Do you feel it yet?
The cuts to the DOD budget after sequestration have begun to trickle down to military families.
Last week the Army and Marines announced a freeze in tuition assistance for military members.
No more money for college. None. Need those credits for your promotion points? Oh well.
This week the Air Force followed suit.
In Hawaii the command has announced that base changes due to the cuts will be posted in next week’s base newspaper. I can hardly wait.
I sat with a fellow Army spouse last week and between the two of us we could think of dozens of places that the Army in particular could cut costs, but never did I imagine tuition assistance would be at the top of the list.
However, this is just the beginning.
The National Military Family Association has put together a fantastic list of military families’ daily needs on base and how they will be affected. Check the list here: http://www.militaryfamily.org/feature-articles/sequestration-rumor-fact.html
Think you’re mad about losing tuition assistance? At least your service member can still access their GI Bill benefits to make up the difference. Wait until you’re in a holding pattern in the pediatrician’s office with a vomiting toddler. All thanks to budget cuts.
The NMFA said the military health system will be cut by $3 billion. The DOD civilians who account for 40 percent of the workforce in military healthcare facilities will be subject to furloughs meaning you may not be able to get into the clinic when you need to.
The organization also predicts that Child Development Centers on base and Commissaries will have reduced hours. Military exchanges, however, which are not funded by the military budget will experience no changes in service or hours.
Bummed about not being able to pick up a loaf of bread after 7 p.m.? How about not knowing when, or if, you are going to PCS? I have two friends whose husbands are in a holding pattern, their PCS orders on ice, until the Army decides if the budget cuts mean there is not enough money left to move them.
The NMFA fact sheet said each service will decide how the budget crunch will change their PCS schedule.
Budget cuts are here to stay. Are you ready?
Cuts to Tuition Assistance do not mean the end of your education. Eligible service members can continue to use their veterans benefits including:
Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty
http://www.gibill.va.gov/benefits/montgomery_gibill/active_duty.html
Reserve Educational Assistance
http://www.gibill.va.gov/benefits/other_programs/reap.html
Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve
http://www.gibill.va.gov/benefits/other_programs/reap.html
Post 9/11 GI Bill
http://www.gibill.va.gov/benefits/post_911_gibill/index.html
Military members who are also military spouses may qualify for Bryant & Stratton College Online’s Salute to Spouses scholarship, created after the government temporarily suspended the MyCAA program in 2010.
