MyCAA Program To Resume, But With More Limitations

You may recall a while back that I wrote about a program, Military Career Advancement Accounts (MyCAA) program, which allows military spouses to receive funds to put towards furthering their education. The program was a huge success — so huge, in fact, that it was suddenly and without warning halted due to lack of funding, railroading many spouses' educational plans. I started a petition and many of you came to that call, and, like a pebble in a pond, we saw the program restart slowly, honoring the accounts that had been approved prior to the program's stoppage.

We were waiting to see what would become of the MyCAA. It was the only way that some families were able to afford allowing a spouse to continue their education. Some of the lowest ranking families have no disposable income to put towards such things when they have to worry about how they are going to pay for their groceries. This program could mean that a spouse might some day enter the work force, ultimately providing a solution to that problem with a portable career, as they call it.

Well, the DoD decided to resume the MyCAA program starting October 25, but they have put huge restrictions on the program. The most notable is that the funds, formerly up to $6,000 dollars and now $4,000, may only be applied to certificates or 2-year programs. In the past, the money could be applied to 4-year degrees or even post-graduate degrees. But now it can only be use for programs like day-care or cosmotology licenses, or associates degrees. Clifford Stanley, the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, says it is just not sustainable to allow the program to go towards 4-year programs.

There's also a new restriction on who can use the program. In the past, any spouse of any active duty member was eligible. Now, in order to keep the cost of the program low, the DoD decided to keep the program available for only those they deemed the most in need. As of right now, the spouses of E1-E5 (lowest enlisted), W1-W2 (lowest warrant officers), and O1-O2 (lowest ranking commissions officers) will be the only ones eligible.

While I am disheartened to see a successful program cut so sharply, if it means that those who are the most financially in need of the program will still have access to it, then I support the changes for now. But I admonish the DoD for not having the foresight to realize that this program would have been as successful as it was, and for pulling the rug out from under families the way that they have. This is not the way to show military families that they are supported.

I would still like to see the program return to the breadth that was originally envisioned. All spouses should have the opportunity to advance their education, and those educational goals should not be limited and dictated by DoD regulation.

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