Army & Marines Suspending Tuition Assistance Program

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Anthony Pina, Mar 9, 2013.

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  1. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    The Army and the Marines have announced that the tuition assistance program, which affects hundreds of thousands of military personnel (and has been an effective recruitment tool), will be suspended indefinitely, due to the mandatory sequestration cuts. The Navy and Air Force are determining whether they will follow suit.

    This will be disastrous for many service men and women and for those colleges and universities that have invested in infrastructure and programs to provide educational opportunities to those in uniform.

    Had Congress taken the long overdue opportunity to address its spending, rather than continually kicking the can down the road, some of this could have been avoided.
     
  2. Pugbelly2

    Pugbelly2 Member

    Not cool at all.
     
  3. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    Darn right!

    This is an outrage!
     
  4. skidadl

    skidadl Member

    Wow. The wrong people are paying the price for dumb voters (R and D alike).

    This really breaks my heart. Very very sad indeed.
     
  5. Delta

    Delta Active Member

  6. AV8R

    AV8R Active Member

    I am highly suspicious of the need for this to happen. Even though there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth by both sides over the sequester, the U.S. is still spending more money overall in 2013 than it did in 2012.
     
  7. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  8. AV8R

    AV8R Active Member

    Excellent point on the Congressional bonuses. This is not an issue of a lack of money...it's an issue of a failure of leadership.
     
  9. icecom3

    icecom3 New Member

    Ouch! I am glad I used it while it was there.
     
  10. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    And the deficit has gone down under the current Administration. But the government should be spending more, lots more. Austerity in the face of economic slowdown gets you Greece. And while certainly not every economist agrees, recent polling shows most do. My spending is your income, your spending is my income. If we're not spending, we're not earning, either. Who can break this chicken-and-egg situation? Government and its spending. Lots and lots of it. Right now. Put people to work, they'll pay taxes, the economy will do well, and then we can balance the books.

    Oh, and tax the crap out of corporations who sit on trillions of dollars in cash. I don't blame them; they've gotten wonderful improvements in productivity from their employees and don't see the need to risk investing in more. Fine. Tax it. Use the money to employ people to do the People's work, like fixing our infrastructure. And tax capital gains at the same rate as income. This is an unfair tilt to the rich and serves no one else.

    Tax and spend? Yep. Lots of it. Now. We have the most powerful economic engine in the world and we're letting it idle. Rev that sucker up and let's get going!
     
  11. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    The GI Bill and tuition assistance are different things.
     
  12. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Indeed. There have been no spending cuts, only modest reductions to increases in spending. I expect this announcement means that executive branch policy makers think that if bad things happen to those in the military, Republicans will be hit harder politically then they will.
     
  13. Delta

    Delta Active Member

    Nevertheless!
     
  14. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Wow. My brother just returned from Afghanistan and had plans to use his tuition assistance to get his civilian life started off on the right foot. I hope for him and for the hundreds of thousands in his position that this gets resolved soon.

    Sounds about right, until you think about just what you are really giving up, which may be a future world-changing application of the knowledge obtained to something that neither you nor I as non-scientists have the ability to imagine.
     
  15. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    In other words, the government is cheapening the deal for our military people?
     
  16. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I have no problem with cutting tuition assistance in the course of overall cuts. It's a benefit, not a right. This is unfortunate, but not tragic, and not unfair. There's nothing so special about being in the military that makes this a special case. Federal employees are facing all kinds of cuts and pressures, from hiring freezes to cuts in training to furloughs to pay freezes (things our military members have not had to tolerate).

    Our military is bloated, built for the last (Cold) war, and needs to be drastically cut. It's larger than the next dozen or so countries' military budgets combined. Let's cut it and get on with rebuilding our country.
     
  17. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I think they should not suspend the program, but instead supporting only public academic institutions. No offense to Dr. Pina as Sullivan University is private, but these uniformed men and women do not need to spend lot of money for a college degree. And they need to have the credential for their future.
     
  18. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Nice, but could we expand it to not-for-profits, public and private?
     
  19. Delta

    Delta Active Member

    Are you running for political office?
     
  20. abnchris

    abnchris New Member

    You Sir are a jackass and obviously have no idea how the sequester is affecting the military. Veterans have significantly higher unemployment rates than their non veteran counterparts. God forbid we address this issue proactively and provide them the skills to make them more marketable when their service is up.

    You really have no idea what you are talking about, our training has been slashed, even though we are preparing to deploy to Afghanistan (my 5th combat deployment). I'm not sure if you heard, but we are actually still fighting a war. Yes you are right we didn't have a pay freeze, I did get a 1.8% raise last year and I am scheduled to get a 1% raise next year, I guess I really have been spoiled.

    You are correct, tuition assistance is a benefit, not a right. How dare my fellow Soldiers and Marines want to better themselves. What have I done to think I deserve such extravagance? Oh that's right, spend more time overseas than at home over the last 12 years, bury several of my good friends, see others have their bodies torn to pieces, and when I get home make sure I visit the families of every one of those we lost.

    I and my fellow Soldiers aren't asking for much. I sure don't want your understanding or respect, you have your opinions and I am willing to give my life for your right to believe as you choose. All I ask is the ability to prepare myself for the next stage of my life once my military service is over so that I can continue to be a contributing member of society. Again, how dow I be such an entitled, spoiled individual.
     

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