The big news of the week was the unexpected suspension of the wildly popular MyCAA accounts. For those who are unfamiliar with the program, MyCAA provides up to $6000 in educational benefits for eligible military spouses. According to a Navy Times article, over 133,000 milspouses have submitted applications since the program’s inception over a year ago and over 98,000 are in the pipeline (either already approved for tuition assistance or already enrolling in classes and utilizing the benefit).
Twitter and Facebook are abuzz with spouses lamenting the lack of notice and wondering why. The only consist ent information that can be found regarding the action states that they are “reviewing the software applications, financial assistance documents and overall program.” The timing could not be worse for spouses who may now have to scramble to find other means of funding their educational goals; hopefully, the program will be back up and running soon. In case the suspension of the program leaves you at loose ends, here is some information regarding potential alternative funding sources.
The information about the temporary MyCAA suspension was only out for a few hours before military spouses were on the phone with Military OneSource counselors, their schools and their congressmen trying to get to the bottom of the story. More information is coming out daily. If you’re interested in following the most up to date information, check in at the myriad of Facebook pages out there dedicated to serving military families such as: Fleet and Family Support or Congressional Military Family Caucus . Sites such as Military OneSource and Military.com have also been updating information quite frequently.
Coincidentally, as part of the “Open Government Initiative”, DoD has launched a website to solicit your ideas and opinions. I’m not sure they’re ready to hear everything we have to say! Already, spouses are not being shy about sounding off. All kidding aside, in addition to being a portal for folks to share their inputs, the site’s a great jumping off point for other DoD resources.
In other news, finding flexible employment opportunities remains a challenge for many military spouses. Fortunately for us, the Military Child Education Coalition has multiple part time positions available nationwide for Parent to Parent team members who will facilitate training sessions. This is a great opportunity for military spouses who would like to build some tremendous résumé bullets working on a part time basis doing very meaningful work.
It’s been an extraordinarily busy week for military spouse issues. If I’ve missed anything, I hope you’ll let me know. I’d love to hear how any of this news is affecting you.