{"id":58132,"date":"2019-07-23T18:12:16","date_gmt":"2019-07-23T18:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/07\/23\/fewer-troops-are-using-tuition-assistance-benefits\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:07:09","slug":"fewer-troops-are-using-tuition-assistance-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/education-transition\/2019\/07\/23\/fewer-troops-are-using-tuition-assistance-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Fewer troops are using Tuition Assistance benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The number of service members using military tuition assistance benefits declined again in fiscal 2018, continuing the trend in recent years of fewer troops taking college courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the number of troops using tuition assistance across all five services fell 2.5 percent, from about 239,200 in fiscal 2017 to 233,200 in fiscal 2018, the most recent year for which data is available. That\u2019s actually a smaller drop in TA usage than occurred between fiscal 2016 and 2017, when the decline was more than 6 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Defense Department started tracking TA usage across its service branches in 2014, the number of troops using TA has fallen by 14.5 percent \u2014 and it has fallen even further from highs charted prior to 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the drop, service members continued to rely heavily on for-profit schools that have been the subject of controversy and criticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For-profit schools accounted for 34.7 percent of TA usage in fiscal 2018, compared with 39.7 percent for public schools and 25.7 percent for private nonprofit schools. For-profits are even more dominant among the top 50 TA schools, accounting for 39.3 percent of the student enrollment, more than public and private institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representatives of for-profit schools say that military students are continuing to enroll in their institutions because the schools offer flexible and fast degree options that better fit the lives of adult learners. But critics of for-profit education say the enrollment numbers are the result of the industry\u2019s aggressive \u2014 and expensive \u2014 marketing efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both sides of the for-profit education debate agree on at least one thing: We need more data to better understand how well schools educate service members and veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Dakduk, executive vice president of the for-profit education trade group Career Education Colleges and Universities, said officials should collect and publish better data on academic programs within colleges and universities \u2014 not just on the institutions as a whole. Carrie Wofford, president of Veterans Education Success, a group that has established itself as one of the toughest critics of for-profit schools, pushed for a greater focus on academic inputs, such as the amount of money schools spend on teaching students, and not just student outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFocus less on the type of school,\u201d whether for-profit, public or private, said Keith Hauk, an associate vice president at University of Maryland Global Campus, a not-for-profit, public institution formerly called University of Maryland University College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFocus more on \u2026 what it is that school is providing, in terms of a service, and what that school is producing, in terms of an outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TA usage in fiscal 2018:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n