!

By: Serenity

Serenity — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:44:37 +0000

I really enjoyed reading this article. My father retired from the Air Force 12 years ago. He went in as a 17 year old and retired 23 years later with a bachelors and 2 masters. Almost all of which the Air Force paid for
My grandfather was in the Air Force over 50 years ago and the AF sent him to Yale to learn Chinese which he now uses in mission work. I’ll bet the Air Force had no idea their Chinese translator would turn into a missionary later
Thank you for letting people know about the awesome educational benefits!

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:31:53 +0000

Hmm, what I read was “If you or your spouse is active duty and you aren’t using your educational benefits,…” since the rest of the post is about TA instead of the new version of the GI Bill I thought I was on the right track. However, I just found another article regarding how the Coast Guard sometimes has different benefits because they are not Dept. of Defense. Since they’re under the Dept. of Homeland Security things are sometimes the same, but sometimes different.

Here’s the article I found which gives me the impression that spouses of DoD servicemembers can perhaps access TA but Coast Guard spouses are instead eligible for this special 50% grant from Columbia College. An interesting and quick read: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/09/15/columbia-college-offer-coast-guard-spouse-grant/

By: TheHappyHousewife

TheHappyHousewife — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:43:12 +0000

Jen-
I think you might have misread the article, TA is for the active duty member. But the new GI bill can be used by family members so that is definitely something to look into.

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:20:58 +0000

Wow! Thanks for this. I knew that TA was for the servicemember, but I had no idea that spouses could use it too. That’s fantastic! As soon as I have this baby I’m going to get started on a degree online. Jason’s got his eyes on a local college that has flex hours for the local Coasties. Before his 20 years are up in another 12, we should both be able to get a Bachelors and Masters each.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:48:54 +0000

Great post…I agree we all need to take advantage of this..I am interested to hear more