{"id":35964,"date":"2019-04-09T18:12:33","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T18:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/09\/why-big-navy-is-running-low-on-tuition-assistance-dollars\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:30:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:30:03","slug":"why-big-navy-is-running-low-on-tuition-assistance-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/04\/09\/why-big-navy-is-running-low-on-tuition-assistance-dollars\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Big Navy is running low on Tuition Assistance dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Navy will deplete its fiscal year 2019 Tuition Assistance<\/a> coffers in a few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe estimate funding will be exhausted by May, but continue to explore alternative funding options,\u201d Capt. Amy Derrick, spokeswoman for the Navy\u2019s personnel chief, told Navy Times in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the Pentagon pegged $75 million for TA this year, more than $60 million already has been spent, just when sailors are beginning to eye fall classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 13 percent of the Navy\u2019s uniformed personnel are using TA now, accruing college credits on the Pentagon\u2019s dime without dipping into their GI Bill benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Derrick said sailors already enrolled in TA with approved education plans and paid vouchers won\u2019t be affected because their funding already has been allocated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But no new FY 2019 vouchers will be issued once the dollars drain out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Personnel Specialist 2nd Class Destiny Kepple reviews tuition assistance request chits on board a barge adjacent to the aircraft carrier Nimitz on July 25 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Emily Johnston\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The current crunch came because of rising demand for TA funding, according to records released to Navy Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of March 22, the military counted 5,384 more sailors using TA this year compared to 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That figures out to 19 percent more sailors receiving TA assistance to pay for 36 percent more courses than officials anticipated. Add it up and it\u2019s $15.9 million in unexpected costs, Derrick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Derrick and other military leaders told Navy Times that doesn\u2019t mean sailors who want to use TA this fall won\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never walked away from Tuition Assistance,\u201d Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russ Smith <\/a>told Navy Time. \u201cThe Navy has always believed in it and we always will. We are committed to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, for example, the Navy budgeted $85 million but had to find $2 million to cover a shortfall at the end of the fiscal year. Eventually, 42,920 sailors took 125,585 courses funded by TA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following year, the Pentagon set the TA budget at $83 million, $8 million less than was needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials found the cash to cover the increased demand, allowing 43,159 personnel to take 131,410 courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Arcadio Rigual, right, from Trident University International, pitches his programs to Operations Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Fred, who is assigned to the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard during the Feb. 20 Rise Above Resource Fair in San Diego. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Cosmo Walrath\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The rising popularity of Tuition Assistance is being driven by Navy reforms that made it easier for sailors to apply for the funds and take more courses while they\u2019re in the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That began in 2016, when the service shuttered 20 base Navy college offices and began ramping up virtual education counseling online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we closed the Navy college offices and went to the centralized, online system, many predicted we\u2019d have fewer people enrolling in college,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut, in fact, it\u2019s gone way up because we\u2019ve made it easier to enroll, easier to get into a class, the process is more simplistic and streamlined to get approval.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MCPON told Navy Times that he had reservations the internet-based system would work well, but he was happy to discover that the shift \u201chad a tremendous effect and impact\u201d by making it a more convenient way to enroll in college courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the Navy decided last year to loosen limits on how much TA sailors can use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously, the service had capped TA-funded coursework at 16 credits annually per student, with no more than $250 allotted for each credit hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting last June, however, the Navy nixed the caps, letting sailors take as many courses as they could handle, up to a $4,500 annual spending limit set by the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That led to sailors of all ranks taking 5 percent more courses than in 2017, a trend that apparently continued this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see the increased demand signal for TA as a good thing, because college teaches critical thinking,\u201d MCPON Smith said. \u201cWe\u2019re happy about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A university representative speaks with a sailor in 2016 about educational programs. (Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the increasing popularity of the Navy\u2019s TA program comes amid greater uncertainty about the shape it might take in an era of radical changes in the sea service\u2019s higher educational system and diminishing dollars allotted for outside college credits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rolled out on March 12, the White House\u2019s 2020 defense spending plan whittled $6 million out of next year\u2019s TA budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That announcement came only five weeks after Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer launched his \u201cEducation for Seapower\u201d<\/a> campaign, a push to hike and hone critical thinking skills in the Navy and Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spencer\u2019s Feb. 5 memo hinted at a major restructuring of the educational system for both officer and enlisted personnel under a single department university accredited to grant diplomas, from two-year associate degrees up to advanced post-graduate work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spencer\u2019s proposed reforms also called on military leaders within the next two years to craft a community college similar to what the Air Force offers its enlisted personnel, but there\u2019s been no public announcement about which courses and majors it will offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a Jan. 16 address at the annual Surface Navy Association<\/a> conference in Arlington, Virginia, Spencer raised eyebrows when he candidly called for the \u201ceducation that we need as a naval force,\u201d the sort of \u201cprofessional management\u201d training that will \u201cbenefit the corporate body.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really care about someone, to be very frank with you, going off and getting an art history major. I\u2019m being totally selfish, but if these are my dollars, I want you to be learning something that is going to help this institution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t