Veteran Schools Lose Tuition Assistance Payments

More than 900 previously accredited Veteran Schools and Veteran Colleges may lose their eligibility to receive tuition assistance payments. This will create issues for Veteran Students.  The DoD requires Veteran Colleges and Veteran Schools to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) designed to guarantee the quality of education received by our soldiers.

Veteran Schools and Veteran Colleges that accept tuition assistance (TA) must sign and return a Voluntary Education Partnership memorandum of understanding by March to remain eligible for such payments.   Veteran schools and veteran colleges must have a signed DoD MOU on file and be on the “Participating Lists” that are posted on the DoD webpage. Schools for veterans and schools for military not included on the list will not be eligible to enroll service members under the TA program.

Effective March 1, 2013 soldiers will no longer receive tuition assistance if their military schools or military colleges  have not signed the DoD’s “Voluntary Education Partnership” Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Soldiers who already received tuition assistance funding for courses can complete those courses even if they extend to March 1. However, they cannot sign up for any new courses at veteran schools and veteran colleges that have not signed the MOU.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill provides financial support for education to individual servicmembers. The Tuition Assistance (TA) program provides financial assistance for voluntary off-duty education programs. TA is available for courses offered in the classroom or by distance education for military. According to Dr. Pamela Raymer the MOU does not impact the Montgomery G.I. Bill or Post 9/11, so soldiers attending a school that does not sign the MOU can still use those options if they choose.

As of February 14^th , 3,000 schools for veterans and schools for military were on the list at GoArmyEd, the Army’s enterprise system for accessing TA and other services. To date only 2,153 have signed the MOU according to Dr. Pamela Ramer, Ph.D, chief of the Army Continuing Education Division.

Dr. Raymer suggests that soldiers should visit http://www.dodmou.com to see if their veteran school or military college has signed the MOU.  If their school has not signed MOU, the soldiers should make arrangements to transfer to a military college or veteran school that has signed the MOU.

The Army has made a conscious effort to contact soldiers attending Veteran Schools, Veteran Colleges, Military Schools, and MilitaryColleges that have not signed the MOU. About nine percent of the schools for veterans and schools for militaryon the DoD MOU list have not signed the MOU. A percentage of soldiers that receive TA are National Guard or in ROTC programs and are attending local colleges and universities.